By a lot. They swarm through our backyards, scamper through our houses -- even crawl across our skin. According to the Smithsonian Institute , there are more than million insects for every human on the planet, and one soil sample study in Pennsylvania found million insects in a single acre. With numbers like those, we can't hope to eradicate bugs, and with the huge and vital role they play in our ecosystem, we wouldn't want to.
But sometimes we want to keep them away from us. Preferably far, far away. That's where bug spray comes in. Bug sprays generally fall into two broad categories: insecticides and repellents. The U. Environmental Protection Agency EPA classifies both insecticides and repellents as pesticides , but while insecticides are designed to kill insects on the spot or reduce their numbers over time by disrupting their ability to reproduce, repellents work by making us less attractive to bugs, keeping them away from us.
Most of the bug sprays we use on our bodies act as repellents, while the products we use to keep six-legged pests out of our homes may be either repellents or insecticides. Some bug sprays are effective against just about anything they come into contact with unfortunately this also includes birds, fish, and small mammals , while others work only on certain insect species. Farmers, resort communities and even military outfits often use insecticide sprays to control bug populations across large areas, but in this article we'll focus on the kinds of bug sprays we use around our homes and on our skin.
Whether you need to rid your kitchen floor of ants or keep mosquitoes from ruining your camping trip, you'll find any number of options on supermarket shelves, but the active ingredients listed on each label are enough to make you wish you paid more attention in chemistry class.
So, what are all those ingredients, and what do they do? Have you ever wondered why there are so many different types of bug sprays for the pests in and around our homes -- one for wasps and hornets , one for ants and roaches , and still another for fleas and ticks? As it turns out, they contain very similar insecticides, although their specific ingredients and formulations differ depending on how and where the sprays will be used.
Most household bug sprays contain one or more insecticides in the pyrethroid family. Pyrethroids are synthetic chemicals designed to mimic the natural oils found in chrysanthemum flowers [source: National Pesticide Information Center ]. They affect an insect's central and peripheral nervous systems on contact, causing tremors, paralysis and a quick death [sources: EPA , NPIC ].
Pyrethroids are effective against all sorts of insects, including beneficial bugs like bees and butterflies. They're also highly toxic to fish. Pyrethroids such as permethrin , prallethrin and cypermethrin are the active ingredients in many wasp and hornet sprays. If you've ever had to deal with a nest in your yard, you know that it's best to spray in the evening, when these insects are less active. This is partly so they won't dive-bomb your head as you attempt to wipe out their home and family, but it's also for efficiency, since the spray is likely to instantly terminate any wasps that are in the nest.
Pyrethroids are also found in sprays targeting ants, roaches, silverfish and other crawling critters. Since it's not always easy to find the source of an ant or roach invasion, these sprays need to work over an extended time to effectively kill insects outside their nests. Do you know that cockroaches are older than dinosaurs? Some even suggest that they existed even before the dinosaurs. Yet, there are no possible methods discovered even today to prevent cockroach infestation and put an end to the nasty and creepy crawlers.
Somehow they have survived and continue to survive. Your kitchen and bathroom should be the last place where they need to be. There are some quick and effective cockroach sprays in India which can put an easy end to cockroach menace inside your home.
Simply put, cockroach sprays are designed to kill the cockroaches. Have you wondered how the cockroach curls up, feels dizzy and ultimately dozes off or dies after spraying the product on it?
Well, more than magic it is specially and carefully designed formulations which act on the cockroaches and eliminate them easily. Most of the cockroach sprays have synthetic pyrethrins and pyrethroids as active ingredients. Just to elaborate it a bit, these are organic compounds found in chrysanthemum flowers.
Thanks to such things in existence, we have something in our hand to fight the cockroach war and we are succeeding at our homes. How does it really work? When the cockroaches or other pests are sprayed with cockroach spray, they absorb it through the skin. As soon as the chemicals strike their bodies, a knockdown effect is felt by these red insects, preventing nerves to transmit signals or messages.
This leads to paralysis and death. Are the chemicals harmful? Yes for cockroaches and No for human beings. The metabolism and excretion process is fast in human beings.
But of course, you should never spray them on your skin either as it can lead to dangerous consequences. DEET, Picaridin, lemon eucalyptus oil are some of the ingredients that work as repellents.
These do not kill the cockroaches but confuses them. Pests are known to use the sense of smell to find food or other things. When you spray cockroach repellent, it confuses their smell and takes them away from you. Indian households have two common enemies; mosquitoes and cockroaches. You can go to any part of the country and you may find both these insects creating havoc, disturbing the peace, scaring the kids and people trying to find better solutions to this problem.
They have this nagging habit of going places like the kitchen, moving over food, walking down our clothes etc. Microbial insecticides made of viruses or bacteria enter an insect when it feeds on a treated plant. The microbes attack the insect's gut, eventually causing death. Sprays targeting insect digestive systems often have to be reapplied after rain.
Bug sprays that inhibit insect growth are particularly effective against insects that are pests in their adult stage. Those insects include ants, fleas and mosquitoes. The sprays' chemicals interfere with insect hormonal systems. When applied to insects in their immature stage, the sprays disturb the insects' normal development, and the insect fail to reach adulthood.
Sprays containing methoprene, an insect growth regulator, are safe for use around people but are completely ineffective against adult insects. Jean Godawa is a science educator and writer. She has been writing science-related articles for print and online publications for more than 15 years.
Godawa holds a degree in biology and environmental science with a focus on entomology from the University of Toronto.
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