Quantum Units Education®

1. Integrated pest management (IPM) is an approach to pest control that utilizes regular monitoring, record keeping, and does not allow for pesticide use.

2. The goal of an IPM program is to protect human health by suppressing pests that vector diseases, to reduce losses from pest damage, reduce environmental pollution, reduce human exposure to pesticides, particularly that of children, and to reduce costs of pest control.

3. “Economic injury” refers to damage to customers and their pets which are severe enough to cause an economic loss.

4. “Aesthetic injury” refers to annoyance or embarrassment from visibility of a pest, or damage to the appearance of plants which may reduce aesthetic appeal but does not necessarily adversely affect plant health.

5. An IPM program is built around the following components: • monitoring the pest population and other relevant factors • accurate identification of the pest • determining injury and action levels that trigger treatments • timing treatments to the best advantage • spot treating the pest (to minimize human and other non-target organism exposure to pesticides and to contain costs) • selecting the least-disruptive tactics • evaluating the effectiveness of treatments to fine-tune future actions • educating all people involved with the pest problem

6. IPM is not Federal Policy. California has introduced Integrated pest Management in 1979 and has been adopted by 37 other states.

7. “Medical injury” refers to illness in humans, pets, or wildlife caused by organisms or compounds transmitted by pests.

8. There are three guiding principles to use when choosing treatments: conserve and enhance naturally occurring biological controls; use a multi-tactic approach; and view each pest problem in its larger context.

9. In an IPM program, pest control operators use pesticides on a monthly schedule to reduce pest populations.

10. In 1993, the National Research Council documented that infants and children do not face relatively higher risks from exposure to pesticides than do adults exposed at the same levels.

11. In order to implement an IPM program in schools, you should, schedule a meeting with school administrators, volunteer to organize an IPM advisory committee, establish a pilot IPM program, and set up communication links.

12. Parents should only know of a school IPM program if there are pest infestations.

13. An IPM program consists of a cycle: inspect, identify, monitor, evaluate, and always using perimeter spraying on a monthly schedule.

14. The pest manager and occupants of a school or public building should work together to set a threshold when pest control becomes necessary. At this time, the least toxic pest control treatment should be used.

15. Preventive measures are an essential component of IPM programs to reduce the need for pesticide applications.

16. When children are present, it is safe to treat areas as long as the children stay 10' away from treated areas for at least ten minutes. (The 10 by 10 rule)

17. Accurate records of pest activity monitoring and pest management are critical to a successful IPM program. Record-keeping allows schools to evaluate the results of IPM practices and to determine if they are meeting their pest management objectives.

18. When developing an IPM program for schools, it is not important for students and staff to keep their areas clean because a monthly perimeter spray will keep pests from infiltrating school buildings.

19. It is important to set appropriate pest management objectives for school buildings (such as preventing pests from interfering with students’ learning environment and preserving the integrity of the building structure).

20. Establishing a monitoring program that consists of routine inspections to estimate pest population levels and identify evidence of pests and potential habitat is an important aspect of an IPM program.