When I use a pesticide to get rid of what’s “bugging” me, I assume it will work. Most of the time, it does.
I use pesticides infrequently, but I admit that I’ve used Roundup® (glyphosate) to kill the weeds growing through the cracks in my flagstone path, and I apply Frontline to my dog every month. The Roundup® usually works; at least it browns the weeds, making them easier to pull. I’ve never wanted to consider the possibility that the Frontline isn’t working.
So imagine my horror when I read about a researcher in Florida who will spend the next three years studying why a certain tick species is developing “resistance” to fipronil—the main ingredient in Frontline®—and permethrin, the main ingredient in nearly every other flea and tick preventative.
“Resistance” means that the object of a treatment does not succumb to the treatment. For example, a weed that is “resistant” to glyphosate will not die from an application of glyphosate. Insecticide-resistant insects will not die after an insecticide is applied. On the other hand, sometimes growers and landowners want resistance in their plants or animals. The American chestnut has returned to the forest landscape because scientists bred a new American chestnut breed that is resistant to the chestnut blight. Roundup® Ready soybeans allow growers to spray for weeds without worrying about killing the crop.
The formal concept of integrated pest management began in the late 1950s, when entomologists identified resistance to several of the insecticides used for cotton. Integrated pest management, or IPM, includes various strategies to manage pest populations. One of those strategies involves “rotating,” or alternating pesticides to ensure that a pest won’t develop a tolerance, or resistance, to one that is used repeatedly.
However, pesticide choices for some pests are limited. Fipronil (in Frontline®) and permethrin are the two most common pesticides for flea and tick control. Peach growers have only three fungicides to control brown rot, and strains of that disease have now become resistant to all three fungicides.
For many growers, pesticide resistance is a top priority for university research projects. As a pet owner who lives in a southern state, I want to know why ticks also are becoming resistant to treatment. Because our winters can periodically be fettered with weeks in the 60s and 70s, I use a flea and tick treatment every month. Because my dog is allergic to permethrin, I use the same treatment on her every month, creating the perfect opportunity for insecticide resistance.
I hope researchers find the answer pretty soon.
Filed under: Pesticides, Resistance Tagged: | pesticide, pests, resistance, weeds
Hi R.
Great to meet you yesterday.
Neat blog!
Interesting that you should bring up resistance to Frontline and permetherin. My liver dalmatian, Chief, came down with a bad case of fleas this summer, especially after he was lost for a week – long story – and particularly after he stayed in the local pound for the weekend after he was found.
When I got him home, I noticed a lot more fleas than usual. Though ticks were there, they weren’t as bad as they are in the Spring and early Summer.
When I got him home, I realized that I didn’t have any more Frontline Plus. My vet assured me that he had been treated at the pound.
Needing more, I thought I found a good deal in ordering Frontline from Joe’s Pet Meds. After thinking about it, I ordered, and then did my research. WRONG!
An internet search found that Joe’s was actually in Australia! At least a few folks were not satisfied with the Frontline Plus they had received from them, in that it didn’t kill the ticks and fleas.
Still, the Frontline Plus arrived within the seven day shipment specified on the website. The website just doesn’t tell you that they were in Australia…
Buyer Beware!
The Frontline Plus box looked about the same as the box of Frontline Plus I purchased from my vet, and those available here. However, closer inspection showed differences – most notably it was manufactured by Merial Australia. Logical.
But was it the same stuff?
It did not seem to work as well as the earlier Frontline Plus I had used in the past. Earlier monthly treatments seemed to kill all ticks very shortly after application.
Could this be a different formulation?
I also tried the much less expensive Adams Spot On Flea and Tick Control. This is Permethrin based.
I’m familiar with Permethrin, having sold it extensively as a tick repellent for clothing while employed several years back at REI. It is the active ingredient of most flea and tick dips and shampoos. Apparently, it is the active ingredient of lice shampoo for children, so it is fairly benign stuff.
It is the only thing which seemed to work to keep ticks off me. It is designed for use on clothing – not skin. The manufacturer’s rep said that it would hold up to several washings.
He also said that Permethrin actually kills – not repels – ticks and fleas when they contact the chemical, which I thought was interesting. Apparently DEET bug repellents work to only repel ticks and fleas by evaporating noxious vapors, but does not actually kill fleas and ticks.
In any event, in desperation, I tried the Adams Permethrin based flea and tick control. It did not work at all.
In further desperation, I tried an old fashioned flea collar, as well as an additional dosage of the Frontline Plus. Still, I found, and still find, live fleas crawling around on him. Worse, fleas would get on me in various places around the house.
I placed flea traps around the house, vacuumed and sprayed in key places. Things did not really get much better.
Only with the advent of recent cooler weather have things started to improve. Currently, no fleas are readily visible on him; though I can probably find some in “nether regions” if I try!
Could this be resistance? Could it be a bad batch of Frontline Plus? Could it be bad housekeeping? (Probably!) Or could it be a bit of all of them? It is hard to say…
To add insult, there has been internet chatter on the doggie lists today that Frontline has been shown to be harmful to pets, with some evidence that it is killing dogs who are treated with it. I don’t have the study info, but it is apparently all over the web.
This could very well be a rumor. But several have mentioned that they will give up use of Frontline and similar spot application products because of it.
In any event, nice, well written blog. I’ll read your other entries later. Please stay in touch.
Bill Bussey