RESPONSES

In the research article entitled “Biological Pest Control of a Biscuit Beetle (Stegobium paniceum) Infestation in an Old Masters Paintings Storage Area”, a group of officials met to make a decision about the infestation of the Museum of Fine Arts in Vienna by Biscuit beetles (Querner et. al, 2019). Several paintings in the collection were infested with the Beetle bugs and elimination options were discussed by museum officials. Since chemical insecticides and other traditional insecticide methods would have severely damaged the precious paintings, the museum decided to use classical biological control by releasing the natural predator of the biscuit beetles. The museum released 3000 parasitic wasps into the contained infested area every month for almost 12 months until every biscuit beetle was eradicated (Querner et. al, 2019) . The museum’s use of biological pest control was a creative solution to a modern issue. The efficiency was 100% in terms of biscuit beetle mortality, and the museum was able to preserve the paintings and save money by not engaging in more expensive non-chemical alternatives. My question for this module is: what are the drawbacks to using biological pest control over classic insecticide treatments?