This may sound a bit strange, but I’ve always had something of a fascination with exterminators and exterminator companies, even as a kid. It probably emerged from seeing Men In Black and just reveling in how disgusting the primary antagonist (an alien wearing the skin of a human exterminator) was portrayed.
This fascination is mostly one of detached horror – the image of men pumping buildings full of manufactured poisons, waiting for them to take their effect, airing it out a little, and then moving on to the next one is like something out of a nightmare. When you combine that image with the fact that a lot of those poisons can escape and start negatively effecting the natural world, you can easily get down on the industry as a whole.
The fact is, people have been dealing with pests since the advent of civilization. Rats, gnats, aphids, and termites have been with us since we moved from paleolithic hunter-gatherer tribes to stationary agrarian societies, and there have been a host of remedies for their removal that don’t involve throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Ancient Sumerians, for example, developed sulphur-based compounds to kill insects invading their fields; Greeks used controlled fires to drive away plagues of locusts; certain Chinese kingdoms developed a system of partnership with pest insect predators like ants. Each civilization was able to find different ways of using nature to fight nature, rather than synthesizing destructive poisons that kill the good critters just as much as it kills the bad ones.
Synthetic pest control, like many modern horrors, started in earnest during the Industrial Revolution in Europe. Chemical manufacturers, eager to capitalize on the advancements made by the great Renaissance and Enlightenment chemists, began using newly available equipment to synthesize and distribute hundreds of different compounds, often despite known health risks.
Many of these compounds eventually found their way into agriculture and pest control; deadliness to humans often translated into deadliness for insects and rodents. In their hubris and desire to exert their control over nature, many in the Industrial age discounted the methodology of their ancient forebears and chose instead the more ‘enlightened’ and modern option, which had drastic consequences for human health and the health of our natural environment.
Luckily, certain companies in our time have begun taking these lessons to heart and putting them into practice. Knowing that a growing segment of the population views traditional extermination methods as barbaric and destructive, they have begun utilizing naturally occurring substances and chemicals to prevent and remove infestations of pests.
Natural Science Exterminating, as the name implies, is a local example of a company that has made the switch from synthetic to natural methods of pest control. They utilize orange oil and borates, two naturally occurring insecticides, to destroy termite nests and prevent traveling insects from setting up future homes on your property.
As more information about how negative modern extermination chemicals are for both the environment and people whose homes have been treated, more companies will begin making the transition towards utilizing natural methods of pest control and extermination. If you would like to schedule an OC termite inspection for free from the guys who have been working with the stuff for years, give Natural Science Exterminating a call today.
Natural Science Exterminating
+18002467378
11642 Knott Ave, Garden Grove, CA 92841