Univar December 2011 Newsletter

December 2011


	With the year almost behind us, we thank our customers for their business in 2011! The New Year surely will bring with it new opportunities, but now is a good time to enjoy the holiday season. Please take a moment to click the e-card link below as our special wish for you this holiday. We look forward to another successful year together in 2012 and can’t wait to see you in our home town of Austin for AMCA's 78th Annual Meeting. Let's plan your program's success together - stop by our booth to learn more about what Univar PP&S can do for you!

As we focus this quarter on education, now is a good a time to consider some of the resources available to your organization from Univar PP&S. One way we do this is by providing several Master Technician courses online. These courses cover several pest topics relating to Public Health, including mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, bed bugs, and biting flies.

Depending on the state in which you are licensed, these courses may be approved for CE credits in that state’s “Public Health” category. To see exactly how your states approve each Master Technician online training course select the “State CEU Info” tab in Master Technician and then your state. Scroll down to view the complete list of courses approved there and the license categories for each course. A few other particulars:

All courses are for 1 hour of CE credit and taken completely online.
A final quiz concludes each course and must be passed for “successful” completion.
A Certificate of Completion can be printed out following successful completion, New York attendees must follow a separate protocol for that state.

If you ever require a more personal touch, our Industry Specialists stand ready to help! We can tailor our training to meet your organizational needs. Training can be provided at the local Univar Pro Center or conveniently on-site at your location. Our strong vendor relationships can benefit you as well when new products are being introduced, we want you and your staff to be comfortable and confident that the products you use are being put to optimal use.


	Train Your Employees and Reap the Benefits Well-trained employees are key to your business’ success. In addition to the obvious training that your employees require for certification and licensing, consider the other aspects of their jobs where they could use additional development. This may include customer service, software or computer skills, or even business or marketing training. Employees who have received the most training are usually the most productive and effective, and they can determine your organization’s success. Spend time evaluating your employees’ needs, and take time to ask them about their training interests. There are many methods now, including in-person seminars, conferences, webinars, video training, and online courses. Different people learn different ways and varying the media will keep your employees engaged. http://smallbusiness.dnb.com/human-resources/careers-job-training/1465-1.html

New Year brings New Products

The Public Health Specialists at Univar PP&S have been working diligently these past months to bring you new and innovative products that will meet the challenges you face to improve your program while maximizing your budget. For this reason, we are excited to share with you a new product to add to your arsenal for 2012.

Commencing January 1, 2012, Univar will incorporate Zenivex E20 and Zenivex E4 RTU mosquito adulticides into our catalog of public health products. Zenivex E20 and Zenivex E4 RTU are the newest products from Central Life Sciences®. The two formulations contain the unique molecule Etofenprox, which previously had not been used in mosquito control. As with many pyrethroids, the mode of action is a sodium channel blocker. However, Etofenprox is not a traditional ester pyrethroid and therefore does not fall into the EPA review of pyrethroid chemistries.

Setting Zenivex apart from competitive products is the fact that it does not contain any piperonyl butoxide (PBO). This will reduce concerns by many regarding buildup in the environment. In addition Etofenprox has an LD-50 of >42,880 mg/kg, and is the only mosquito adulticide to be classified by the EPA as a reduced risk molecule. The molecule also has been shown to present a low toxicity to birds and dried foliar residues are not harmful to honeybees. All of these features may make Zenivex formulations an ideal fit for many mosquito adulticide programs.

Efficacy trials for Zenivex E20 have been conducted with several agencies around the country. Using caged mosquitoes, truck mounted machines and all three label rates, Zenivex proved highly efficacious against a wide variety of mosquito species.

Available in two formulations, Zenivex E20 (20% Etofenprox by weight) is an oil-based formulation for use in Ultra Low Volume application. Zenivex E4 is a ready-to-use (RTU) formulation containing 4% of the active ingredient Etofenprox. No dilution and no mixing make this an easy, highly effective solution for a wide variety of ULV foggers and also can be used in hand, ground or aerial applications

Central Life Sciences is currently awaiting Federal EPA approval for label changes that will add an extensive listing of crops to provide additional flexibility to apply just one product in both rural and urban areas.

There will be other new products introduced in 2012, and Univar PP&S will make sure to keep you advised of all these great new tools. Feel free to call us to learn more about Zenivex or any other product and how they might fit into your 2012 program!

I have a client where the family believes they are being bitten, causing severe itching all over their bodies for about a week. They have no visible signs of bites. On inspection of the apartment I found no fleas or bed bugs. I'm leaning toward scabies mites or an over-sensitive client. What else could cause this?

First, there could be nothing present that is related to bugs that could "bite" them or cause some other skin annoyance, and this might be their imagination (also known as Delusory Parasitosis). Second, there could be some small arthropod such as mites that could be either biting them or causing skin sensitization. Third, there could be some non-arthropod cause to all of this, such as an allergic response to something in the home. However, your role in this needs to remain confined to #2, and your license for pest management permits you only to identify the presence (or lack of presence) of some arthropod pest that you then can deal with as needed. While Scabies is a skin condition caused by mites, YOU have nothing to do with either verifying the presence of scabies or even treating the home in any way if a doctor has identified scabies properly.

You should place monitoring traps throughout the home to capture any arthropods that could possibly be present and inspect them under high magnification by someone who can identify properly any arthropods captured. You might find that there are small arthropods present capable of biting or causing skin sensitivity, such as mites (biting species) or springtails (simple annoyance). However, avoid suggesting that it may be their imagination and stick to what you are licensed to do. If you find nothing you could suggest they hire an industrial hygienist to sample the indoor environment. Certainly a change in the conditions around them, such as suddenly using heaters again, could discharge materials into the air that might cause skin sensitivities. However, you should not assume there might be bugs and just go ahead and "spray something" and hope for the best. Instead, avoid applying any kinds of pesticides if you have not confirmed a reason to do so.

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This is your Univar December 2011 VectorBytes Newsletter

©2011 Univar Inc. All rights reserved. The Univar name, hexagon, and MasterLine are registered trademarks of Univar Inc. Bytes of Wisdom answers are generated from industry and manufacturer-provided information. Univar makes no representations and warranties as to the products or the manufacturer's statements herein. Always read and follow label directions.