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FACULTY PROFILE
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| An entomology professor and extension
coordinator for integrated pest management and pesticide
programs at UGA for nearly 10 years, Paul Guillebeau is
working to help lessen the risk associated with pesticides
in the world. (Photo by Dot Paul) |
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| UGA entomologist puts a bug in people’s
ear about pesticide risks |
By Faith Peppers
pepper@uga.edu |
You wake up in the middle of the night and head to the
kitchen for a drink. You flick on the light—and
“Eeeeek! A bug!” But before you spray that
bug-killer, stop. It’s safer for your environment
if you whap it with a flip-flop.
Just ask Paul Guillebeau.
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| FACTS |
| L. PAUL GUILLEBEAU |
| Associate professor of entomology
Coordinator for Integrated Pest Management and
Pesticide Programs
B.S., UGA, 1984
Ph.D., UGA, 1989
Years at UGA: 9-1/2 |
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The entomology professor and extension coordinator for
integrated pest management and pesticide programs is working
to help lessen the risk associated with pesticides in
our world.
“There are two big areas of risk associated with
pesticides: human risk and environmental risk,”
Guillebeau says. “Most people are at the greatest
risk when they apply or store pesticides around their
home.”
He compares using pesticides to taking over-the-counter
or prescription medications: if you don’t use them
according to your doctor’s recommendations, they
can cause more harm than good.
“If you don’t use them correctly, pesticides
can create significant risk to your personal health or
to the environment,” he says. “Misapplied
pesticides can be highly toxic to the environment, including
organisms not targeted, like birds, fish and bees.”
Guillebeau co-teaches classes in turf management and pesticide/biotechnology
utilization for pest management. But his work reaches
students long before they reach UGA. One area of focus
for Guillebeau’s work is lowering pesticide risks
in schools.
“There has always been additional concern about
children being exposed to pesticides,” he says.
“Since students and teachers spend so much time
in schools and schools are so much more airtight than
they’ve ever been, it creates a potential problem.”
He’s not suggesting that school pests go unchecked,
though. “Uncontrolled pests are unacceptable in
the school, too. IPM helps control pests with a measured
application of pesticides.”
As part of the ongoing school project, Guillebeau has
received a new IPM grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency targeted at lower-income and minority schools.
He and his colleagues strive to reach as many people as
possible through a two-pronged approach. First: Teach
people non-chemical strategies to use the least pesticide
possible to manage pests. And second: Help people understand
how to use pesticides correctly when they’re necessary.
The information is available through UGA extension offices,
publications and Web sites. They have an ongoing partnership
with public libraries, too, to introduce people to integrated
pest management and help them understand how to apply
IPM principles.
Sometimes a pest isn’t the root of the problem.
“We get a lot of odd questions in entomology,”
Guillebeau says. “Some of the most difficult are
from people with delusory parasitosis—they think
they have an insect problem, but they don’t. These
situations have to be handled carefully to help the person
get the help they need without offending them.”
Some problems, in contrast, are real and dangerous, like
the tons of unwanted pesticides stored around the state.
Georgia Clean Day, a joint project Guillebeau coordinates
between UGA extension and the Georgia Department of Agriculture,
is an effort to collect and properly dispose of unwanted
pesticides statewide. So far the program has disposed
of more than one million pounds of unwanted pesticides.
Not everyone is born to be a bug man. But when Guillebeau
was a sophomore at UGA, he knew he wanted to be an entomologist.
“I had always been interested in life science and
wanted to become a scientist,” he says. “When
my adviser pointed out how small the field of marine biology
could be, I switched to entomology.”
After graduation, Guillebeau worked for the U.S. EPA in
Washington, D.C., in the Office of Pesticide Programs.
There, he helped balance the risks and benefits of pesticides.
He continues his quest for a safer environment through
his work, his research and his involvement in the Entomological
Society of America. Guillebeau believes it’s all
about education and understanding the risks.
“Through
IPM education and outreach, we can manage pests and minimize
the human and environmental risks of pesticides,”
he says.
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