Austin Sisters Create a Solution for Pests that Harms None With Concern for All

Shoo!TAG is designed to ensure that people and pets can lessen or eliminate the occurrence of insect bites without the use of toxic chemicals.

Shoo!TAG is a small tag with a magnetic strip which has been encoded with frequencies that certain insects don’t like. It is animal-specific and insect-specific.

Recently, the Wall Street Journal published a story about the growing concern over spot on insect control products. The Environmental Protection Agency has made public their renewed scrutiny of these types of products; even going so far as to have published a long list of pest control treatments that are under review after receiving many reports of pets that have suffered from chemical burns, seizures and even death in direct relation to the use of these products.

Pet owners across the country have filed lawsuits against the manufacturers of such products after their own animals suffered injuries from the treatments. In May of 2008, one year before the publication of the WSJ story, Austin’s own Melissa Mowrer Rogers and her sister Kathy M. Heiney launched a new company, Energetic Solutions, and began working on an innovative solution that provides a safe alternative to chemical pest control treatments. They call it Shoo!TAG, and it made its debut at the Global Pet Expo in February of this year.

Shoo!TAG is a small tag with a magnetic strip which has been encoded with frequencies that certain insects don’t like. It is animal- specific and insect-specific. The sisters’ invention came out of a concern for the animals, people and the planet. “I have a chemical sensitivity,” says Heiney, “and I love animals; I work with animals, so it was important to find a solution that everyone could live with.” Rogers adds, “We don’t believe in chemicals.” Both women have backgrounds in energy science, which allowed them to work in tandem with their network of scientists to develop their line of products. “We came up with the idea out of years of work with energy medicine,” Heiney says. “We consulted with scientists who agreed that the idea was feasible.” The tag creates a frequency barrier through its interaction with the animal’s energy field. “It uses the animal’s field as a battery,” Rogers explains. “It needs to be worn for 24 to 36 hours to build the barrier.” She adds, “We’re not magic, we’re just a different way of dealing with pests.”

While synthetic chemicals like permethrin, a neurotoxin, are under the EPA microscope, Rogers and Heiney warn that “natural” insecticides are also a problem. Pyrethrin, a natural chemical derived from chrysanthemum flowers, is used to repel mosquitoes and flies; it is also toxic to dogs and cats, causing reactions ranging from tremors and vomiting to seizures and even death. Both Rogers and Heiney have had personal experiences with toxic insecticides and their consequences. Heiney worked with horses in a barn that was misted with pesticide every fifteen minutes to control flies. “These horses were athletes,” Heiney says, “and their owners wondered why they weren’t performing at their best. I was breathing in that same spray and I knew the effect it was having on me.” She adds, “The fact that the horses performed as well as they did was a testament to their athletic ability, but they were breathing in poison every 15 minutes, so how could they be at their best?” Rogers had been treating her Shih Tzu for fleas with a chemical solution before developing the tag. “Every time I used the treatment on her, she would be sick for two days after the application,” Rogers says. “I hated using it on her, but I also hated seeing her scratch constantly and be miserable from the fleas.” Heiney adds, “People don’t want chemicals on their animals or in their homes or around their children.”