Key Safety Points
- The products we use are water based and biodegradable.
- They have very low toxicity to people and other mammals.
- They are less toxic than many household cleaning products like bleach.
- They are used extensively by Australian farmers in food production.
- They are fully approved for use in and around homes, schools and restaurants.
- Our larvae treatment is approved by the World Health Organisation.
- We are licensed by the NSW Environment Protection Agency.
Detailed Safety Information
The synthetic pyrethroids we use are less toxic than many ordinary household products you probably use yourself – and that’s before we dilute them with water at specified rates!
It is true that products used to control pests must inherently be toxic to those pests or they simply wouldn’t work. However, just because a substance is harmful to one species doesn’t make it equally dangerous to others. A good example of this is paracetamol; the world’s most commonly used painkiller is absolutely deadly to cats. This is due to the way different species metabolise different substances.
The products we use are water based and biodegradable. They are called “synthetic pyrethroids”. Pyrethrum is a naturally occurring substance from pyrethrum daisies that the Chinese discovered over 3000 years ago and used to manage a variety of insect pests. The synthetic pyrethroids we use today are man made versions of these compounds. You will find them in human head lice and pet shampoos, mosquito coils, regular supermarket brands of household insect spray and many of the products that home gardeners use to control insects.
We never use old fashioned poisons like organochlorides and organophosphates. Ever.
The exact products we use are approved for use in agriculture. Thousands of Australian farmers use them extensively in the production of our food crops including grains, bananas, peaches, tomatoes and grapes.
The product we use to control mosquito larvae is so low in toxicity that the World Health Organisation have approved its use in human drinking water.
The synthetic pyrethroids we use are less toxic than many ordinary household products you probably use yourself – and that’s before we dilute them for use in your garden with water at the rate of 1:100. For example, household bleach, pool chlorine and household ammonia are all around twice as toxic as our products. Some hair dyes along with nicotine are approximately ten times as toxic – even simple mosquito coils are more toxic. You will be very surprised to know that caffeine and aspirin are more toxic to mammals, humans included, than what we use to control ticks and mosquitoes*, and needless to say, the products we’ll be using in your garden will never be something you’d consume.
Our products are fully approved and registered for controlling ticks and mosquitoes in household gardens by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicine Authority (APVMA) which is the Australian federal government authority responsible for regulating these things. In fact, our products are also approved for use inside homes, including kitchens, however, we only treat outdoor areas. You’ll find that things such as personal insect repellent (eg: Aerogard) and pet flea shampoo all have to be approved by the APVMA as well.
As a final re-assurance, our team members have completed formal, accredited training and are licensed by the NSW Environmental Protection Agency. We are also a member of the Mosquito Control Association of Australia.
We hope that this information will leave you feeling completely comfortable that when we come to get rid of ticks or mosquitoes at your place you needn’t feel anxious about the products we’ll be using.
* These figures are based on toxicity rates formally published in material safety data sheets for each of the products mentioned.
