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ICR uses human volunteers to test many of our sponsors’ insect repellents, so we must comply with the requirements of EPA’s final rule. The rule requires that our protocol, informed consent, and indemnification agreements must all be finalized with the sponsor and approved by our Institutional Review Board, before the sponsor submits all of the necessary documentation to EPA for review and approval. EPA must receive the submission a minimum of 75 days prior to one of the quarterly HSRB meeting. If EPA judges the submission acceptable to forward to the HSRB, they will do so and the submission will be presented and discussed at the next HSRB meeting. Each study must be approved before we can conduct it for our client, so we urge proactive preparations for human use studies.
We are pleased to announce that Barry Zeller, formerly of the McLaughlin Gormley King Company, has joined ICR as the Director of Sales and Marketing. He can be contacted at phone number 201-930-0933, or email address BZeller@icrlab.com.
We have a new name, a new logo, but the same dedication to providing our customers with the best service possible. We hope you will consider us for your efficacy testing and consultation needs. Please call us at 410-747-4500.
Even though winter is here, those of you in the southern parts of North America may have been fortunate recently to see the end of the fall migration of the monarch butterflies as they headed South from Canada and the U.S. The butterflies travel to a very small geographic area in central Mexico and southern coastal California to overwinter in large aggregates. The monarchs’ routes and timing of migration may be slightly altered every year due to changes in wind patterns or early arrivals of cold fronts, but their wintering grounds stay quite constant. The butterflies feed on nectar en route, and the honeydew nectar on the leaves of pecan trees in the groves in Texas. It is important that their wintering grounds remain available to them so that the species can continue to survive, and that the trees in which they rest during the winter are not logged, especially not clear cut, from their traditional wintering grounds. You can find information on the Web that describes the destruction of some of their habitat which can endanger their survival, and what you can do to help these beautiful creatures survive.
Fall and winter are the times of year when you may notice large numbers of ladybugs (also called lady beetles) congregating on the warm sides of buildings, or even inside your house. The beetles are attracted to the heat and protection that they need to survive the winter weather. These congregating ladybugs, often called the multicolored Asian lady beetle, were intentionally imported from several areas of the Orient by the USDA as successful biocontrol agents, and accidentally imported by ships docking in ports in New Orleans and Seattle. They are a different species from our native lady beetles that do not congregate to overwinter. The Asian lady beetle can be distinguished from other lady beetles by noting a black "M" mark behind the head. Once spring and warm weather return, all species of overwintering lady beetles return to work in our gardens, devouring aphids, scale insects, and other garden pests.
The large numbers of the imported multicolored Asian lady beetles that enter some homes have become a source of annoyance for some homeowners who seek to eliminate these lady beetles from their home by exclusion or by the application of pesticides. It has been reported that all lady beetles exude a yellow substance when startled or handled that stains and has a bad smell. Creative entrepreneurs have designed special box houses in which lady beetles can overwinter, and there is a commercially available pheromone lure that attracts the lady beetles to these beetle houses, or to other areas where they can congregate. More information on these attractants can easily be found on the Internet.
Bed bugs, Cimex lectularius, are an emerging problem, particularly to those who travel. As international travel becomes more common, the accompanying infested baggage and clothing are the perfect vehicle in which the bed bug can also travel. They can remain in hotel rooms, hostels, apartments, shelters, cruise ships, and dormitories for a long time after the traveler leaves. Adult bed bugs are a reddish-brown, flattened, oval-shaped insect 1/8 inch long. This flat shape makes it easy for them to hide in cracks and crevices in buildings, and along seams of mattresses and beds. Nymphs generally look like smaller adults, and bed bug eggs, deposited along seams or wall/baseboard surfaces are white and about 1/32 inch long.
Besides noticing bites on one’s body, a bed bug infestation can be suspected if there are blood stains on bedding and brownish spots of excrement on sheets and mattresses, bed clothes, and walls. Fecal spots, eggshells, and shed skins may be found in the vicinity of their hiding places. One may also notice a sweet almond-like odor that is released by the beg bugs, especially when they are disturbed.
Bed bugs pierce the skin of humans or other mammals to obtain their blood meals, leaving bites that can become itchy and painful. Carefully check your lodging when traveling to see if an infestation exists, and do not bring infested luggage and clothing into your home. Controlling an infestation is intensive and may become costly.
ICR has one of the few laboratory bed bug colonies in the world, and we would be pleased to discuss testing clients’ control products.