Subterranean termites insecticides

Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), all uses of heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide were canceled in 1978, except for use in subsurface control of subterranean termites and for dipping of roots and tops of nonfood plants (ERA 1985c FDA 1989c). 

The annual cost of termite treatments to the U.S. consumer is about 1.5 billion, and each year, as many as 1.5 million homeowners will experience a termite problem and seek a control option. From the 1940s until 1995, the nearly universal treatment approach for subterranean termite control involved the placement of large volumes of insecticide solutions into the soil surrounding a structure to create a chemical barrier through which termites could not penetrate. 

In the middle of the 20th century, the synthetic development of DDT and other chlorinated hydrocarbons (C.H.), increased insecticidal activity well beyond that of most natural products. Problems arose with bioaccumulation of C.H. residues in the food chain, human fat tissue, mother s milk, as well as the development of insecticide resistance. It became obvious there were limitations to synthetic technology as well. The modification of a natural product, for example, from chrysanthemum flowers and their pyrethrum extracts (7) to pyrethroids such as allethrin, resmethrin, permethrin (2), and deltamethrin created a model in which insecticides are created from the skeleton of insecticidally active natural molecules. Thus, the avermectin, abamectin, ivermectin family of pesticides originated from compounds produced by the soil bacterium, Streptomyces avermitilis (5), and the commercially successful chloronicotinyl insecticides, though not derived from nicotine, are chemically related 4). Both pyrethroids and chloronicotinyls are currently used commercially as termiticides. We have previously provided a detailed review of natural products as pesticidal agents for control of the Formosan subterranean termites, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki (5). 

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