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Termite Issue
Chemical Manufacturers & Distributors
The chemical manufacturers and distributors deserve some special attention in the termite issue. Information should have been passed to the building industry and the pest control industry by the chemical manufacturers that wasn't.
The newer chemicals had different properties to the older ones, and needed a very special attention to detail in their application. Why wasn't that information effectively communicated by the manufacturers? If those requirements were communicated and observed, we wouldn't have the termite issue we have today.
The other area of concern is one of intent, and it is very easy to fraudulently apply less than the required amount of chemical. Chemical testing is a relatively simple process. To our view, where treatment failures occur, a chemical test should be done under the slab (where the home owner has had no impact), and where the chemical tests show that less than the required amount of chemical was applied, the applicator and their company should be charged with fraud. Rather than charge people with fraud through the Queensland Building Tribunal where direction and monetary penalties are applied, we believe they should be charged through the criminal courts where custodial sentences can be applied for repeat offenders.
The termiticide manufacturers have deliberately hidden behind distributors making it difficult for pest controllers with treatment issues to get assistance. If an issue arises, the pest controller has no contract with the manufacturer. Their only contract exists with the distributor. As pest controllers, we have to rely on the integrity of the manufacturer for their support.
Bayer should be separated here at this point. Their product support is the very best in the industry, and they deserve total market domination for their support alone. Unfortunately, their label leaves their expected protection period a bit behind the others just yet.
Dow Agrosciences (Dursban/chlorpyrifos) and FMC (Biflex/bifenthrin) have been less than kosher in their product support.
We had an issue with a treatment carried out using Dow Agrosciences Dursban (Chlorpyrifos). We had exceeded label requirements in that we had replaced the soil we had removed with a sandy/loamy soil. We had trenched the soil areas to the footings, and removed mortar muck. We drilled and injected a paved area on concrete (label compliant). The paved area failed, and termites recurred. The pavers were lifted, and the area treated as a soil perimeter. Dow were contacted, and they did attend the site.
We were told the problem had to be our application, as they had no history of termite treatment failing in these situations. We queried them re the CSIRO study showing 90% chlorpyrifos degradation in 2 years in high alkaline soils. Their reply was that their data showed no such problems. We lifted the pavers, and treated the area by our soil replacement technique with Biflex, and we haven't had a problem since. We don't recommend Dusban (chlorpyrifos) or Dow products any more.
FMC (who manufacture Biflex) are a little different in their approach. Their State manager at the time (Mr Richard Kingsley) worked with us for a period in the termite issue, probably because of Mark's involvement in the Termite Action Group. When the Termite Action Group was reaching a position other than chemical barriers as an ideal, FMC in concert with Amalgamated Pest Control financed the break up of the Termite Action Group by buying off one member, Mr Andrew Campbell. This was raised and published in a full page article by Mr Hedley Thomas in a Saturday Courier Mail. Since the split of the Termite Action Group, Andrew has been paraded around the country as a consumer advocate in the termite issue without any formal pest control or building qualifications, and last time we spoke, Andrew wasn't even a home owner. That's some special consumer advocate.
Dow Agrosciences and FMC deserve some special attention from the authorities, and as the termite issue reaches the courts, we would hope that these companies face some examination of their actions and inactions.
The different bodies above in red are links to further information on each one. Please follow the links. © Mark Porter 2002
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