Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Seminole County's Mosquito Control Policy

The Seminole County Mosquito Control Program and the American Mosquito Control Association (AMCA) advocates management of mosquito populations when and where necessary by means of integrated programs designed to benefit or to have minimal adverse effects on people, wildlife, and the environment.  This integrated pest management (IPM) policy recognizes that mosquito populations cannot always be eliminated but often must be suppressed to tolerable levels for the well-being of humans, domestic animals, and wild life and that selection of scientifically sound suppression methods must be based on consideration of what is ecologically and economically in the long-term best interest of mankind.

The following principles are advocated:

• Mosquito control measures should be undertaken only when there is adequate justification based upon surveillance data.
• IPM programs should be tailored to the needs and requirements of the local situation.  The combination of methods for mosquito control should be chosen after careful consideration of the efficacy, ecological effects, and costs versus benefits of the various options, including public education, legal action, natural and biological control, elimination of breeding sources, and insecticide applications.
• Mosquito breeding sources, whether natural or created by human activity should be altered in such a manner as to cause the least undesirable impact on the environment.
• Insecticides and application methods should be used in the most efficient and least hazardous manner, in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations and available scientific data.  The registered label requirements for insecticide should be followed.  When choices are available among effective insecticides, those offering the least hazard to non-target organisms should be used.  Insecticides should be chosen and used in a manner that will minimize the development of resistance in the mosquito population.
• Personnel involved in IPM programs should be properly trained and supervised, and certified in accordance with relevant laws and regulation, and should keep current with improvements in management techniques through continuing education and/or training programs.

All methods and materials used by the County are based on these principles outlined by AMCA.