Today had to have been one of the most boring days in recent history… Work was totally uneventful and even though we did have a Cub Scout meeting tonight, I could not even get excited about that…. Anyway, I wanted a blog input today, and since I have nothing exciting to write I send a copy of the “termite” e-mail that I have received three copies of 🙂
From:
Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 8:44 AM
Subject: RE: Homeowner’s Beware
If you use mulch around your house be very careful about buying mulch this year. After the Hurricane in New Orleans many trees were blown over. These trees were then turned into mulch and the state is trying to get rid of tons and tons of this mulch to any state or company who will come and haul it away. So it will be showing up in Home Depot and Lowes at dirt cheap prices with one huge problem; Formosan Termites will be the bonus in many of those bags. New Orleans is one of the few areas in the country were the Formosan Termites has gotten a strong hold and most of the trees blown down were already badly infested with those termites. Now we may have the worst case of transporting a problem to all parts of the country that we have ever had. These termites can eat a house in no time at all and we have no good control against them, so tell your friends that own homes to avoid cheap mulch and know were it came from.
Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 10:55 AM
Subject: RE: Homeowner’s Beware
There is a little thing called “Strict Liability” this means that if this did happen, and your house was damaged you could sue anyone and everyone in the chain of service…ex: The place that sold it to you, the distribution center that shipped it out, the manufacture/producer, etc… I think places like Home Depot and Lowes will be smart enough to avoid this “supposed” termite infested mulch in order to save themselves from huge law suites. Buy your mulch from a reputable establishment and you’ll most likely be fine. Man, this Business Law class I’m taking is already paying off!!! Hehe
Jim
From: Thuis
Subject: RE: Homeowner’s Beware
This is a great enough threat that the commissioner of agriculture in Louisianaimposed a quarantine for the Formosan subterranean termite on October 3, 2005. (http://www.agctr.lsu.edu/termites/)
However, this e-mail is a bit overblown… Although the possibility always exists that wood products moved from one area to another might harbor and spread termites. Entomologists have said they doubt that termites could survive the mulch shredding, packaging, and transportation (in shrink-wrapped bags that expose them to high temperatures with a limited air supply and limited moisture) process in the first place, although others maintain that they’ve encountered examples of these termites successfully traveling in packaged mulch. In any case, there are a number of mitigating factors that could halt the spread of Formosan subterranean termites transported to other areas, such as the fact that they are rarely found above
Excerpted from: http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/termites.asp
Dave
