NM Pesticide regulations

This is important if you use an exterminator in New Mexico. All pesticide applicators have to be licensed and there are several categories of a license they are required to have depending on what they do. If they treat a home for termites, they have to have a Wood Destroying Pest Control category (7D). If they treat your home or business for general household pests, such as crickets, ants, silverfish, spiders and other, they need a Structural Pest Control category (7A). If they treat your home or business outside for rodents, squirrels and other animals, they need a Vertebrate Animal Control category (7B). This is the most important. If they treat your home for any pests that are known to be able to transmit diseases to humans or animals, they need a Public Health Pest Control category (8). This includes mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, flies and also includes cockroaches and mice in your home or business. Cockroaches and mice can be vectors of diseases so they need a (8) category license.

Many pest control companies believe cockroaches are covered in 7A as general household pests. They are wrong. The NM Dept. of Health as put a Vector Control Manual online that lists all known pests that can cause diseases. They published the manual for the pest control industry and apparently, not many pest control people are aware of it. I check the licenses of all the companies in NM and most of them do not have a Category 8 license. Many companies treat homes and businesses with a 7A category, which is technically not legal. There is no criminal problems here as the NM Dept. of Agriculture doesn’t regulate this for some reason. However, if the companies are ever involved in a civil lawsuit, they will certainly lose. I talked to several pest companies who aren’t properly licensed and they were surprised and they said they will get the proper license. It is scary some professionals aren’t aware that cockroaches can cause diseases in people.

If you use a company now for cockroach control, check their license and make sure they have a Category 8 on their license. If they don’t, I recommend you cancel their service immediately and hire a company who is properly licensed. I contacted the Secretary of the Dept. of Agriculture about this but haven’t heard back yet. You can view the Vector Control Manual online. Here is the link. https://nmhealth.org/about/erd/ideb/zdp/wnv/vcm/

In reality, you don’t need an exterminator in most cases. You can control your pests yourself without using toxic pesticides. I will certainly help you and there is no charge for my consultations. My email is askthebugman2013@gmail.com