Rich Kozlovich smiles broadly and laughs warmly every time I see him. He’s a kind, grandfatherly type who is always prepared to offer helping hands and sound advice to anyone who wants it. He would never strike you as the type to raise a ruckus.

But there is one topic that will cause this generally mild-mannered man to take umbrage, elevate his voice far above a whisper and perhaps even color his face a little.

That subject is the fringe members of the environmental movement, which Kozlovich, owner of Ohio 2000 Pest Management in Mentor-on-the-Lake, Ohio, feels rely on sketchy (at best) science to support taking tools away from the industry. He also resents the generally held position that pest management professionals (PMPs) and other professional pesticide users are doing damage to the environment.

Kozlovich, however, holds his most contemptuous anger for the woman who most people credit with starting it all — Rachel Carson, who in 1962 penned a book titled Silent Spring. In the book, Carson posited that the use of chemicals such as DDT were poisoning the earth, its people and its animals, leading inexorably to its extinction unless restrictions were placed on their uses.

Son of Silent Spring
Rachel Carson’s clearly overwrought thesis — last time I checked, birds still sang in the woods near my house, squirrels still jump from tree to tree and rabbits still nibble my mother’s garden down to nubs — provided the impetus for the removal of effective structural pesticides from the industry’s toolbox, DDT among them.

One of Kozlovich’s pet peeves is that the environmental movement elevated Carson’s thesis to gospel and Carson herself to near sainthood despite obvious problems with her thesis and methodology. The progeny of Carson’s thesis, the irritatingly broad Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) regulations that forced the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to review all pesticide uses taken together to
determine if there’s a chemical overload on the environment.

Such blunt-force semi-science puts our manufacturing partners in the uncomfortable position of choosing which industries to favor to keep the product on the market. Unfortunately, the pest management industry often falls into the category of easily-cut uses.

Kozlovich (and others I’ve talked to about this issue) keep begging me (of the wayward history degree, mind you) to expose her fraud by closely examining her science to highlight the flaws in her methodology and conclusions.

With enough time, I could do that — but I won’t.

Beyond the baseboards
Despite its flaws, Silent Spring forced the industry to move beyond its traditional
“baseboard jockey” image to a professional and respected one, and it didn’t kill the industry. Manufacturers created targeted, effective products, and PMPs learned new application methods and other skills their customers find valuable. Ultimately, it became a win-win-win for everyone.

You can still criticize Carson on her book’s specifics, rage against the scurrilous accusations and unfounded attacks it spawned, mourn the tools we’ve lost and despair of the burdensome governmental regulations the book engendered.

What Kozlovich and others can’t deny is that if we had continued to be the same industry we were before her book, we wouldn’t have the same professional profile — and thereby higher profits — that we enjoy today.

You can reach Andorka at 216-706-3735 or e-mail him at fandorka@questex.com. Want to meet Rich Kozlovich or comment on this article? Then sign up for PMP Presents: The Forum.