Urban Residential IPM Strategies - Final Report

Disclaimer

This report was prepared by an EPA assistance agreement recipient and represents only the views of the author rather than EPA.

“Pests in Your Nest”

Mark Robson, Ph.D., M.P.H., A.T.S.
UMDNJ-School of Public Health and EOHSI, Rutgers, Isles, Inc.

170 Frelinghuysen Road
Piscataway, NJ 08854

(732)-445-8105

(732)-445-8253

robson@eohsi.rutgers.edu

Abstract

EPA funded, through Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Grant PE-97298801-0, a project to develop a Video in VHS and DVD format on Urban Integrated Pest Management, renamed by our community partners as “Arrest the Pests in Your Nest.” The project partnership consisted of Dr. Mark Robson, Principal Investigator and Chairman of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Public Health, Dr. George Hamilton Co-Investigator from the Department of Entomology at Rutgers, Cook College and Ms. Elyse Pivnick, Co-Investigator from Isles, Inc., of Trenton, New Jersey.

Telequest, Inc., of Princeton, New Jersey was the production company for this project. The script was developed by the partnership team. The video was shot in a residential neighborhood in Trenton, New Jersey. Ms. Edith Laramore, a social worker from the Trenton Housing Authority, was our narrator for the video. Additional footage was shot at the Henry Austin Health Center in Trenton and at Isles. Drs. Robson and Hamilton also are part of the narration for the video.

An advisory committee of state and federal officials, environmental groups, citizen groups, and health care providers were convened to review the concept, the script and the DRAFT products as we came closer to completion of the video. Changes and edits were made according to the recommendations from the group.

The Video is 13.5 minutes. It has been reviewed by students, community groups, and health care professionals. It will be put upon the web as download for interested parties, it will also be distributed throughout NJ as a VHS and DVD to community groups, cooperative extension offices, and FQHC, as well as other interested parties.

There will be a resource guide available to assist the user with additional resources and references for pest control, safe pest use, and health information.

Project Successes and Problems

In general the project went smoothly, the project team has worked together before, so many of the problems that would have occurred have already been experienced and worked out. There were some issues with the location. working around family schedules to use the home, and finding the list of approved pest products. Also, there was some debate regarding the efficacy and safety of some of the nonchemical methods as well as a balance between the use of chemicals and no chemical use.

It was agreed that the video must contain the entire spectrum of pest control options with an honest and complete assessment and commentary on the risk associated with some of the control methodology.

Changes in Approved Activities

Overall we were able to maintain the schedule that we set and were able to follow the general outline that was put into the proposal. There will be some additional time required to have public comment on the DRAFT resources guide that accompanies the video, and there will be some time needed to produce and to distribute the final version.

We had to seek additional funding from our NIEHS Health Science Center to complete the project, an additional $5,000 from the NIEHS Center well as additional funding from Dr. Robson’s discretionary budget to make the final product a high quality production. Funds will also be sought for the web version and cutting the DVD final master. The final cost over the EPA award of $40,000 was approximately $10,000 in real dollars as well as the in kind and match that were already in the proposal.

Distribution

We plan on three methods of distribution:

FIRST we will send this to all Cooperative Extension Offices and FQHCs in New Jersey. We plan on making it available to a long list of community groups that we work with through our Outreach Efforts with Isles. Inc.
SECOND we plan on making this a DVD and a VHS version and combining it with another series to make available to the Isles mailing lists.
THIRD we will put this up on the website for UMDNJ, EOHSI. EPA Region 11, Isles, and Rutgers Cooperative Extension, we have this available in a web version as “REAL PLAYER” and this will make it easy to download from our web sites with a PDF version of the Resource Guide.

Materials Generated

Attached on the jacket is the FINAL DRAFT DVD version fo the Pest in Your Nest video as well as a copy fo the cover that will go on the DVD and the VHS box. Also in the binder is the Table of COntents fo the Resources Guide which is being completed and then will be tested with focus groups prior to production.

Resource Guide

Table of Contents

Pests in Your Nest

Introduction and description of the groups who developed the video, how they came to identify this as a need for community groups.
Discussion of the video, goals and objective for the video; intended audiences; possible uses with community groups and other organizations.
Discussion of the issues of pests in the home. Who are the major pest problems? In our case in the video we list the Top Six Public Enemies. Insect and Pest Identification.
Description of each of the Public Enemies that follow along the presentation in the video.
Review of the standard methods of pest control, cover the range of options from sanitation and good housekeeping to barriers, nonchemical methods, traps, and pesticides.
Specific section on the issues associated with pesticide use, health concerns, methods to control exposure, etc.
What to do if someone is poisoned with a pesticide. The 1-800 number, how it works and what type of information it can provide.
Who to call if the pest problem is beyond the homeowner’s control. What to look for when you hire an exterminator
Web resources on pest, pest control, and the safe use of pest control products
Written resources on pests, pest control, and the safe use of pest control products.
A list of state and federal agencies who can assist you.

This Table of Contents is being distributed when the focus groups look at the FINAL DRAFT and are asked what else would be useful information to accompany the video.