However, such a case cannot be simply
applied to other insect IAS of agricultural,
veterinary, medical, and public health
importance. Most of the insect IAS of
economic and agricultural importance identified
in the country are amenable to various
integrated pest management (IPM) strategies
ranging from "no action" or "no control", to
single-component control employing various
control tactics such as physical, mechanical,
cultural, genetic, chemical, biological, microbial
and legal control, to integrated pest control
(IPC) under the concept of "Integrated Pest
Management (IPM)" which is defined by
Kogan (1998) as "a decision support system
for the selection and use of pest control
tactics, singly and harmoniously coordinated
into a [single] management strategy, based on
cost/benefit analyses that take into account the
interests of and impacts on producers, society
and the environment." A similar and analogous
approach has been initiated by the World
Health Organization (WHO) as an "Integrated
Vector Management (IVM)" approach, but so
far no substantial progress has been achieved.
Thus, most insect IAS should be
subjected to timely surveillance and monitoring
suggested in simple but practical integrated
pest management practices. The development
of simple "economic threshold levels (ETLs)"
for pest scouting is basically essential for the
growers to make and reach their decision
accordingly. Those insect IAS which are
amenable to biological control will be tested for their potential, either as augmentative or
classical biological control. Microbial control
agents such as various formulations of
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) are gaining their
acceptance and more investments are being
provided to strengthen research and
development (R&D) in this field of insect pest
control in Thailand. Commercial planting of
transgenic crops such as Bt cotton is still
prohibited, awaiting the drafting and enactment
of biosafety laws.