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VERIFY: Yes, cockroaches are becoming immune to pesticides. But that doesn't mean they're unstoppable

Several news articles circulating on the internet claim cockroaches are becoming immune to pesticides. So is this really true? Are your chemicals no longer working?

WASHINGTON — QUESTION:

Are cockroaches really immune to pesticides?

ANSWER:

Yes, a recent report has shown this to be true in some cockroaches.

SOURCES:

Purdue University: Agriculture News

Michael Raupp: Entomology Professor at the University of Maryland 

Dan Suiter: Entomology Professor at the University of Georgia

PROCESS:

Our Verify team works to fight the spread of misinformation you come across in your news-feed. 

Recent articles circulating claim cockroaches are becoming immune to pesticides, and even unstoppable.

Credit: Insider

So is this true?

Our experts on this question is two entomology professors. They say this new study is based on a report from scientists at Purdue University that concluded common household cockroaches, the kind you see in kitchens, are becoming harder to eliminate because they have "cross-resistance" to insecticides. 

Suiter said a group of insects today is more tolerant than the same quantity of insecticide that they encounter than any previous generations -- i.e., the concept of insecticide resistance.

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The professor said it comes down to genetics. If you spray 100  roaches with a chemical, it may kill 95 of them. The remaining five are resistant to that pesticide, and they may pass that gene on to their babies -- or nymphs.

Our second expert, an entomology professor at the University of Maryland, said even though the study is accurate, the article, or study/report/scientific paper’s, headlines are blown out of proportion because there are still so many other ways to kill cockroaches.

Exterminators also said they use a combination of products on roaches. So if one is immune to one chemical, another one may knock it out. 

So, we verified, yes, some cockroaches are becoming immune to some types of pesticides.

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