Got Termites? Get Green Alternatives to Chemical Treatments!

Uh-oh...the home inspection showed termites! Now what?

Especially for a green, environmentally-conscious homeowner, buyer, or Realtor?

The standard answer has been to call the pest control company and get the home chemically treated, right? The problem is, many of standard pesticide and fumigation treatment methods can be highly toxic, which can be (and should be) a concern to potential buyers. After all, who wants their children or pets cavorting happily in the midst of toxic nerve poisons and carcinogens?

One previously-common chemical used to treat for termites, chlordane, has been banned for the past twenty years as a carcinogen. Another, Dursban, was banned in 2000. Vikane, still often used, is a nerve poison, and has been allegedly responsible for deaths of both workers and residents of treated properties! And some of the "natural" options I've run across seem equally problematic:

• Heat treatment (mentioned in an article in Natural Home magazine) involves the exterminator tenting the house and then heating it to high temperatures to kill the pests! They then note that "heat may cause house materials to release toxic vapors or cause wood to expand or contract." Yeah... gotta wonder what it would do to the potted plants, oil paintings, and plastic or paper articles, too!
• Electrocution is another option mentioned in the same article. Seriously. Electrocution??!!
• Another favorite of mine mentioned in the same was using liquid nitrogen to freeze the little pests. Liquid nitrogen... last use I ran across that for was dabbing it on warts to freeze them off; gave me a great image of the poor pest control guy crawling around basements and crawlspaces find all the individual termites to freeze 'em!

So, are there really no safer, more natural alternatives out there for termite treatment? Further research turned up some other alternatives that at least sound more plausible:

• A solution noted by http://www.thegreenguide.com/ describes Sentricon and Exterra, two rather similar biological treatments that use a baiting stations with fatal growth regulators which the termites consume, eventually wiping out the colony. This is, obviously slower than chemical treatment, but has the added advantage of attacking the problem at the colony, making future resurgence less likely. And it is safer, since these growth regulators are a specific biological control for termites only, not kittens and kiddies!
• The website of the Children's Health Environmental Coalition had some good advice. They note that termites are never an immediate emergency, so you have time to do your homework and that frequent inspection to locate early signs of infestation make less-toxic, spot treatments much more effective. They also recommend the Sentricon system, and also another new treatment option, which is effective on all types of termites. It involves using is a soil-borne beneficial fungus called Bio-Blast^TM, which is common in soil but lethal to termites.
• Borates, or boric acid pesticides are also recommended as options by the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, as well as by http://www.saferbuilding.com/
• Prevention is also something to keep in mind. According to the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, "A field test in northern California showed that installing a sand barrier 18 inches wide and 3 inches deep in crawl spaces along the inside of the foundation wall effectively stopped termites. For long-term success, these researchers recommend careful installation of the barrier and regular monitoring.(4)
  Sand barriers have been used successfully under concrete slabs."

Anyone have any other termite treatment alternatives? If so, pass them along. We could all user more eco-friendly options in dealing with these household, and house-sold, pests!