INSECT CONTROL WITH CARBON-DIOXIDE FOAM

The purpose of this study was to investigate a safer pest control meth od for both urban and agricultural applications. In this method, carbo n dioxide gas and air were applied within a non-toxic aqueous foam. Th e CO, foam was designed to spread over crops or substrate and to persi st until insects suffocate in the anoxic foam after a sufficient lengt h of exposure. The surfactants that were mixed with water to create th e foam are harmless to the environment, as well as inexpensive. The fo am would be removed by a spray of water or would simply disintegrate. Laboratory toxicity studies on common urban and agricultural pests wer e conducted For German cockroaches in particular mortality for CO2 foa m was significantly higher than mortality for air foam. The results in dicated that CO2 foam could effectively central some urban and agricul tural pests without the coincident use of pesticides.