A Study on the Evaluation of Pesticides for the Conservation of Wooden Cultural Heritages

Abstract

Although no regulations specify safety and performance evaluations for biological pest control agents used on wooden cultural artifacts, the revised 2019 Cultural Heritage Repair Standards state that the agents used on cultural artifacts must be approved by the National Institute of Environmental Sciences. In addition, the performance evaluations of these agents should comply with the performance standards specified in the Korean Forestry Promotion Institute Standard Test Method, as stated in the standards. This study performed performance evaluations on one type of agent currently used for biological pest control on wooden cultural artifacts and two types of imported wood preservative products on the domestic market. For performance evaluation, we conducted tests for decay resistance, termite resistance, mold resistance, corrosion resistance, and moisture absorption, and analyzed residue levels of active ingredients through outdoor exposure tests to confirm the persistence of the biocide during natural weathering processes. The results of this study aim to summarize the testing procedures and methods for performance evaluation, identify areas for improvement, and utilize the test results as a basis for establishing standards for the evaluation of biocidal agents.