Yes, I still don't think it changes my main point, though direct contact might be potentially less hazerdous to humans. For something to be effective against ticks (which is a challenge) there is going to be significant collateral damage, especially thinking about those species that rely on those bugs and insects for food. Then maybe one has to think about what would the impact be if every individual in the world who had a lawn treated it with an insecticide and what impact that would have on the ecosystem. 

Again, complicated issues without easy answers. 

From the Essentria granules insecticide label; 


"Fast knockdown and kill of flying and crawling insects 


Essentria Octopamine Blocker Technology provides fast knockdown and kill across a broad spectrum of flying and crawling insects. 


“Ants, Aphids, Armyworms, Bagworms, Beetles, Billbugs, Chinch bugs, Chiggers, Crickets, Cutworms, Earwigs, Fleas, Grasshoppers, Hyperodes weevils (adults), Japanese beetles (adults), Lace bugs, Mealybugs, Mites, Mole crickets, Scale insects, Sod webworms, Tent caterpillars, Ticks, Whiteflies, Bedbugs, Darkling beetles, (lesser meal worms), Flies (Deer, Face, House), Gnats, Lice, Litter beetles, Maggots (fly larvae), Mites, Mosquitoes, Poultry lice, Spiders, Stable lice, Ticks, Wasps…Bermudagrass Mites, Centipedes, Chinch Bugs, Clover Mites, Cockroaches, Fall Armyworms, Leafhoppers, Millipedes, Sowbugs, Pillbugs, and other insect pests in landscape ” 

I am not sure how it knows how to just kill the insect pests and not all of the bugs and insects. 
Josh 

----- Original Message -----

From: "Brennan Michaels and John Beattie" <[log in to unmask]> 
To: [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Saturday, November 9, 2013 2:04:03 PM 
Subject: Re: [VTBIRD] Ticks-Good news and bad news 

Just to answer you Josh, we spread Essentria granules around the perimeter of the yard not permethrin. Essentria from Doyourownpestcontrol.com is organic and safe. You can read the ingredients online. We have been using it for three years at least and it has kept our yard/lawn free of ticks, nymphs and adults and so i have felt safe to go barefoot. So yes of course my expectation this year would have been the same. But this year for the first time we had rabbits all over our lawn and in our gardens. Other years we have had one or two passing through. The rabbits apparently drop the nymphs and so our lawn was no longer safe. We have used mouse bar- baited traps to keep mice away and we have been successful because we are at the point where the bait is not being eaten. 
The squirrels and the chipmunks pretty much stay in the woods unlike the rabbits and it is unusual for a skunk or possum to be around on the lawn. 
I did not see the powassan virus mentioned under the tick bite diseases. You mention one incident a long time ago. I think the point is that the ticks are carrying more diseases and this powassan virus is becoming more prevalent. There are also several other pathogens that can come along with Lyme in fact according to expert Lyme drs. almost always are there with the Lyme spirochete. Dr. Horowitz from hyde park N.Y. has a new book out about Lyme disease and these other pathogens. 
The medical world is way behind in their knowledge and acceptance of the epidemic proportions of tick borne diseases. 
brennan