Marketing Integrated Pest Management as a Value-Added Service - Urban Insect Pests: Sustainable Management Strategies - page 214

consumer on the added values of an IPM
programme. The value addition will help
consumers to distinguish IPM from con-
ventional pest control and eventually select
it as the method of choice.
The key value addition of IPM that
would most appeal to the consumer is to
undertake pest control with less chemical
use. This specifi c attribute continues to be
the most attractive factor that appeals to
consumers, as shown in surveys. Because
urban pest control takes place in close
association with the human population, the
potential exposure of humans to pesticidal
products is high. IPM would reduce this
exposure by incorporating a number of
calculated actions, including replacing old
formulation types with new ones. Newer
formulations have safer active ingredients
and delivery methods, which in turn reduce
the chances of human exposure. The
development of insecticide baits has helped
IPM considerably, not only by making the
application inspection-driven but by being
friendlier to the environment. However, in
spite of baits being safe, the cost and greater
skill and time involved in application make
them less popular with practitioners. It is
not uncommon to see that the practitioner's
choice of formulation and the nature of the
pest control programme are determined
more by the cost and ease of application
than by logic.

Overall, it could be a realistic perception
that IPM is losing its momentum (Draper,
2012) and is proving uncompetitive and
unsustainable. The debate between using a
conventional treatment versus IPM remains
purely academic and practitioners are
reluctant participants. As consumers con-
tinue to look for better pest control solutions,
it is possible that soon a new direction of
pest control will appear that would be
practised in a totally different way.
The project entitled 'Pest Prevention by
Design' is a recent proposal from San
Francisco's IPM programme that is
responsible for pest management and pesti-
cide reduction on city-owned properties.
The programme had reduced the city
government's pesticide use by 80% in its
fi rst 10 years but, as the reduction trend
fl attened out, it became clear poor design
was a key problem, both for landscapes and
buildings (Rodriguez, 2013). The guidelines
include measures appropriate for the design
stage of a new building or for renovations of
existing buildings. Examples include using
a stainless steel mesh to exclude termites,
putting caps on roof tiles to reduce bird and
rat infestations, sloping window sills to
discourage pigeons, and building in hatches
to permit the easier inspection of
foundations (Rodriguez, 2013). This is a
nascent idea and over time it will become
known if these designs remain pest free.

References

BIPRO - Beratungsgesellschaft für integrierte Problemlösungen (2009) Development of guidance for
establishing integrated pest management (IPM) principles. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/
environment/ppps/pdf/fi nal_report_ipm.pdf (accessed 15 February 2013).
Brenner, B.L., Markowitz, S., Rivera, M., Romero, H., Weeks, M., Sanchez, E., Deych, E., Garq, A.,
Godbold, J., Wolff, M.S., Landrigan, P.J. and Berkowitz, G. (2003) Integrated pest management in an
urban community: a successful partnership for prevention. Environmental Health Perspectives 111,
1649-1653.
Corrigan, R.M. (2012) Urban and community IPM. Best practices. Available at: http://www.ipmcenters.org/
ipmsymposium12/IPM_12_plenary_abstracts_links.pdf (accessed 27 September 2013).
CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and HUD - Department of Housing and Urban
Development (2006) Healthy housing reference manual. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/
publications/books/housing/housing.htm (accessed 22 December 2006).
Dhang, P. (2011 ) Insecticides as urban pollutants. In: Dhang P. (ed.) Urban Pest Management: an
Environmental Perspective. CAB International, Wallingford, UK, pp. 1-18.
Draper, M. (2012) IPM isn't dead, but we are working on killing it. Available at: http://www.ipmcenters.org/
ipm/IPM_12_plenary_abstracts_links.pdf (accessed 9 October 2013).