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Plants, insects, mold, mildew, rodents, bacteria, and other organisms are a natural part of the environment. They can benefit people in many ways. But they can also be pests.
- Apartments and houses are often hosts to common pests such as cockroaches, fleas, termites, ants, mice, rats, mold, or mildew.
- Weeds, hornworms, aphids, and grubs can be a nuisance outdoors when they get into your lawn, flowers, yard, vegetable garden, or fruit and shade trees.
- Pests can also be a health hazard to you, your family, and your pets.
Whether used to control insects, rodents, weeds, microbes, or fungi, pesticides have important benefits. They help farmers provide an affordable and plentiful food supply. Pesticides also are used in other settings such as our homes and schools to control pests as common as cockroaches, termites, and mice.
Pesticides, however, do pose risks to human health and the environment when people do not follow directions on product labels or use products irresponsibly. For example, people might use pesticides when they are not really needed, apply too much, or apply or dispose of them in a manner that could contaminate water or harm wildlife. Even alternative or organic pesticides can have these unintended consequences if not used correctly.
Integrated Pest Management is an approach to pest control that offers a means to reduce the risk from -- and in some cases, the amount of -- chemical pesticides needed.
In many cases, there are steps pesticide users can take before they have a pest problem to prevent the need for pesticides. When a pest problem such as an insect infestation is identified, pesticide users often have a choice among different solutions to their pest problems. These pest control strategies present different levels of risk to human health and the environment.
IPM considers these risks as well as the costs of applying pesticides and other economic considerations. Originally designed for agriculture, IPM is also being used as a model for reducing the risk associated with pesticide use in other settings such as homes and schools. The IPM system consists of four steps:
- setting action thresholds;
- monitoring and identifying pests;
- preventing pests; and
- controlling pests when necessary.
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Around the Home
How to solve pest problems around the home
Dos and Don'ts, Tips for Pest Control, Controlling Rodents, Using Pesticides Safely, Read the Label First
Lawn and Garden
How to solve pest problems in your yard and garden
Citizen's Guide to Pest Control and Pesticide Safety (54 pp, 2.4 MB, About PDF), Healthy Lawn, Healthy Environment (19 pp, 5.4 MB, About PDF), Mosquito Control, Integrated Pest Management
At School
Safely controlling pests at school using integrated pest management
In Agriculture
Safely controlling pests at school using integrated pest management
IPM and Food Production, Biopesticides, US Department of Agriculture National Organic Program
Questions about Chemicals?
Resources to answer questions about pesticide chemicals
What is a pesticide?, National Pesticide Information Center (NPIC) 
Related Information
How to solve pest problems around the home
EPA Consumer Labeling Initiative, pesticide publications