Pesticides

Objects on loan or donated to our Museum may arrive from abroad with
hungry termites, with paper eating silverfishes or just with their
eggs, potentially contaminating other "clean" items. As a preventive
measure, every single object (containing any kind of organic
material) that enters our Museum, must spend some time in a
"quarantine" room. Soon after, it is treated in a special sealed
room with some chemicals such as Permetrin (sort of smoke) or in a
"bubble" with Methyl Bromide or Phosphin (the latter not on metals)
that can kill also eggs.

Once treated the objects are "allowed" to be stored or exhibited.
Beside this, once a year, at the beginning of the spring season, we
carry out a thorough treatment to the whole Museum, from all the
storage rooms, the offices and the exhibition halls by spraying
droplets of Permetrin. Within hours or days, any insect or spider is
stone dead. During the treatments we all use the necessary masks. In
the offices we manage to remind in time to seal coffee, tea and
sugar in plastic bags.

I wonder if any of the chemicals we currently use are proven to be
toxic to humans and whether there are other ways to control, limit
or eliminate potential pests and their eggs that are the nightmares
of conservators. Thank you in advance,

Paolo Recanati
Conservator of Objects
Israel Museum, Jerusalem


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 16:33
                Distributed: Thursday, November 14, 2002
                       Message Id: cdl-16-33-023
                                  ***