Roanoke Times Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 21, 1993 TAG: 9307210210 SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune DATELINE: FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. LENGTH: Short
The woman was 47 years old but police would not release her name because family members had not been informed.
The house was covered with tarps and filled with a fumigant about 2:30 p.m. on Monday by workers for the Orkin Exterminating Co.
The pesticide used by exterminators was the odorless, colorless chemical sulfuryl fluoride, better known by the brand name Vikane. It is the most commonly used pesticide for wood-boring beetles and termites. Residents can usually re-enter their homes within 24-hours of fumigation.
At the rate recommended on the Vikane label for treating termites, a person would have to be in the house 30 to 40 minutes to be killed, said Dr. Rudolf Scheffrahn, an entomologist at the University of Florida's Davie research center.
"Fumigation is the only form of pest control in the country where you do have human fatalities," Scheffrahn said.
Orkin executive Joe Malinowski said death by Vikane used in fumigations is extremely infrequent, but could cite no figures. Orkin paid a $500,000 judgment in one case in Galax, Va., in which an elderly couple died in 1986.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB