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  Straits Times 24 Jun 07
Do you have the foggiest idea what he's doing?
Dengue scare spells boom for pest-busters, but there are some black sheep who cut corners to offer lower rates
By Nur Dianah Suhaimi & Tan Dawn Wei

YOU know when the mozzie buster is around. The fumes invade your house and get up your nose.

But what exactly is the covered-up man spraying from his can? It could just be diesel smoke, minus the insecticide needed to kill mosquitoes - which is what some do to offer low prices to customers, say those in the pest control industry.

Managing director of Star Pest Control, Mr H.G. Wee, said: 'Customers will see the smoke and hear the noise from the fogging machine and think the job is being done.'

The industry is breeding more such players, despite rules set out in 1998 to clean up the industry's act.

Training and proper certification are compulsory for fogging technicians. They require a vector control licence to show they can handle methods that limit or eradicate disease-carrying mosquitoes - not just exterminate roaches.

To qualify, they must undergo an 18-month apprenticeship and pass a written examination. Despite these barriers, the industry has attracted many new players. The number of pest control companies has risen in the past 22 years, from 30 in 1985, to 200 today. Seventy of these are mid-size to large firms which employ more than 50 people. The rest are small operations - some with just two to three employees.

With bigger numbers come bad habits. Working without a vector control licence or cutting corners are both common.

Already, two companies have been dragged to court for working without a licence this year, said the National Environment Agency (NEA), which regulates these companies.

Because Singapore's handful of fogging chemicals and machines suppliers sell and deal only with licensed operators, unlicensed players try to get around this.

Mr Ng Say Kiat, a councillor at the Singapore Pest Management Association (SPMA), said such companies 'usually source for machines and chemicals from overseas suppliers who do not require them to produce a licence'.

When Tampines Junior College hired a pest control company in 2004 to check its grounds for mosquitoes, its contract stipulated that checks would be conducted for two hours during each visit. But these lasted just 20 minutes each, prompting the Education Ministry to terminate the company's services.

The school's new contractor now sticks to the hour-long time agreed for checks. With the current dengue scare, many customers are increasing the frequency of fogging and checks at homes and work places.

Mr James Lin, a sales executive at PestMan, said: 'We used to fog the industrial estates once a month. Now they request for fogging to be done twice a month or even weekly.'

ISS Hygiene Services in Benoi Road has even employed up to 20 more technicians to add to its original 40 just to cope with the demand.

But the increased demand has left several other companies trying to cram as many jobs into a day as possible, so much so that they do not even fog at the right times.

Managers for condominiums and commercial buildings here point out that fogging at their premises is often done in the afternoons, even though this is ineffective for dengue, which calls for fogging at dawn or dusk when mosquitoes are out.

But ask for that timing, said a managing agent of an industrial building in Eunos, and 'you have to pay overtime'. 'Fogging at noon is a joke. Mosquitoes go to sleep then,' he said.

Despite the jump in business, pest control companies claim they aren't exactly rolling in dough - most customers still go for operators who offer the lowest price. In fact, some companies have even resorted to issuing money-back guarantees should their customers be fined by the NEA.

Hong Leong Garden in West Coast Drive has struck a deal with its pest control company. Should the property ever be fined, the pest controller will pay the first fine.

Better-informed customers, however, make specific requests for certain chemicals to be used when fogging their premises, despite the cost.

Aardwolf Pestkare in Third Lok Yang Road even has customers seeking to buy its chemicals directly. Its operations director Patrick Chong said: 'They want to spray their home walls with the chemicals to get rid of mosquitoes and they want to do this themselves instead of engaging us.'

One elderly customer even rejected the company when he found it only does water-based fogging - more environmentally friendly but equally effective - believing that petrol-based fogging was superior.

But SPMA's president, Mr Andrew Chan, pointed out that DIY spraying could backfire. 'At least get the experts' advice first,' he said.

Additional reporting by David Lee and Mavis Toh

Two methods......and the chemicals

THERMAL FOGGING
# Kills adult mosquitoes.
# Best done at dawn or dusk, when the day is cooler. This is to allow the insecticide to linger at the mosquito-infected areas - usually clogged drains or dense plantations - for a longer time.
# The effectiveness decreases drastically when it is applied during the warmer part of the day, when convection currents cause the fog to rise upwards.
# A worker carrying out thermal fogging should put on a set of personal protective equipment which includes earplugs, goggles, respirator and filter cartridge, long-sleeved jackets and rubber gloves.

What's in the can?
# The solution is a mixture of insecticide and diesel or water.
# The machine costs about $2,000 and has a capacity of 5 litres. A full tank can cover an area of 1ha.
# Brands of insecticide concentrates commonly used include Actellic, Dipthor, Bistar, Biovectrol and Maxxthor, which cost about $40 to $60 per litre.
# The active ingredients in these insecticide concentrates are usually Bifenthrin, Cypermethrin or Etofenprox.
# About 15ml of insecticide is usually mixed with 5 litres of diesel.
# Between 10ml to 50ml of insecticide is diluted in 5 litres of water.
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