EPA Seeks to Squash Bedbug Resurgence
With Staff, AP DispatchesArticle Photos
Ohio County isn't the only place where the bed bugs are biting.
Across the nation, people are battling the bloodsucking insects, which led to a federal agency hosting a bed bug summit on Tuesday - the first of its kind.
According to the Associated Press, the nasty critters are invading hospitals, college dorms and even swanky hotels. With the most effective pesticides banned, the government is trying to figure out how to respond to the biggest bed bug outbreak since World War II.
Bedbugs live in the crevices and folds of mattresses, sofas and sheets. Then, most often before dawn, they emerge to feed on human blood.
Faced with rising numbers of complaints to city information lines and increasingly frustrated landlords, hotel chains and housing authorities, the Environmental Protection Agency held its first-ever bedbug summit Tuesday.
Organized by one of the agency's advisory committees, the two-day conference drew about 300 participants to a hotel in Arlington, Va., just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The hotel in question has had no reports of bedbugs.
One of the problems with controlling the reddish-brown insects, according to researchers and the pest control industry, is that there are few chemicals on the market approved for use on mattresses and other household items that are effective at controlling bedbug infestations.
Unlike roaches and ants, bedbugs are blood feeders and can't be lured by bait. It's also difficult for pesticides to reach them in every crack and crevice they hide out in.
"It is a question of reaching them, finding them," said Harold Harlan, an entomologist who has been raising bedbugs for 36 years, feeding them with his own blood. He has the bites to prove it.
In Ohio County, officials with the Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department have been investigating complaints of bed bug infestations in public and private high-rise buildings, a hotel room and a couple private homes. Sanitarian Charles Fisher said recently that he hopes to better educate the public about the bugs to put a stop to their spread.
Howard Gamble, administrator at the Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department, noted Tuesday that his department just recently learned a bed bug summit was scheduled to occur. However, though it is a public health issue, his department did not receive any official notice about the meeting.
According to the EPA, the public meeting was meant to help participants learn about options for prevention and control of the bugs, in addition to learning strategies for outreach and education.
The EPA, out of concern for the environment and the effects on public health, has pulled many of the chemicals that were most effective in eradicating the bugs in the U.S. At the same time, the appleseed-sized critters have developed a pesticide resistance because those chemicals are still in use in other countries.
Increasing international travel has also helped them to hitchhike into the U.S.
"One of our roles would be to learn of new products or safer products. ... What we are concerned about is that if people take things into their own hands and start using pesticides on their mattresses that aren't really registered for that, that's a problem," said Lois Rossi, director of the registration division in the EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs.
The EPA is not alone in trying to deal with the problem. An aide to Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., says the congressman plans to reintroduce legislation next week to expand grant programs to help public housing authorities cope with infestations.
The bill will be called the "Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite Act."
"It was clear something needed to be done," said Saul Hernandez, Butterfield's legislative assistant.
Bedbugs are not known to transmit any diseases. But their bites can cause infections and allergic reactions in some people. The insects release an anticoagulant to get blood flowing, and they also excrete a numbing agent so their bites don't often wake their victims.
Those often hardest hit are the urban poor, who cannot afford to throw out all their belongings or take other drastic measures. Extermination can cost between $400-$900.
So bedbug problems increase, said Dini Miller, an entomologist and bedbug expert at Virginia Tech, who until 2001 saw bedbugs only on microscope slides dating from the 1950s. Now she gets calls and e-mails several times a day from people at their wits' end.
"I can't tell you how many people have spent the night in their bathtubs because they are so freaked out by bedbugs," Miller said. "I get these people over the phone that have lost their marbles."
Because the registration of new pesticides takes so long, one thing the EPA could do is to approve some pesticides for emergency use, Miller said.
Another tactic would be to screen pesticides allowed for use by farmers to see if they are safe in household settings.
Representatives of the pest control industry will be pushing for federal funding for research into alternative solutions, such as heating, freezing or steaming the bugs out of bedrooms.
"We need to have better tools," said Greg Baumann, a senior scientist at the National Pest Management Association. "We need EPA to consider all the options for us."
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wonderwhy
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04-17-09 8:39 AM
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chapline- so do youthink they are coming from imports to the US?
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reasoh
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04-15-09 7:50 PM
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So this requires a Federal Government Agency Summit. Yet they wonder why Tea Parties are being held today. A very bloated tax sucking animal this government.
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ChaplineRow
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04-15-09 6:48 PM
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Being in my early 60's I can remember the phrase, "don't let the Bedbugs bite" as a child in the late 50's. I have read that for this most recent infestation we can thank the folks from overseas, in particular Asia, for this new arrival that we had long ago rid ourselves of. As for my wife and I, me thinks I will purchase another camper. At least I know who slept in it the night before. Motels scare the*****out of me now..TB is also on the rise, much of it coming from outside the US borders. Lots of these folks find work in the kitchens of our restaurants. Lovely...
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ConservativeKaty
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04-15-09 3:12 PM
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Nosmart, If you have a good old fashioned home remedy for killing bedbugs, please share it. I have talked with Health Officers in several surrounding states and they are scared about this. Sometimes an old remedy works best and good scientists now recognize that and welcome suggestions they would have laughed off before. Seriously, share what you know, please.
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nosmart
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04-15-09 3:08 PM
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high teck folks dont the elite and highly educated even know how to kill bedbugs. our schools need to get back to basics.
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ConservativeKaty
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04-15-09 2:17 PM
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Interesting to have a story about "blood sucking insects" on tax day.
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TheRealityPolice
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04-15-09 9:15 AM
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Bedbugs are the new bio terrorist weapons! Maybe Al-Queda sent them here to destroy us from within! "Infest the USA with these bugs it will drive them MAD! Buuhhhaaa haaaa haaa" (insert Dr. Evil laugh here) I just cannot believe that our tax dollars are being spent on a "bed bug summit" - cripe.
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