Your Family's HealthNo one is more concerned about the safety of the chemicals we use than we are. After all, we're exposed to and around insecticides and herbicides every day. Modern chemistry has fortunately provided pesticides for society that are, on the whole, extremely safe for mammals to be around.
This may surprise you... Most of the items under your sink and in the cabinet are of a higher toxicity than the chemicals we use. How to tell how dangerous a product is... Look at a product's LD50. Higher numbers mean a less toxic product (it takes more to hurt you). Lower numbers mean more toxic (it takes less to hurt you). Take your weight in kilograms, and multiply it by the number in the LD50 column. For example, a 220 pound man weighs 100 kilograms. It would take 20,000 mg of caffeine to theoretically kill a mammal that size. That's 133 VERY strong cups of coffee in a row, assuming he was able to hold the entire amount in his body! |
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In Your Home
Nicotine
Caffeine Moth Balls Aspirin Bleach Table Salt |
LD 50
50 mg/kg
200 mg/kg 533 mg/kg 1,500 mg/kg 2,000 mg/kg 3,750 mg/kg |
In Our Trucks
Sevin
Phantom Orthene 97 Termidor Tempo WP Suspend SC |
LD 50
500 mg/kg
560 mg/kg 846 mg/kg 2,000 mg/kg 2,408 mg/kg 15,000 mg/kg |
On the left are items you can find in your kitchen. On the right are chemicals we use to control insects. Not only are the items on the left more lethal, they're also more accessible to kids and pets.
Not only does it take a tremendous amount to hurt a mammal, it's nearly impossible for you, your kids, or pets to get enough of the active ingredient to get hurt. Those numbers apply to drinking the active ingredient; none of these insecticides comes as 100% active ingredient.
Any toxicologist will tell you that dose makes the poison, and access to the chemical will determine whether an unhealthy dose is possible. At the rates we apply, there's really no chance to get a dose that large!
For example, it would require more than a quart of one of our strongest insecticides to lethally harm a mammal that weighs 85kg (185 lbs). In a typical home, we would use much less than that, and you won't be swallowing any of it. There is a chance you will get lots of splinters licking the chemical off the outside of your house, however, so we cannot condone such behavior.
Not only does it take a tremendous amount to hurt a mammal, it's nearly impossible for you, your kids, or pets to get enough of the active ingredient to get hurt. Those numbers apply to drinking the active ingredient; none of these insecticides comes as 100% active ingredient.
Any toxicologist will tell you that dose makes the poison, and access to the chemical will determine whether an unhealthy dose is possible. At the rates we apply, there's really no chance to get a dose that large!
For example, it would require more than a quart of one of our strongest insecticides to lethally harm a mammal that weighs 85kg (185 lbs). In a typical home, we would use much less than that, and you won't be swallowing any of it. There is a chance you will get lots of splinters licking the chemical off the outside of your house, however, so we cannot condone such behavior.
Your Pets' Health
If you have an aquarium, and we're treating inside, we'll have you cover it with a towel. Do you have a pet scorpion, tarantula, or other arthropod? It's best we don't fog inside.
Dogs and cats are okay to romp and play as soon as the chemical is dry, so if you stash them in their carriers, the garage, or take them to the park for a little game of Frisbee, that should just about take care of it!
We'd prefer your dogs weren't running around while we treat--they can get in the way, and sometimes it's too hard to resist playing with a friendly pup, and that ends up costing us more in payroll expenses.
Dogs and cats are okay to romp and play as soon as the chemical is dry, so if you stash them in their carriers, the garage, or take them to the park for a little game of Frisbee, that should just about take care of it!
We'd prefer your dogs weren't running around while we treat--they can get in the way, and sometimes it's too hard to resist playing with a friendly pup, and that ends up costing us more in payroll expenses.