Truly Nolen Fights The Billion Dollar Bite; Formosan Termites Devouring Se Us

HALLANDALE, FLORIDA (Friday, April 27, 2001) - Formosan termites are packing a $1 billion bite -- wielding their chompers on buildings from Florida to Hawaii and threatening New Orleans' historic French Quarter.
The Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Agriculture Department estimates the pest causes about $1 billion in damage every year. In New Orleans alone, the termite costs about $3 million annually.

Research is being done in Florida by entomologist Nan-Yao Su, who is working at the University of Florida in Fort Lauderdale, another city troubled by the Formosan subterranean termite. Su's projects include creating a virtual termite colony using computer-simulation models. With this, Su hopes other scientists will be able to predict patterns that characterize the Formosan's tunneling in soils -- and into homes. A key objective is to learn more about how re-infestations or re-colonization of a treated area can occur.

The same objective applies to a large-area test UF scientists are planning for South Florida's Golden Beach. Sandwiched between Florida's Intercoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean, Golden Beach is a 2-kilometer-wide, 600- meter-long land area with three artificial islands. There, 400 homes will be monitored and treated. "The idea," says Su, "is to create a termite-free zone. That way, we can understand how swarmers come in from across the Intercoastal Waterway."

Su's research is part of the $5 million a year program Operation Full Stop, which began in 1998. Currently, researchers are finding promise in a mold, fungi and even a vetiver, a grass, as biological controls for the termite.

The termites were introduced into the United States in the 1940s. They were believed to have infested crates, pallets and packing materials that shipped supplies and troops home from the Pacific at the end of World War II, according to the Agricultural Research Service. In the 60 years since, the termites have spread to California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Hawaii.

Termites, Formosan and native, love Florida, which alone accounts for 25 percent of all termite damage nationwide.

One of the biggest problems with termites is that they're silent and seemingly invisible. So it was with the Formosan termite -- whose presence in the United States wasn't discovered until the 1960s.

"Prevention is the key. A colony can become established and grow for several years before you even see them," said Barry Murray of Truly Nolen of America Inc., one of the nation's largest family-owned pest control companies. "By the time you see them, the damage is done and the cost of repairing it is sky high."

Murray said yearly inspections by a qualified technician are important.

"A Formosan colony can consume up to a pound of wood a day in a severe infestation or 30 pounds a month," he said. "Even homes that aren't wood can be threatened. Door sills and window sills, even beams inside the home are targets."

Termites enter homes in several ways, including through expansion joints in concrete slabs or utility conduits. They can also be drawn to homes through lumber or firewood piles, wooden trellises leaning against the home or even mulch.

Murray said fumigation is no longer the only answer to termite control. Sodium borate compounds used in prevention can also offer effective extermination.

"Not only is this much more convenient, but it also provides long-lasting protection against future infestations, a feature that traditional fumigation cannot offer," Murray said, adding that Truly Nolen was the first company to offer sodium borate treatments nationwide.

Truly Nolen International has franchises in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Paraguay, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Portugal, Turkey, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Ireland, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Jamaica and the Turks and Caicos.

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