3/29/2011 NYC Spends $500k On Bedbug Website After Residents And Retailers Such As Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch, & Juicy Couture Face Infestations

3/29/2011 New York City Launches Bedbug Website: Tells Bedbugs “We’re Biting Back”

New York City to bedbugs: “We’re biting back.”

The City Council and Bloombergadministration officials will announce stepped-up rules today targeting landlords who neglect bedbug problems in their buildings.

Under the new rules — which take effect immediately — building owners must inspect and treat apartments next to, above and below any unit that has bedbugs. They also must notify all tenants when bedbugs have been detected and distribute a plan on eradicating them.

Property owners who repeatedly fail to take care of bedbug infestations will be required to get a licensed exterminator to fill out a sworn affidavit indicating the problem has been handled.

“We’re sending the message that we’re taking this seriously,” Council Speaker Christine Quinn said. “People are very nervous about bedbugs.”

The Department of Health will be empowered to send landlords who ignore bedbugs to the city’s Environmental Control Board, which can issue fines. Presently, only the Department of Housing Preservation and Development can issue violations to landlords for bedbugs.

In a last-resort move, the city would sell liens on properties whose owners ignore those fines.

City officials will also unveil a Web site — www.nyc.gov/html/doh/bedbugs — to arm residents with information on eradicating the pests.

The Web site will provide pictures and detailed descriptions of the critters and tips on how to prevent them from entering homes, such as keeping suitcases off floors and beds while traveling, sealing cracks in your home with caulk and washing clothes and bedding on hot settings if you suspect the presence of bedbugs.

The site also advises against bringing home any used furniture off the street.

Councilwoman Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan), who worked on the Web site and new regulations, said many New Yorkers are in a constant state of fear over picking up the critters.

“The numbers of complaints, in rental buildings in particular, are continuing,” she said.

Visit NYC Bedbug Website

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3/25/2011 Why Montreal Is Losing The BedBug Battle: Number Of Inspections And Money For Pest Control Is Insufficient Experts Say

MONTREAL – The city of Montreal and regional public heath officials have a new plan to combat bedbugs, but tenants’ rights groups and landlords say it lacks some serious bite because there is no extra money allocated to enforce it.

An estimated 2.7 per cent of dwellings in Montreal – that’s 22,000 homes, or 44,000 people – had bedbugs in 2009, according to a study done for the city last year. Although the situation has not reached the epidemic levels seen in some cities on the East Coast of the United States, the problem in the Montreal area is growing, city executive committee vice-president Michael Applebaum, the mayor’s point man for housing, said Thursday.

“For us this is a priority,” Applebaum said. “People cannot live in this situation (with bedbugs). We want to catch it before it gets out of hand.”

Although exterminators and landlords say the bedbug problem has grown exponentially in the past five years, Applebaum said the current number of inspections and money allocated for pest control is sufficient.

An information campaign to educate the public and a new bylaw compelling exterminators to report bedbug jobs they do in multiunit buildings are the main thrusts of the new action plan. The city of Montreal, health officials and Montreal Island suburbs will also have access to a new, confidential databank compiling infestation cases, best extermination methods, complaints by individuals to the city’s 311 phone service and the addresses of problem buildings.

A motion to adopt the plan will be presented in May and the council is expected to approve the bylaw in June, right in time for the July 1 moving day when many people switch apartments and transport or inherit bedbugs.

Richard Lessard, director of Public Health at the Health and Social Services Agency of Montreal, said people should not be afraid to report bedbugs.

“The more people hide it, the more it spreads,” he said. Having bedbugs is not an indication of personal hygiene. “Everyone is susceptible.”

Frank Pulcini, who runs Central Extermination, a Montreal company, said he saw no problem reporting his jobs to the city. But he doubted the system would truly beat bedbugs if there is not more public money injected.

“It’s just like with roaches 15 years ago; They have the same number of inspectors doing all these jobs.” Bedbug infestations are now much bigger than other pests, he added. Five years ago he got two to four calls a day about bedbugs. Now he gets up to 50 calls a day.

Nathalie Blais, spokesperson for the Association des propriétaires du Québec, representing 11,000 landlords, said the city is kidding itself if it thinks a databank won’t require additional funding. People should realize the bedbug issue is, as touchy as it is, often brought in by tenants, she said.

“Do people realize bedbugs can live in an uninhabited apartment for one year?” Blais asked. “And about 30 per cent of people do not react to bedbug bites, so some people may have them in their place without knowing it.”

France Émond, of the Regroupement des comités logements et association de locataires du Québec, a coalition of 45 tenants’ groups, said the new plan is toothless. “It has zero budget,” she said. “We asked for the new information pamphlets to give out to our members, and we were given 1,000. When we asked for more they said they had no budget to print more.”

3/22/2011 Tips From ‘The Bedbug Survival Guide’: New Book By Jeff Eisenberg Gives Tips For Avoiding Bedbugs

Here’s the good news: Bed bugs are not known to spread diseases, writes Jeff Eisenberg, author of The Bed Bug Survival Guide, out April 4. It’s already available for $9.17 on amazon.com.

The bad news: They can lay eggs in the zipper of your briefcase and fit into a crack the size of a business card, says Eisenberg, whose New York City company Pest Away has treated more than 100,000 spaces in the last 15 years. Bed bugs are once again an epidemic, Eisenberg says. They can live up to 18 months without a meal and can lie dormant until they do damage. Eisenberg says victims include a NYC fashion editor who had to toss her Vera Wang wedding gown and other possessions to get rid of them.

Here are some of Eisenberg’s tips for avoiding the critters, who are back causing problems since the powerful chemical DDT was prohibited.

*Having dinner out? Put your handbag on your lap instead of on the back of the chair or, worse, at your feet.

*The more house guests you have, the better your chances of being infested.

*On a plane? Decline a pillow and blanket.

*Checking into a hotel? Put your bag in the bathroom, where critters are less apt to crawl (they like wood and upholstery).

*Flying? Take a carry-on in the overhead bin rather than check a bag that goes in the luggage compartment.

Eisenberg shatters some myths. “You are just as likely to be bitten at a five-star hotel as you are at a place that rents rooms by the hour.”

Eisenberg offers up more interesting info. First, men are less likely than women to show evidence of being bitten (or more correctly, sucked) by bed bugs. Also, bed bugs inject you with an anesthetic,so it can take up to 12 hours for a bite to show, making it harder to know where you got one.

His tip: Use a high-powered flashlight to examine both sides of a mattress, plus the headboard and box springs for blood and fecal matter that would indicate the presence of bed bugs.

OK, now I’m really going to scare you. Eisenberg says hotels are “the perfect (bed bug) storm.” Why? Because there’s a transient population, because hotels don’t have regulations for dealing with bed bugs, and housekeepers are under pressure to turn rooms over quickly without inspections. Eisenberg says hotels should have someone on staff to inspect rooms regularly for bed bugs, take rooms out of service immediately if bugs are found or suspected, treat the room and have bed-bug-sniffing dogs confirm all is OK. He also suggests calling a hotel’s housekeeping department directly before a stay to find out if they’ve treated rooms for bed bugs in the past six weeks (sorry, but I don’t think you’d necessarily get a straight answer by doing that).

He also suggests using bedbugregistry.com to see if the hotel you booked or the apartment building you’re interested in has any reported bed-bug sightings. Check the registry, and you will be surprised how many big-name luxury hotels are mentioned.

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3/20/2011 Bedbug Education For NJ Residents: Seminars Prepare Residents For Summer Jump In Bedbug Infestations

Marc Stepper is an electrical subcode inspector who works in Morristown and lives in Old Bridge. He enters and examines a couple thousand homes each year, and lately he has been worrying about taking his work home with him.

“I’m certainly going to come into contact with bedbugs eventually,” he said.

“I don’t want to bring them home to the kids.”

Stepper was one of several dozen people who attended a bedbug seminar Wednesday at Morristown’s town hall. Stepper said he learned some tell-tale signs that can keep him clean, like checking for eggs or fecal matter, which is dried blood.

“I got an education,” Stepper said. “That’s the best weapon I can have.”

Information sessions like these are becoming more common throughout the state. Peter Di Eduardo, an account manager from Bell Environmental Services, the Parsippany-based pest control company that headlined Wednesday’s event, said he also has engagements in Atlantic City and Bridgewater, as well as throughout New York and Pennsylvania.

From Vineland to Clifton, several communities, counties and businesses are trying to prepare for what is expected to be a busy summer.

As the temperatures rise, so do reports of infestations, and experts say 2011 will be even worse than 2010.

“The graph shows an upward trend,” said Craig Hollingsworth, an entomologist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. “It is just like a disease. More people are spreading them around, and they are infesting more places.”

That’s a scary thought for Mark Colicchio, a health officer in Plainfield, who has spent 20 years on the job and teaches a public health class at Montclair State University.

“There has been a significant increase in bedbug complaints,” Colicchio said. “I’m deeply grateful Morristown held this event.”

Colicchio said he would try to arrange a similar seminar for Union County.

The state Assembly passed a bill last May intended to help address the problem. The bill, which is stuck in the Senate, would allow $300 in fines to be levied on landlords for each infested apartment and $1,000 per infested common area if the landlord fails to act once an infestation has been reported. The bill would also require the Department of Health and Senior Services to create an informational pamphlet to educate renters about bedbugs.

“They are hitchhikers,” Di Eduardo said. “They eventually go to the next unit and the next unit and the next unit.”

Di Eduardo said he has seen bedbugs in homes, schools, hospitals, nursing homes and offices. Anywhere there is food, which means anywhere there are people. “This is very real,” Di Eduardo said. “Bedbugs are everywhere.”

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3/18/2011 Bedbugs Invade Washington DC Hospital: United Medical Center Psych Patient Linked To Bedbugs

3/15/2011 Bedbug Bill Gets Support of NPMA: Applauds Rep. Schmidt for Introducing Bed Bug Management, Prevention and Research Act

Fairfax, Va. — The National Pest Management Association (NPMA) announces its support of HR 967, the Bed Bug Management, Prevention and Research Act of 2011, introduced by Representative Jean Schmidt (R-OH). The measure was introduced in response to the dramatic resurgence of bed bugs in the United States in recent years and aims to find ways to help Americans cope with this pest.

Specifically, the bill authorizes a federal bed bug research funding program to resume research that has been neglected for 50 years; requires efficacy testing for minimum risk pesticides to protect consumers from products that don’t effectively manage bed bug infestations; adds criteria the EPA must consider for the registration of a public health pesticide so as to help provide professionals and consumers more safe, affordable and effective tools; and establishes a Bed Bug Prevention and Mitigation Pilot Program to provide subsidized treatments for those on fixed and lower incomes.

“The bed bug invasion of America is real and severe and many Americans are turning to the government for help,” said Bob Rosenberg, NPMA’s senior vice president. “NPMA is pleased Representative Schmidt is taking a strong lead to assist the public in managing this pest. Our members will visit their Congressional representatives this week to encourage support for this important legislation.”

“Pest management professionals are on the front lines of the bed bug war, but cannot go at it alone. It is important the government, the public and the pest control industry work together to minimize infestations through education, building awareness and assistance. This bill sets the stage for this crucial cooperation,” added Rosenberg.

According to NPMA, 95 percent of pest professionals reported treating bed bugs over the past year, up from 25 percent of professionals in 2000. Moreover, bed bugs have been identified as the single most difficult pest to treat by the pest control industry.

3/10/2011 Bedbugs NYC: FDNY Warns Don’t Use Gasoline Products On Bedbugs

Queens fire officials last month issued a warning to borough residents to steer clear of gasoline or gasoline products to fight bedbug infestation at home.
FDNY officials said residents in Astoria have called 911 to report a gasoline odor coming from adjacent apartments in their buildings.
Firefighters responding to the calls discovered several incidents where residents poured gasoline on mattresses to kill bedbugs.
Allegedly a number of people, following dangerous, misleading advice had wiped gasoline on their own arms and their children’s arms to stop the bedbugs from biting, officials said.
Such incidents involving the use of extremely flammable gasoline prompted FDNY officials to issue the warning about fatal consequences that could result from the misguided use of gasoline to battle bedbugs. “This is not the first time we have issued this warning,” a fire spokesperson said. “We warn people over and over, just how dangerous it is to use gasoline or gasoline-based products in the home, but they don’t listen.”
Sources said, “Gasoline is a highly explosive compound that could ignite, pop and start a fatal blaze from something as simple as flicking a light switch.”
Officials are urging Queens residents to seek help with bedbug infestation, instead of trying to clear infestations on their own. Residents are urged to call 311 to seek assistance from the New York City Department of Health. Residents should also notify superintendents, maintenance workers, landlords and/or building management for help with bedbug infestation.

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3/7/2011 Bedbug Training Offered To NJ Realtors: Agents Have To “Be Equipped For Everything” These Days

The North Central Jersey Association of REALTORS is offering its members a crash course on Bedbugs.  The class, being offered Friday March 11th, is called ‘BedBugs: Recognize, Detect & Eliminate BedBugs’.  Attendees of the class, New Jersey Realtors, will learn how to win the battle against bedbugs.  The class will also teach best practices for identification techniques, how bedbugs are different from other pest control issues, how detection and treatment choices can affect your listings, activity and reputation, the pros and cons of treatment methods, and how to lessen the risk of reintroduction.

Sue “Suki” Marsh-Shikiar, of Weichert Realtors in Short Hills NJ, told Bedbugville that she plans to attend the course as do several other agents from her office.  “We have to be equipped for everything when selling a house and fortunately I’ve never faced this problem but it’s very much real and alive these days.  I’ve heard stories where bedbugs are hidden behind electrical outlets and places in the house that are very hard to find”.

The seminar is free to NCJAR members and registration is required to attend.

3/9/2011 Bedbug Victim At Bedbug Convention Confronts Bedbug Infestation: Evaluates Latest Bedbug Fighting Products

In 2008, my Brooklyn apartment got bedbugs. After two failed extermination attempts, I went insane and moved out after throwing away everything I owned except for a laptop, an iPod and two garbage bags of clothes that had been washed in antiseptic. I wrote about it for ShelterPop, and it was clear from the story that the bedbugs had left me on edge and generally not “OK”. More recently, ShelterPop asked if I would cover the National Bed Bug Prevention Media Showcase — yes, this is a real event — and I agreed. That was a poor choice.

I walked into a storefront in Soho and found five tables set up in a wide open room, every inch of which was painted bright white. Reps from various pesticide companies were on hand to present the latest in bedbug prevention technology.

I first met Steve Bessette, President of EcoSMART Technologies, the company sponsoring the bedbug showcase, and entomologist Dr. Gretchen Paluch. They proudly presented EcoSMART’s bedbug spray as a natural solution made almost entirely from essential oils extracted from plants like rosemary and thyme. In fact, they have a pesticide exemption from the EPA as there is nothing toxic to humans in any of their products. To stress the point, they had the plants displayed on their table.

Dr. Paluch explained that the oils attack the bedbugs’ central nervous system and are powerful enough to kill the bugs on contact. While being completely harmless to humans, applying the spray to a mattress can repel bedbugs for up to eight hours at a time. That seemed all well and good, but as someone who’s had bedbugs before and had great difficulty killing them, I would have much preferred if their table looked like this:

When I had bedbugs, I wanted them dead at any cost. Safety for myself and those around me became a very distant second priority; I wanted something that could kill me, but diluted down to a bedbug-killing level. So while the botanical spray from EcoSMART seemed like an effective way to keep bedbugs away from me when I stayed in a hotel, it wasn’t a weaponized solution for an infestation in your home. As I left the table, Dr. Paluch offered me a dead bedbug entombed in plastic. It now resides in my freezer.

At another table was a product made by a company called BugZip. They make plastic bags that you can put your luggage in while on vacation so that bugs from a hotel infestation can’t hitch a ride on your suitcase and follow you home. Smart.

Then I met Genma Holmes, or “The Bug Lady,” a former model and now head of a pest control company in Atlanta. Terrible nickname, awesome lady. She had set up a number of diagrams showing some of the most common bed bug hiding places: Behind bed boards, under the seam of a mattress, in your FREAKING ALARM CLOCK. Also, the alarm clocks pictured in the diagrams were all cleverly displaying times such as 1:00 and the infamous 2:25 A.M. moments at which one is likely to wake up scratching themselves. The Bug Lady and I had a good laugh about that, and we’re now Facebook friends.

At the last table were two brothers, Daniel and Scott White. Like the others at the show case, they had bedbug prevention products like a ClimbUp Insect Interceptor and a bed bug proof mattress cover. But, unlike the others, these guys had actual experience in extermination, and Scott had even been through an infestation himself.

Excited to finally be talking to people with an actual bedbug eradication background, I launched into questions about other rumored bedbug exterminating tactics. They had answers.

“What’s the deal with bedbug sniffing dogs?” Apparently, the dogs can be effective in locating bedbugs, but they’re only as good as their trainer.

“How about the freezing option?” Freezing bedbugs can also work, he said, but it only kills on contact; if you miss a spot where bedbugs are hiding, they will remain there. “And heat?” Heat can be a good option too, but it’s expensive. A treatment where they heat your whole apartment in order to kill the bedbugs can cost up to 50 percent more than a regular extermination. “And is it appropriate to freak out when you get bedbugs, throw away all your belongings and stay crazy for the next three years?” Maybe not so much.

I left the showcase with mixed feelings. It’s encouraging to see that there are people working to fix the ever-expanding bedbug population. But here’s the scary truth: If I ever got bedbugs again, there is not one singular and surefire way to get rid of them. The consensus of all the experts at the showcase seemed to be that bedbugs aren’t going anywhere any time soon, and until there is a better solution, containment is about the best we can hope for. In other words: Take a deep breath. Bedbugs just might kill us all.

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