The sight of crawling insects and creeping rodents in a household is a sight nobody dreams of. Aside from being an eyesore, the presence of these annoyances poses a threat to the people living with them. Pest control is defined as the management of a species considered as pests. Some of these creatures may strike some familiarity: flies, termites, rodents, ants and roaches to mention a few. Pest management only pertains to animals, insects or other species considered as pests, which means not all crawlers or rodents that you see are subject to extermination.

To better understand pest control, let us first define what a pest is an insect, animal or plant that poses a harmful effect to humans is considered as a pest. This is a general term which can also be synonymous to parasites, weeds, vermin, and pathogens. Pests can inflict damage to human agriculture, livestock, properties, human health, and the environment. In agriculture for example, pests inflict damage to crops by feeding on them, rendering the products inconsumable for the population. The locust invasion of Congo is a perfect example of how these pests wreak havoc in farmlands, destroying valuable crops and rendering the area with food shortages. Species are considered pests if they have the potential health threat to human beings. Examples of these are the rats which carry the deadly plague bacteria, and mosquitoes which serve vectors for malaria. Plants can also be considered pests, especially if they threaten to harm the condition of surrounding plants or organisms. Weeds for example, due to their fast reproduction, can rob other plants or crops from the needed nutrients for growth; as a result, plants surrounded by weeds wither and die.

Now that we have defined what a pest is, let us now proceed to the topic of pest control. It involves measures to control or eradicate these so called pests. There are several types and each type uses particular pest control products depending on what type of pest is dealt with. Most of us are familiar with chemical sprays and geared-up men with big cans on their backs when pest management issue is brought up. But there are other ways of controlling them other than what we know as familiar.

Biological pest management or control is one of them. With this method pests are controlled by employing their natural predators or parasites. Using their natural predators ensures no harm is done to the environment. Control of pests also involves the removal of the pests’ breeding grounds. For example, to eliminate cockroaches and rats in a household or community, proper garbage disposal and regular garbage collection is employed as these serve as food sources and breeding grounds for pests. A more expensive method, space fumigation, can also be done to eliminate pests. With this type of elimination, poisonous gas is released killing the pests. This method effectively kills pests in both larvae and adult stage. The more common method we are familiar of is the use of chemical sprays. These sprays contain poisonous chemicals that kill the pests immediately. Aerosol sprays are the most common and convenient type of pest control.