Diazinon, known as a “broad spectrum” pesticide because it worked on so many pests retained its government approval for certain commercial and agricultural applications.

The ban is partially explained in this EPA document.

More information is available at the website Beyond Pesticides, which explains how diazinon’s toxicity is compounded when it reacts with other products such as pyrethrins, also commonly used in outdoor pesticides. Beyond Pesticides, a longtime advocacy group dedicated to safer methods, claims that diazinon is responsible for hundreds of acute “poisoning incidents” among humans, and also that it is highly toxic to bees and birds.

It was these powerful knock-out pesticides that got some people thinking: We’re talking about killing household pests here, not Godzilla, and not the planet. Yes, certain company - prolific house ants, communes of cockroaches and poisonous spiders like the Brown Recluse - is not welcome. Still, one shouldn’t have to wipe out every micro-organism in sight to dismiss these unwanted guests.

A greener assault makes intuitive sense to a 30-year veteran of pest control like Bohdan, whose book What’s Buggin You? includes many alternative pest ideas. He still offers some conventional solutions to his clientele when they ask. But increasingly, he finds himself serving customers who aren’t willing to scatter-shoot toxic chemicals just to drop a few insects – at least not as a first resort.

“When I first got into the business I was trained to “nuke” everything,’’ he says. “But people have a choice now…We used to have products sprayed 40 to 50 years ago for termites that would still be in the ground and that’s a thing of the past.’’

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