Pest Control: Better safe than sorry

Dubai Advanced treatments to fight pesky insects are making pest control more expensive and cumbersome, prompting many residents to resort to cheaper options and putting the community at risk.

This weeks shocking death of an 12-year-old Iraqi girl from suspected pesticide poisoning in Sharjah is yet another rude reminder about the heavy price paid every time a callous resident takes the shortcut to control pests.

But more than the lack of awareness, residents said the issue of persisting pesticide mishaps boils down to an unwillingness to pay for safe pest control, especially with newer methods used by pest control companies costing more money and effort.

Angel DSouza, a housewife in Dubai, said: I was shocked when a pest control company told me that I would have to pay Dh1,800 for heat treatment to control cockroaches and bedbugs in my two-bedroom apartment.

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On top of it, I was given a long list of things I had to do to prepare the apartment for the treatment.

It is too cumbersome.

Similarly, Faruq, a Sharjah resident, said he and his family were at their wits end trying to comply with a three-stage strategy adopted by a pest control firm that charged him Dh850 to control bedbugs in his three-bedroom apartment. Our house was turned upside down. We were asked to dismantle the beds and hot-wash all linen and clothing and seal them in plastic bags. We literally had to put our lives on hold for a month as the treatment was done in three stages at 10-day intervals.

But pest control companies say it is all part of an integrated approach to pest management which takes into account life-cycles of pests and their interaction with the environment before arriving at specific monitoring, prevention and control measures.

Dinesh Ramachandran, Technical Manager of National Pest Control (NPC), said: If pest control is to be effective, the client has to follow our recommendations and prepare well in terms of access, clearing of clutter, hot-wash and laundry of bed linen, quilts, curtains etc, vacuuming of cracks and crevices before we start bedbug treatment. This is because bedbugs can hide in the tiniest crevices. They are active when we are asleep and feed on our blood. They can starve for more than a month so if you think they will go away when you are on vacation, you are mistaken.

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Pest Control: Better safe than sorry