Battling bedbugs

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September 4, 2010

EPA syas most common pesticides are ineffective

Staff reports The Independent The Daily Independent Sat Sep 04, 2010, 06:00 AM EDT

CATLETTSBURG — A resurgence of bedbugs across the U.S. has homeowners and apartment dwellers taking measures to eradicate the tenacious bloodsuckers that could pose a far greater risk to their health than the tiny insects.

Not only is using common pesticides to eradicate bedbugs dangerous, it is largely ineffective. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, bedbugs have become largely resistant to common pesticides, and there are no commercial pesticides on the market specifically aimed at combatting bedbugs. The reason is simple: Until the last few years, bedbugs had posed no serious problem in the United States for more than 50 years and many thought they had been assigned to the pages of history and to the rhyme in which mothers warned their children to not let the bedbugs bite as they tucked them in at night.

But just three yeas after bedbugs led to the closing of a portion of a dorm at Ohio State University, infestations of bedbugs have been widespread in Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton and other cities, causing Ohio officials to plead with the EPA to approve the indoor use of the pesticide propoxur, which has been banned for in-home use since 2007. The EPA considers propoxur a “probable carcinogen.” Despite the possible risk of cancer nd other problems propoxur poses, about 25 other states are supporting Ohio’s request for an emergency exemption to the indoor use ban.

Dale Kemery, a spokesman for the EPA, said the agency has pledged to find new, potent — and safe — chemicals to kill bedbugs.

As always seens to happen whenever a new problem arises, the scam artists come out of the woodwork making false promises of miracle solutions. The EPA has warned consumers of an increase in pest control companies and others making “unrealistic promises of effectiveness or low cost.”

A pest control company in Newark, N.J., was accused in July of applying chemicals not approved for indoor use throughout 70 homes and apartments units, even spraying mattresses and children’s toys. In Cincinnati, an unlicensed applicator saturated an apartment complex in June with an agricultural pesticide typically used on golf courses. Seven tenants got sick and were treated at the hospital. The property was quarantined, and all tenants were forced to move.

Let the consumer beware. Bedbugs certainly are a nuisance that could spread disease, but using dangerous, unapproved chemicals to eradicate them could be more dangerous.

“When you see the anguish that bedbugs cause these people, it’s understandable why they might take things into their own hands, and some of it is very dangerous,” said Michael Potter, an entomologist at the University of Kentucky and one of the country’s leading bedbug experts.

Bedbugs all but vanished in the 1940s and 1950s with the widespread use of DDT. But DDT was banned in 1972 as too toxic to wildlife, especially birds. Since then, the bugs have developed resistance to chemicals that replaced DDT.

Though propoxur is still used in pet collars, it is banned for use in homes because of the risk of nausea, dizziness and blurred vision in children. Steven Bradbury, director of the EPA’s pesticide program, said the problem is that children crawl on the floor and put their fingers in their mouths.

Experts say it is going to take a comprehensive public health campaign — public-service announcements, travel tips and perhaps even taxpayer-funded extermination programs for public housing — to reduce the bedbug problem. People can get bedbugs by visiting infested homes or hotels, where the vermin hide in mattresses, pillows and curtains. The bugs are stealth hitchhikers that climb onto bags, clothing and luggage.

While bedbugs often are associate with unclean living conditions, infestations have been found in some of the finests hotels and motels in the country and in upscale clothing stores in Manhattan. The last thing a hotel wants is a report that it has bedbugs. That is sure to cause travelers to choose other accommodations.

Darrell Spegal, a property manager in Columbus, Ohio, who oversees four apartment complexes, said he has spent thousands of dollars to exterminate units infected by bedbugs. “We have to try something different,” he said. “ ... The bugs are winning this war.”

Such comments should be all that is needed for the EPA to put a high priority on finding the right chemicals that will all but eliminate bedbugs — again. In the meantime, beware of those making false promises.

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