The proceedings of this conference have now been published,
and the resulting volume is a revelation to anyone who still believes that urban
pest control only exists in a world of rat catchers, yellowing fly papers and
moth balls.
The opening lecture set the tone for the conference. Entitled
'Prospects for genetic manipulation of insect vectors as a strategy for the
control of vector-borne disease', the paper addressed some of the key issues
facing urban pest management and suggested appropriate solutions. Although some
environmental and biological controls are applied, the control of disease
vectors as well as most other urban insect pests relies heavily on chemical
insecticides. However difficulties which include pest resistance, environmental
contamination by chemical pesticides and the high cost and time taken to develop
new pesticides emphasise the need for different approaches to be developed.
In the case of the opening lecture, as the title suggests,
the new approach proposed uses genetic manipulation to influence the way in
which insect vectors transmit disease organisms. For example, by focusing on the
relationship between vector and disease organism genetically modifying
mosquitoes in order to reduce their ability to carry or transmit malaria may be
one route. Another may be to reduce the viability of the insect vector
populations in the environment by introducing sexually active but sterile male
mosquitoes. Female mosquitoes mate only once, and if this is with a sterile male
then no fertile eggs are laid. The technique has been used for some time using
chemicals or electromagnetic radiation to sterilise the males. Genetic
modification may prove to be a more efficient method. Clearly however, issues
related to the release of genetically modified organisms into the environment
need to be addressed, and may not be overcome.
The use of novel chemical products, biological control agents
and environmental control strategies featured in several papers and in relation
to many pest organisms. Thus the success of the chitin synthesis inhibitor
triflumuron in the control of German cockroaches reported in one paper could be
balanced against the new bait containing a nutritional metabolism disrupter (NMD)
made of oxypurinol and xanthine which was tested on German cockroaches and the
results reported in another paper. Could botanical extracts be used to control
both mosquito vectors of the parasitic disease Filariasis and water snail
vectors of the parasitic disease Schistosomiasis which inhabit the same
environments? And could we see a future where the pests of stored products,
furniture and textiles are suffocated by having oxygen displaced from their
environments by nitrogen, rather than poisoned with chemicals?
Clearly new ideas for the control of pests in the built
environment abound. The motivation for their development, as mentioned earlier,
is a combination of the development of resistance in pests, concern about the
hazards of chemical pesticides and the lack of new chemical pesticides being
introduced into this market. A number of papers addressed these issues in their
own right. An entire session was devoted to resistance management discussing
resistance in houseflies, malaria vectors, termites and cockroaches. In relating
to the health and environmental hazards resulting from pesticide use in urban
pest control, researchers looked at protective clothing for pest control
professionals in one paper and conservation and biodiversity concerns in
another. Issues relating to commercial aspects of pest control products and
their registration are discussed in two papers on the new EU Biocides Directive
and another discussing the importance of support for urban insecticides through
generation and communication of health related information.
Pest management as opposed to pest control also features
among the papers. A session on pest management includes papers on building
design as a pest reduction feature and IPM in non-agricultural pest control
among others. Interestingly perhaps, according to a paper from Germany, IPM
seems to have been introduced via US Military establishments. However, the
US holds no monopoly over IPM which, whether referred to explicitly or by
implication features in papers from researchers based in other regions,
including Europe.
Public health pest control is of direct significance to much
of the world's population, yet the economics of mosquito or fly control are
far less clear than that of cotton or wheat pest control. New pesticides tend to
be developed almost exclusively for the major agricultural crops and other
sectors learn to adapt what is made available in the market place. Perhaps it is
this somewhat 'poor relation' attitude given to the public health sector
which has forced it to become more innovative. Perhaps the practitioners in this
sector are less conservative in their approach to the problems they are dealing
with. Whatever the reason it is gratifying to note the high proportion of low
and no pesticide controls reported in these proceedings.
The control of public health pests is clearly not a new
discipline. The range and sophistication of control methods is impressive.
Perhaps the only surprise from this volume is that it is reporting on only the
second international conference on Insect Pests in the Urban Environment; why
have there not been many more? This is a biannual event and the next will be
held in the Czech Republic in 1999. It is undoubtedly a valuable forum for
presentation and discussion of new thinking and new developments in public
health pest control. The proceedings are a commendable representation of the
conference and make fascinating reading to anyone with an interest in this very
broad subject area. (MD)
Proceedings of the 2nd International
Conference on Insect Pests in the Urban environment, Ed. K.B. Wildey, ICIPUE
Secretariat, The Old School House, Castle Camps, Cambs CB1 6SX, UK, December
1996 £35, 640pp.
[This
article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 35,
March 1997, page 15]