June 6 is International World Pest Awareness Day, a day not to celebrate those creatures that bite, annoy, frighten and damage and destroy our food, property and reputation, but rather those in the world who constantly battle to control and eliminate them to benefit the quality of human life and protect property and food stocks.
Pests have become part of human life ever since we started being social animals living together in communities. The first bed bugs originated from insects feeding on bats who found us more tasty and easy to feast on once we moved into caves.
Rats and mice have destroyed harvests ever since humans started to farm, and insects of various types have likewise favoured crops we grow for food.
When we started to live in more sheltered dwellings, pests found the opportunity to share our safe environment irresistible and cockroaches, ants and flies left their precarious outdoor existence to share home comforts with us
However, we have been lucky to be blessed with a long line of pest controllers throughout history. Here is a timeline of some of the more significant moments in the history of pest control:
3000BC – Ancient Egyptians domesticated cats to fight plagues of rodents.
2500BC – Sumerians used sulphur as an insecticide to fumigate homes and crops.
1894 – William Jackson Hooker patented the world’s first spring-loaded mouse trap.
1950 – Warfarin registered as a rodenticide as well as a human anticoagulant medicine.
1979 – Verminex Bahrain started trading and today is at the forefront of innovative pest control technology and is proud to be chosen to assist the Ministry of Health mosquito control programme.
Verminex wishes all people in Bahrain a pest-free day, albeit however unlikely.
