Greenbug Pesticide Resistance

Unlike our competitors, Greenbug is NOT a pesticide.

It works as it is a biological reaction to a natural product, therefore there is NO chance of resistance.

Resistance is why other products are not working!

Humans have been controlling or attempting to control insect and other pests for thousands of years. However, it has been only within the last 50 years that significant progress has been made in controlling pests of humans and our food, fiber, animals, and the structures in which we live and work. This significant advance has occurred because of synthetic
(man-made) pesticides. Early successes with the first pesticides, such as DDT, came swiftly.

Very soon after the rapid and astounding victories over pests, a decline in the effectiveness of these new chemical weapons was observed. Application rates (amounts used) were increased to regain the initial levels of control.

However, the levels of control seemed to decline even more rapidly. The reduced levels of control, and eventual control failure in many instances, were found to be due to resistance of the pests to these chemicals.

Pesticide resistance is a genetically based phenomenon. Resistance occurs when a pest population— insects, for instance— is exposed to a pesticide. When this happens, not all insects are killed. Those individuals that survive frequently have done so because they are genetically predisposed to be resistant to the pesticide.

The offspring of these survivors will carry the genetic makeup of their parents. These offspring, many of which will inherit the ability to survive the exposure to the insecticide, will become a greater proportion with each succeeding generation of the population. Because of the rapid reproductive rate of many pests — a generation of many insects can take place in a few weeks — many generations can be produced in a single season or year. In a short period the entire population of insects will be resistant. The more times a population is exposed to a pesticide the more quickly resistance will develop.

Today, pests that were brought under control by pesticides are on the rebound. Mosquitoes that are capable of transmitting malaria are now resistant to virtually all pesticides used against them. Because many generations of some pests can develop in a single year, it is easy to see how resistance can develop so quickly in so many pest species. Recent studies indicate there are now over 500 species of insects and mites resistant to pesticides that once controlled them. Multiple resistance—resistance to more than one pesticide and to pesticides in more than one chemical class—is increasing rapidly.

Acknowledgments

This publication was developed under a project of the Southern Extension and Research Activity- Information Exchange Group 1 (Southern Region Pesticide Impact Assessment Program). Partial Funding for the publication was provided by U.S. Department of Agriculture Extension Service National Agricultural Pesticide Impact Assessment Program special project 93-EPIX-1-145.

Pest Resistance to Pesticides