A. This is another area of much confusion. Many people use the terms organic and natural interchangeably with safe and non-toxic. Further confusing the matter, many consumers believe that these terms carry a standard of service practices for structural pest control providers when few such standards exist.
In its most literal form, organic refers to a chemical compound that contains carbon. In today’s usage, most people are referring to the organic standard set forth by the National Organic Program (NOP) administered by the FDA. The NOP sets standards for materials and methods that are acceptable in the production of food products that wish to carry the retail “Organic,” or “Certified Organic” label. Many, but not all, of the pest management materials that are approved for use in organic food production environments are naturally occurring chemicals or compounds.
Being naturally occurring chemicals or compounds does not imply that they are necessarily “safe” or “non-toxic.” Many are of lower toxicity, however when used improperly, natural or organic pesticides can pose a health risks to humans and the environment.
When people speak of synthetic pesticides, they are talking about chemicals that have been created or altered through chemistry to generate a new chemical with desired characteristics. The most common class of synthetic pesticides in use today are the pyrethroids. These are chemical compounds that were developed based on a naturally occurring plant derived chemicals called pyrethrins.