Gleanings from ICE 2016

After an unintentional break in blogging due to a month of travel, I'm finally caught up enough to sit down with my notes and remember what it was all about.

If you can imagine thousands of entomologists swarming a convention center like fire ants on Cheetos, that's what it was like at the 25th International Congress of Entomology (ICE) held in Orlando, FL.  Held every three years, and rotating to a different nation every time, the ICE is the largest gathering of professional insect experts in the world--and this one may have been the biggest ever.  This year there were over 6,600 registrants from 102 countries, giving 5,396 presentations.

This was my first ICE, and it was overwhelming. It seemed like I spent half my week just sorting through the program to know which sessions and posters I should attend.  So probably like everyone who attends the ICE, I came away feeling like I had a unique, though very limited, perspective on the meeting.

One of the more enjoyable aspects of the Congress was meeting insect geeks from around the world. Some were bench scientists (who work in the laboratory), others worked in the field (including one enthusiastic fellow I met from Germany who brought his own dung on a field trip to trap Florida dung beetles--and it worked!).  There were first time visitors to the U.S., and many young and enthusiastic students. I met scientists from Finland, Vietnam, Australia, Kenya, and Iraq. But in the research sessions we were all just entomologists, despite different dress, language or customs.

So here are some highlights of my notes from the many hours of sitting in sessions and looking at PowerPoint slides:

• German cockroach resistance to baits was the subject of a paper by NC State University researcher Jules Silverman. When comparing a susceptible German cockroach strain versus a field strain from Puerto Rico, his team found resistance to fipronil (15-20X), indoxacarb (15,000X) and even hydramethynon (350X). This was the first time hydramethylnon physiological resistance (as opposed to avoidance) has been found. Even with this resistance, in the lab they still saw complete control of cockroaches with gel baits.  But control was not as good in field trials where cockroaches had access to other foods.  My take home message was that we must be careful in our use of cockroach baits, and use them in combination with sanitation, sprays and other control tactics if we want to preserve them for coming years.

• Paula Stigler Granados from the UT School of Public Health reported on the status of Chagas disease in the U.S.  Dr. Granados leads a task force studying the best way to protect human health from this important, disease transmitted by kissing bugs.  Doctors tend to downplay the risk of Chagas disease and rarely test for the disease.  Blood banks only test for Chagas if a person is a first time donor; hence some are concerned about the possibility of our U.S. blood supply becoming contaminated with the Chagas disease parasite. It's estimated that as many as 98-99% of cases in the U.S. remain undiagnosed.
        Educational awareness among doctors and patients will be a focus of the Texas Chagas task force, along with better screening, diagnosis and treatment.  Chagas is a chronic and ultimately fatal disease.  In previous years it was considered untreatable; but with a new drug therapy it now can be treated in earlier stages. Getting the drug to people who need it is still a challenge, however.
• In related papers Dr. Gabe Hamer from Texas A&M reported on the results of a citizen science effort to study kissing bugs. From 2013 to 2015, they collected 2,812 bugs from 98 different Texas counties. The most common species detected was Triatoma gerstaeckeri, with 63% of those collected infected with the Chagas disease pathogen.  Another study by Rodion Gorchakov from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston showed that humans are the most common host for kissing bugs collected by citizen scientists in Texas with human blood found in 66% of bugs.  So why not more Chagas disease in Texas and other parts of the U.S.?  The current theory is that gerstaeckeri and our other native kissing bug species are not very good at transmitting the disease during biting--something to be thankful for.
• A couple of the more interesting and fun talks I attended were on insects and Japanese art and culture.  Some of you may know Dr. Nan Yao Su, developer of the Sentricon system concept at the University of Florida.  Turns out he is interested in insect influences on Japanese culture.  
• Gunter Miller, from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, spoke on the process of developing effective attractive toxic sugar baits (ATSBs) for mosquito control.  Based on the fact that both male and female mosquitoes feed on natural sugar sources (like nectar, honeydew), ATSBs must be competitive with these natural sources, so the process of developing these baits is more complicated than just mixing sugar with a pesticide and spraying it on plants.  Their lab developed a "mosquito sangria" mixture (includes beer and Sangria) that will remain attractive to mosquitoes for more than a month after spraying.  Their technology is being used in the Terminix All Clear Mosquito Bait Spray.  This approach to mosquito control has attracted a lot of attention because of its potential to control some Aedes mosquitoes (vectors of Zika, and the most common daytime biters), and because of its need for less insecticide that might be harmful to beneficial insects.  
• Joel Coats from Iowa State University has been studying alternatives to PBO, the most commonly used synergist for pyrethrins and other pyrethroid insecticides.  He found that many of the plant extracts he tested synergized permethrin as well or better than PBO, and many worked faster than PBO.  Apparently PBO was developed early as a standard synergist for the industry, and few people have taken the time to look at alternatives over the past 50 years. Having an organic synergist could be a real market boost to pyrethrins sprays, most of which cannot be sold as organic because of the synthetic PBO needed to make it effective.
• According to MacKenzie Kjeldgaard of Texas A&M University, who analyzed ant gut contents with sophisticated DNA techniques, the fire ant's top food source was crickets, but also included springtails, caterpillars, flies and spiders.  
• Freder Medina introduced a new BASF termiticide injection system using Termidor H.E.  The new application system uses 4000 psi pressure to inject the insecticide into the ground, eliminating the need for drenching.  The system will come with a base unit and mobile app to communicate with BASF.  You should be hearing more about this in 2017.
• Last, I had a pleasant surprise in the commercial exhibits when I discovered a new book just published by Stephen Doggett, University of Sydney, Australia.  Stephen is a well known bed bug researcher, but had the genius to put out a handy photographic guide to bed bug infestations for, well, just about anyone.  It has dozens of excellent photos, tells where and how to spot bed bugs and what to do if you find bed bugs in your home. This should be a useful resource to share with pest control customers, and as a training tool for employees.  Self published, and not widely available, but you can get it at BioQuip books for about $7.

Of course there was much much more information at ICE this year, some of which I may incorporate in future posts.  But it's Saturday and time to get on to other activities. I hope some of this has been interesting and helpful.

Another three years of Termidor Section 18 label

Pest management professionals on the front line of the battle with tawny crazy ant (TCA) (Nylanderia fulva) can breath a little easier.  Last Friday the U.S. EPA issued a Section 18 quarantine exemption to allow Termidor® SC to be applied as an extra wide treatment zone around homes and buildings in infested Texas counties.

The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) is perhaps the most important law governing pesticide use and pest control in the U.S.  Section 3 of FIFRA has to do with registering insecticides, and establishes the process by which different pesticides usually get their label approval. This is why you may hear people refer to the standard label on a pesticide container as a "Section 3" label.

Sometimes states have a need for a new use, or pest, that is not allowed under a regular Section 3 label.  When that occurs, the state may request an amended label, called a Section 18 emergency, or Quarantine, exemption.  Section 18 of FIFRA authorizes EPA to allow an unregistered use of a pesticide for a limited time if EPA determines that an emergency pest condition exits. An emergency condition must be an urgent and non-routine situation where 1) no effective registered pesticides are available, 2) no feasible alternative control practices exist, and 3) the situation involves the introduction of a new pest, will present significant risks to human health or the environment, or will cause significant economic loss.

Dead tawny crazy ants pile up around a Termidor® treated
building perimeter.  Once enough dead ants accumulate, other
ants can cross the treatment zone on the bodies of their nest
mates (photo by Jason Meyers).

Several years ago BASF found that Termidor® SC Termiticide/Insecticide was highly effective at killing TCA, but did not always  effectively keep TCA out of buildings.  This happened because TCA numbers were so great in infested areas, that dead ants would pile up around the treated perimeter of buildings. As dead ants accumulated on the allowed one-foot out treatment zone, other ants would simply crawl over the zone on the dead bodies of their nest mates.  It became apparent that the standard one-foot-up and one-foot-out perimeter treatments allowed under the Termidor® Section 3 labels were inadequate to protect homes and businesses from invasion by this ant.

The latest Section 18 granted to the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) allowed applications to be made as a 10-feet-out (on sod) by 3-foot-up perimeter treated zone.  This last exemption ran out on November 1 2015, and anxious PMPs have been waiting for its renewal since.  This week's announcement will allow the 3-foot-up and 10-foot-out Termidor® SC use this year when ants become active again, according to Extension entomologist Dr. Paul Nester. Nester noted that the label restricts users to two applications per year per structure, at least 60 days apart.  Most people, he said, apply first in late June, when ants become troublesome, and then again in late August.

The Section 18 label restricts its exemption to infested Texas counties only:

For control of tawny crazy ant species associated with man-made structures in Texas within the counties of Bexar, Brazoria, Brazos, Cameron, Chambers, Comal, Fayette, Fort Bend, Galveston, Hardin, Harris, Hays, Hidalgo, Jefferson, Jim Hogg, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Nueces, Orange, Polk, San Augustine, Travis, Victoria, Walker, Wharton, Williamson, and to include additional counties where positive identification has been made (by Texas A&M entomologists).

The list will change as the number of infested counties goes up (and it will), so it's a good idea to check the current range map maintained at Texas A&M.

Though there are other fipronil-containing sprays, only Termidor®  SC has the expanded perimeter Section 18 treatment option.

According to Nester, most applicators use Termidor® or Taurus® treatments in combination with yard treatments of either dinotefuran, lambda-cyhalothrin (or other pyrethroid), or a fipronil granule.

This week's announcement came from Dale R. Scott, Director for Environmental and Biosecurity Programs at TDA.  He encourages anyone with questions to contact Kevin Haack (TDA Coordinator for Pesticide Evaluation and Registration) or Mike Kelly (TDA Coordinator for Structural Programs).

Some competition

After all the political discussion this week in the media about "vulture capitalism" I'm reminded that battles in the pest control industry can become just as heated as any political campaign.  According to an article this week in Pest Management Professional, after 21 months of legal battles between BASF and rival manufacturers, it looks as if at least one company has won the right to sell generic fipronil.

Control Solutions is currently selling a granular and SC formulated version of fipronil that will compete with Bayer Top Choice and BASF Termidor.  The current label for Taurus G (granular fipronil) lists only fire ants as a target pest, although additional pests may be added in the future.  Like Termidor, the Taurus SC label includes instructions for perimeter pests and termite control.  For termites it allows for an "Exterior Perimeter - Localized Interior" treatment, a form of treatment pioneered by BASF. According to Control Solutions, both products are now available through most distributors (Univar is not yet selling the Control Solutions' fipronil, pending additional negotiations) in Texas.

I don't usually post about battles between chemical manufacturers over market share; but as I pointed out in an earlier post, this is a big deal for the pest control industry. Patent expiration always leads to price reductions for the industry, and this one will be no exception. And when it comes to a leading termiticide, we're talking lots of money.

For its part, BASF has worked hard to protect its patents and develop new uses and formulations to stay ahead of the competition.  Termidor DRY is one example of a unique BASF formulation, as is a new formulation that will require less trenching and less water for perimeter treatments.

I won't weigh in on whether it's a good idea to go with a less expensive, off-brand insecticide; however I will make a generic observation about generics. Everyone should know that despite having the same active ingredient, generic products are never identical to the original.  For example, the way an active ingredient is formulated will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.  Formulations include solvents, adjuvants and stabilizers to make the technical ingredient easier to mix, store and use. If you choose to switch to a generic product in your business, be sure to make sure it's giving you the same performance you expect from the original. As with any new product, it's important to decide what works best for you and your business. After all, wise decisions are all that stand between you and the "vulture capitalists".

Houston crazy ant seminar

Just a quick post to pass on information about a BASF-sponsored crazy ant seminar in Houston on the 24th of this month.  It's free and designed to teach you more about what is known about the ant, control strategies, and the special (Section 18) labeling Termidor carries for treating this ant.  Read more.

Last year I went to a similar symposium for government agencies in Brazoria county.  Click here to see the YouTube report on that session.