Business Notes PEST CONTROL

Are 10 million parasitic worms at $14.95 a bargain? Biosys, a Palo Alto, Calif., firm thinks so: last month it began selling packages of nearly microscopic nematodes through home-garden catalogs under the name BioSafe. The company hopes to become a leader in the emerging market for environmentally safe pesticides. The worms kill insects by taking up residence inside the pests' bloodstreams but are harmless to humans, pets, birds and plants. So safe is the product, says Biosys, that it is exempt from the Environmental Protection Agency's pesticide regulations. The company hopes the safety assurance will help push annual sales to $50 million in five years. A lot of worms.