1/14/2012 Scientists Find New Ways To Kill Bedbugs

FEW things destroy the reputation of a high-class hotel faster than bed bugs. These vampiric arthropods, which almost disappeared from human dwellings with the introduction of synthetic insecticides after the second world war, are making a comeback. They can drink seven times their own weight in blood in a night, leaving itchy welts on the victim’s skin and blood spots on his sheets as they do so. That is enough to send anyone scurrying to hotel-rating internet sites—and even, possibly, to lawyers.

New York is worst-hit at the moment: neither five-star hotels nor top-notch apartments have been spared. But other places, too, are starting to panic. Hotel staff from Los Angeles to London are scrutinising the seams of mattresses and the backs of skirting boards, where the bugs often hide during the day, with more than usual zeal. But frequently this is to no avail. Bed bugs are hard to spot. Even trained pest-control inspectors can miss them. What is needed is a way to flush them into the open. And James Logan, Emma Weeks and their colleagues at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Rothamsted Research think they have one: a bed-bug trap baited with something the bugs find irresistible—the smell of their own droppings.

The reason the bugs are attracted to this smell is that they use it to navigate back to their hidey-holes after a night of feeding. To develop the bait for the new trap, Dr Weeks therefore analysed the chemicals given off by bed-bug faeces and attempted to work out which of the components were acting as signposts. She did this by puffing air collected from a jar containing bed-bug faeces into a machine called a gas chromatograph, which separated the components from one another, and then through a mass spectrometer, to identify each component from its molecular weight. Having found what the smell consisted of, she wafted the chemicals in question, one by one, at bed bugs that had their antennae wired up to micro-electrodes, to see which of them provoked a response.

The result, the details of which the team is keeping secret for the moment for commercial reasons, is used to bait a trap, designed by Dr Logan, that is about the size of a standard mouse trap and has a sticky floor similar to fly paper. And it works. To paraphrase the slogan of Roach Motel, a brand of traps aimed at a different sort of insect pest, bed bugs check in, but they don’t check out.

The new trap could be used both to assess whether a hotel room or apartment is infested and also to kill the insects without dousing everything in insecticide—which is, in any case, an increasingly futile exercise, as many have now evolved resistance. Ralph Waldo Emerson, a 19th-century American sage, is supposed to have said that if a man built a better mousetrap than his neighbour, the world would make a beaten path to his door. Dr Logan and Dr Weeks are about to find out if the same thing applies to bed-bug traps.

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12/8/2011 Bedbug Attacked Saratoga Woman Speaks Out To City Council

Teresa Grocki diligently steams her floor and mattress, scrubs her clothes and takes two scalding hot showers a day. At night, she turns on her special overhead fluorescent spotlights.

But on Tuesday night, the 59-year-old resident of Stonequist Apartments tried a new approach to fighting what she said was bed bugs in her home. She attended a City Council meeting to inform the community that the 176-unit high rise — the city’s largest public housing tenement — was infested with the pests, and urged city leaders to find funding to eradicate them. (see accompanying video)

“I had thought I was losing my dignity by speaking like this, but I find I have found dignity by speaking out,” Grocki told the council. Fighting back tears, she said, “We don’t want this to grow. We don’t want this to be a secret anymore.”

Bed Bugs – brown, wingless parasites that feed on human blood at night – have proliferated around this tourist town throughout the last 3-5 years, pest control workers said Wednesday. The insects prefer to nest in seams of mattresses and sofas, but also in crevices of all kind. Their bites itch, and can result in skin rashes, allergies and other health problems. They hitch hike aboard humans, luggage, clothing and more.

Bed bugs can also pose psychological challenges, and their reputation of existing in only unsanitary conditions makes them hard to discuss, Grocki said. In a follow-up interview Wednesday, she alleged that Edward Spychalski, director of the Saratoga Springs Housing Authority, warned residents in August not to tell members of the media about the bed bug problems in the Federal Street building, which is home to low and moderate income residents. Spychalski told those who lived there that he didn’t have the money to fix the problem, and if they didn’t like the living conditions, they could move, Grocki said.

Spychalski did not respond to request for a comment. The Saratoga Springs Housing Authority is a federally funded government agency that operates under the auspices of the mayor, according to its website.

Mayor Scott Johnson said Wednesday that his office had sent a code enforcement officer to the high rise after recently being contacted about a possible bug problem. The city wants to assist residents, but it was trying to determine who had jurisdiction over the matter, Johnson said.

Several Stonequist residents signed statements of support for exterminating the bed bugs in Stonequist. Backed by a handful of other residents of the apartment building, Grocki delivered the signatures to the City Council. Grocki said her objective was not to attack Spychalski, but draw attention to the bed bugs and need for funding.

The bugs likely arrived with travelers from other cities, said James Wang, owner of Able Pest Control. “I would get calls only occasionally five years ago. Now, every week I get calls for bed bugs, sometimes every day,” Wang said. The insects concentrate in the downtown parts of cities, especially in hotels, motels and apartment buildings, he said.

Luis Pabon, technical director at CatsEye Pet Control, burns or freezes the bugs. Removing bed bugs from a huge building is an expensive project that can take months, even years, because every room that surrounds an infested room must be completely treated and maintained, Pabon said. Even five-star hotels get bed bugs, he said.

“Because of the negative stigma associated with bed bugs, a lot of people have a tendency to keep it quiet, which isn’t the best approach,” Pabon said.

The Saratoga County Health Department does not track bed bugs.

Grocki moved to the city from Miami seven years ago. She lives in a 400-square-foot apartment near the middle of the nine-story building. She pays rent through Social Security disability payments. She found her first bed bug on her pillow during the early morning of Nov. 7. She captured it and saved it in a jar. She’s suffered numerous bites and bouts of itching.

Getting rid of the bed bugs in Stonequist Apartments would cost about $25,000, Grocki said, citing an estimate that a pest control company recently gave her. She says she wants her old life – her old sleeping patterns – back.

“Really, I loved living here until Nov. 7,” Grocki said. “Now, I’m terrified.”

Continue Reading More/Watching Video: Bedbug Attacked Saratoga Woman Speaks Out To City Council

10/2/2011 Bedbugs On The Rise In Syracuse: Tenants & Landlords Struggle With Surge

Warning: If the word bedbug makes your skin crawl, now would be a good time to click to another part of syracuse.com.

Complaints about bedbugs are on the rise in Syracuse and environs, so much so that a tenant advocacy group will hold a seminar Tuesday for landlords about debugging a property.

“It appears that there’s an epidemic of bedbugs particularly on the North Side of Syracuse,” said Sharon Sherman, executive director of the Greater Syracuse Tenants Network, which is presenting the workshop.

But it isn’t just the North Side. Sherman says she is getting calls about bedbugs from people who live elsewhere in the city, in Solvay and Liverpool, too. She gets 15 tenant calls a week and roughly 20 percent of them are about bedbugs.

Corey Driscoll, deputy director of code enforcement for the city, says complaints about bedbug infestations have been going up for the last two years. From September 2010 to April, the city handled roughly 18 bedbug citations and from April until now it handled 30, Driscoll said.

In most cases, building owners will act to get rid of the bugs when the city is called in, Driscoll said. But when they do not respond, declaring the dwelling unfit to live in doesn’t solve the problem because if tenants move before the infestation is cured, they can carry the bugs with them, she said.

“We’ve been advised by the health department and housing agencies that it’s not good to move tenants around,” Driscoll said.

The Onondaga County Health Department does not track or deal with bedbugs because they don’t spread disease, but it offers advice and gets calls, which have been up for the last couple of years, said Kevin Zimmerman, director of the county’s Division of Environmental Health The calls are mostly from the city, but not exclusively, he said.

Landlords blame tenants, and tenants blame landlords for infestations, but both sides will have do some work and spend some money to stomp out the bugs.

The small, blood-eating insects are extremely difficult and costly to get rid of, and landlords don’t always do what it takes to eradicate them, although it is their legal responsibility to do so, Sherman said.

The only way to get rid of bedbugs is to hire a professional exterminator, who will need to do multiple treatments, Sherman said. It can cost $1,000 to rid an apartment of the bugs, she said.
Tenants must wash all their clothing and bedding in very high heat and encapsulate their mattresses in special plastic covering, among other steps, Sherman said.

Tenants don’t always do their part, said Jay Holman, of Mel & Jay Management, which oversees about 200 units. And bedbugs have been a terrible problem here for the last two years, he said.

“Landlords can fix the problem if they get total cooperation from tenants, but without that, the problem can’t be fixed. It won’t go away until a number of steps are taken and sometimes it takes two or three months,” Holman said.

Demetria Gunn, who rents a house on Wiman Avenue managed by Mel & Jay, said until she moved into house, she’d never had bedbugs. She said it took multiple trips to the doctor and treatments for allergies before she realized the itchy spots on her and her two children were bedbug bits.

She said she tried at first to battle them herself with bug bombs but that didn’t work so she turned to Mel & Jay to get rid of the infestation. Gunn and Holman offered differing explanations Thursday as to why an exterminator had not treated the house since she reported the problem Sept. 15.

But both sides say they are willing to do what it takes to get rid of the bugs. Gunn doesn’t think she’ll be able to move into a new place until that happens for fear she’ll bring the bugs with her. Gunn said she isn’t getting a lot of good sleep. She said she keeps getting up to check her kids, ages 7 and 15, for bug bites.

“I check them in the middle of the night and in the morning before they get up. I’m constantly looking at them,” Gunn said.
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9/23/2011 Bedbug Pesticide Illnesses On The Rise: Several States Report Incidents

As more people in the United States are feeling the bed bug’s bite, there has been a spike in illnesses from pesticides used to kill the insects, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC.L reported on Thursday.

From 2003 to 2010, 111 people were sickened and one died from bed bug insecticide, the government agency reported in a study that is the first of its kind in the country.

Nearly three quarters of the illnesses occurred from 2008 to 2010 as the bed bug population in the United States increased.

Pesticide-related illnesses occurred in seven states: California, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, New York, Texas and Washington. Some 81 percent of cases were not severe.

New York City, where there were increasing reports of bed bug infestations, had the largest number of cases at 58 percent. Nationwide, 93 percent of the cases were in private homes, the study found.

Although the CDC said there have not been enough cases of serious illness to suggest a large public health burden, the numbers might continue to increase as bed bugs become more resistant to common pesticides.

Bed bugs are wingless, reddish-brown insects that suck blood from humans and other mammals and birds. They do not carry disease but, according to the CDC, “can reduce quality of life by causing anxiety, discomfort and sleeplessness.”

Illness can result from misusing pesticides to kill the bugs, the CDC said. Two of the most common causes of illness were excessive insecticide application and failing to wash or change pesticide-treated bedding.

Common symptoms included headaches, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, the CDC said.

The lone fatality was in North Carolina in 2010, and the 65-year-old victim had a long list of health problems including diabetes and renal failure, the CDC said.

Her husband applied pesticides in the home that were not registered for use on bed bugs. The woman also applied a bed bug and flea insecticide to her arms, sores on her chest, and on her hair.

The CDC recommends using both nonchemical and chemical approaches to fight bed bugs, including hiring an expert to heat infested rooms or cool them to kill the bugs.

The agency also advises against buying used mattresses and box springs and urges anyone with a bed bug problem to hire only certified insecticide applicators.

“Insecticide labels that are easy to read and understand also can help prevent illnesses associated with bed bug control,” the agency said. (Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Cynthia Johnston)

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8/30/2011 Are We In A Bedbug Cycle Of Growth? 

“Good night, sleep tight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.” Largely eradicated by the early 1940s, bed bugs were almost unheard of until recently. As infestations continue to rise, some exterminators say avoiding bed bugs is becoming more difficult for area residents.

Fogle’s Pest Control owner Jimmie Fogle said he has seen a “moderate increase” in the number of cases over the last several months.

“They are coming back, but they are not as bad as 30-40 years ago,” Fogle said. “DDT was used then to kill them before it was banned by the government.

“They are attracted to cotton and wool. We find them mostly in bedrooms and the mattresses.”

The exact cause of bed bug resurgence remains unclear, although many exterminators feel increased travel is a key factor. According to the recently released NPMA/University of Kentucky 2011 “Bugs Without Borders” survey, 99 percent of pest control specialists have seen bed bug infestations in the past year.

Gressette Pest Management has seen a 30-40 percent increase in the number of bed bug calls this year over 2010. Company representative Gene Kizer says the insects have no mode of transportation except humans.

“I have my own theory, too,” Kizer said. “We see cycles of insects come and go and we are in a cycle of bed bug growth now. That happens with all insects.”

Orkin Pest Control entomologist Stoney Bachman said the number of bed bug cases has remained steady over the last three years.

“I’d say prior to that, they were unheard of in this area,” Bachman said. “Only recently have they become a household issue. Infestations can also spread in apartments because they can travel through walls.

“Five-star hotels in New York are having bed bug problems. More are actually seen in high-end homes because those individuals often travel more.”

The blood-feeding insects are reddish-brown in color, flat and about a quarter-inch long. Signs of activity include sores on the body where bites have occurred.

Gressette pest control technician L.W. Strock III said many people don’t attribute the bites to bed bugs unless it continues to happen.

“You will see blood stains on the bed sheets,” Strock said. “Having a lot of clutter in the room also gives them ample places to hide, which requires more invasive methods of treatment.

“Stores sell pesticides labeled for bed bugs and they can be somewhat effective as long as you follow the label to its entirety. But it will take you even longer to rid the problem using that compared to what is available to exterminators.”

Although some online information sites suggest there are simple precautions travelers can take to reduce the chance of transporting bed bugs, Kizer said there is little that can be done to prevent them. The eggs are smaller than a pinhead and can be transported on shoes.

Immature or even adult bugs can often stow away in luggage without detection.

“If people are suspicious they have bed bugs, they need to call an exterminator to come out and assess the situation,” Kizer said. “They are easy to identify and are not mistaken for any other insect.”

7/17/2011 Why BedBugs Won’t Be Stopped

Seems like everywhere you go someone in the media is talking about bedbugs. Most recently, a study compiled by Terminix, a pest control service company, ranked the top most infested cities in 2011. Among those in the study include: Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia and, edging out all of the competition at number one, New York.

So, why are these little bloodsucking critters not going away? It would seem that with all the news stories, we as a public would know the precautions needed in place so that we don’t find ourselves battling a case of the bedbugs. Well, we would be mistaken.

Our bedbug problem has been around in large numbers since 2000. It has grown and effected more homes, offices, theatres, planes and retail establishments in 2010 than any previous year.

There are so many answers as to what we should do. Knowing that the information you receive from a pest control professional can vary due to experience and education, here are some things to keep in mind when calling a “professional.”

1. Are they licensed and insured?
2. Do they take the time to answer your questions and give you great customer service?
3. How are their online reviews? (Remember you can’t make everyone happy all the time.)
4. Do they have a guarantee on their work?
5. Can they supply you with the labels to the chemicals they are using upon arrival to treat your home or office? (In New York, it’s law, and you should research what they are putting into the atmosphere within your home.)

We can also take several pre-emptive measures to help place a barrier around our homes, offices and automobiles so that, if and when, we come in contact with bedbugs, they won’t hitchhike over to our place:

• Purchase mattress encasements. (They even have crib encasements now)
• Open packages from retailers (both on and off line) outside or in a garage.
• Be wise when you stay in a hotel. Watch my video on hotels and bedbugs here.
• Don’t bring used furniture into your home.
• Buy a bedbug spray that specifically says bedbugs on the can or bottle.

Number five on our pre-emptive measures checklist is one of the most important steps you can take to help keep the bedbugs out. Creating a barrier around your home, office and automobile is a triple threat cocktail to kill whatever comes into these areas.

Bedbug sprays come in all sizes and shapes. I recommend Pronto Plus® bedbug spray, as it’s effective in providing the coverage and barrier on the items you choose to apply it to and won’t leave you coughing for hours. Always research and find the solution that is right for your current situation and remember to read the labels of any product you spray or use in your home.

So now I ask you, why are bedbugs still growing in numbers all across America? We all have a responsibly to protect our families, friends and even our coworkers. Take the time to educate yourself about how these little critters work, especially if you are living in or visiting New York.

Continue Reading More: Why Bedbugs Won’t Be Stopped

6/16/2011 As The BedBug Problem Grows So Do The Issues: Landlords, Cities & Insurers Must Figure Out How To Deal With

An alarming invasion of bed bugs in homes, hotels, schools, hospitals and other facilities has led to a renewed call for lifting of a government ban on a pesticide once used to combat the bugs and moves in several states to require property/casualty insurers to cover the costs of clean-up.

The resurgence of the critters has also prompted renewed research into the best treatment and prevention methods.

Though around for centuries, by the mid-1900s bed bugs were almost completely eradicated in the U.S. due to a variety of pest control products used to treat infestations. Some now question whether this latest bed bug tipping point can be contained.

According to Missy Henriksen, vice president of the National Pest Management Association (NMPA), there are a variety of reasons for the dramatic increase in bed bugs, including increased travel and mobility of society. Other factors include changes in pest control, resistance towards pesticides, and changes in the pesticide application process.

The NPMA and the University of Kentucky studied what has been done on bed bugs to date. Released last summer, this study found that 95 percent of pest management professionals reported treating bed bugs in the past year. In 2000, that figure was below 25 percent.

“We also found as part of that, that bed bugs certainly aren’t just in beds any longer,” said Henriksen. “We’ve seen news stories that indicate that as well. Bed bugs are being found now in schools, in movie theaters, in office buildings, in hospitals and medical facilities, they are being found in cars. Anywhere where people are, you will find bedbugs. Bed bugs need people for their very survival. They are hitchhikers and they will travel with people on their belongings and take up residence in new locations.”

They are also in municipal buildings. Firefighters in Des Moines, Iowa last month called in a bed bug-sniffing dog that found bugs in an office, on two chairs, on stools and on four mattresses at Station No. 4. The firefighters, who eat and sleep at the station during their 24-hour shifts, said they worried about accidentally taking some of the little pests home.

Chemical Controversy

Last month, a two-family Ohio house was destroyed when a heater being used to kill bed bugs set a carpet on fire, according to officials. The exterminator blamed an equipment malfunction for the fire.

The fire renewed a controversy over the use of a pesticide, Propoxur, which has been successful in treating bed bugs. The product was taken off the market in 2006 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) because of health risks, including nausea and vomiting experienced during exposure to the product. The EPA says it is a danger to children’s nervous systems.

At a press conference in Ohio, Republican U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt and Democratic state Rep. Dale Mallor called on the EPA to solve the growing problem of bed bugs and allow Propoxur back on the market.

“The loss of this home, in my opinion, is the result of the EPA’s inaction to approve of a product that is effective at controlling the bedbugs,” Schmidt said.

Oho officials have twice requested an exemption for the state from the federal ban on Propoxur, but the EPA has thus far refused to grant the exemption.

Bed Bug Legislation

To address the issue, the federal government convened the second annual National Bed Bug Summit in Washington, D.C. in February. Part of the agenda included what states and cities are doing to control the problem and the effective use of heat and non-chemical treatments.

Eleven states are considering bed bug legislation this year. Maine adopted a bed bug related law last year. New York is considering requiring insurers that underwrite property/casualty policies in the state to cover costs associated with bed bug infestations.

Maine’s bed bug law requires a landlord to inspect a unit for bed bugs within five days of being notified by a tenant of an infestation possibility. Within 10 days of determining an infestation is present, the landlord must contact a pest control agent and take reasonable measures to treat the infestation. The pest control agent must carry liability insurance that is current and effective at time of treatment.

In addition, before a unit can be rented, a landlord has to disclose whether a unit is currently infested with or treated for bed bugs. The landlord has to provide, if requested, information as to when the unit or adjacent units were last inspected for and found to be free of bed bugs.

South Carolina enacted the Bed Bug Prevention and Sanitation Act and Hawaii added a bed bug question to the state’s real estate disclosure form.

Larger municipalities such as Detroit, San Francisco and New York City are also reviewing the issue.

Continue Reading More: As The Bedbug Problem Grows So Do The Issues

4/28/2011 Rising Temperatures & Summer Travel Will Worsen Bedbugs In Northeast: Entomologists and Pest Control Experts State

The Northeast’s bedbug problem is expected to worsen this summer as temperatures rise and vacationers increase traffic in hotels, entomologists and pest-control experts say.

Hotels and summer camps are among the businesses seeking information about policies and procedures for dealing with bedbugs from BedBug Central, a Lawrenceville-based website offering products and services aimed at eradicating the blood-sucking insects, said Jeffrey White, an entomologist with the site.

“They understand that it’s inevitable at this point,” White said. “There’s really no true prevention for bedbugs other than education.”

Bedbugs’ recent spread may be boosted this spring and summer as temperatures rise, potentially increasing challenges that have already been faced by North Jersey businesses in recent years – such as a YMCA branch in Hackensack and senior living facility in Paramus.

At 65 degrees, it takes three months for bedbugs to become adults, said Susan Jones, a professor of entomology at Ohio State University. At 86 degrees, it takes only three weeks for them to go from eggs to adults.

One pregnant female bedbug can produce up to 300 bugs in about six weeks, said John Kane, an entomologist and technical specialist with Parsippany-based Western Pest Services.

“We do get more (reports of bedbugs) during the summer,” though not a sharp spike, said Kane, who handles service calls in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. “I definitely expect more (reports) than last year.”

A more important factor in seasonal bedbug surges may not be temperature changes so much as the travel schedules of their hosts, Jones said.

“You see big spikes after vacation periods,” she said.

Statistics to verify reported increases of bedbug infestations are hard to come by. That’s because homeowners, landlords and businesses typically are not required to report infestations to local or state health officials. Hackensack, for example, typically receives reports of bedbugs only from residents whose landlords are slow to address the problem, health official John Christ said.

In Paramus, CareOne at the Cupola, a senior housing facility on Ridgewood Avenue, treated one resident’s room for bedbugs last fall.

While bedbugs were found only in one room, the center’s management implemented a plan to have 20 rooms per month inspected as a proactive measure, according to health records The Record obtained from the town.

CareOne’s management declined to comment, but spokesman Peter Ward said in an e-mailed statement: “Local health officials were notified and upon their review, confirmed this was an isolated incident and addressed by the center to their satisfaction.”

In the fall of 2009, the YMCA of Greater Bergen County in Hackensack faced a bedbug infestation involving eight of the 28 residential rooms the Main Street facility rents out. Some of the pests also were found in the Y’s lobby.

“As soon as we recognized we had it, and we knew it was becoming an epidemic in the Northeast, we reached out to our members and informed them of what was going on,” said Keith Zebroski, the Y’s senior program director.

The Y then embarked on a months-long treatment plan to eradicate the problem. Y officials hired an exterminator and replaced mattresses and lobby furniture. Zebroski said the cost, excluding new mattresses and furniture, was $11,568.

The Y is ready to face the problem this summer, should bedbugs appear again, he said.

“We’ve been through it,” he said. “We know how to handle it.”

Continue Reading More: Rising Temperatures Will Worsen Bedbugs In Northeast

4/22/2011 Bedbugs Boosting Sales At United Industries: Outbreak Lead To Company Developing More Products

A pest in the bedroom has been a boon for United Industries.

Uttering the word “bedbug” is enough to send shivers through the spines for many people at the thought of the minuscule blood-sucking insect living in mattresses, behind baseboards and under carpets. While bedbugs are not known to transmit diseases, the insects are a nuisance Americans don’t want in homes or businesses.

When bedbugs began to mount a resurgence nationally in late 2007, United got to work developing a product to combat the tiny reddish-brown insect that spans between 1 and 7 millimeters.

United, a local division of Madison, Wis.-based Spectrum Brands Holdings, drew on its portfolio of 260 registered products with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — more than any other consumer pesticide company, United touts. It quickly settled on the chemical compound pyrethroid to kill both bedbugs and fleas and launched an aerosol spray under the Hot Shot brand name in January 2009.

“Our portfolio … gave us access to a quick entrance in the market, and we were able to go from product concepts to a launch in six months,” said Randy Lewis, United’s vice president and general manager. He’s based in the division’s operational headquarters in St. Louis County.

Because of increasing demand, United’s Hot Shot bedbug line has expanded to five products, including a portable 3-ounce spray introduced this year for bedbug encounters at hotels or wherever bedbugs bite.

United’s bedbug line is the company’s fastest growing product under the 56-year-old Hot Shot brand, which also includes products that kill ants, wasps and roaches.

“There’s something about an insect in your bed, while you’re sleeping, that’s feasting on your blood,” Lewis said, describing the deeply negative emotional response people have to bedbugs, which in turn drives sales.

United’s bedbug products’ revenue tripled last year compared with 2009, and the company is developing two new products that will be available at Lowe’s, Wal-Mart and Home Depot stores next year.

United does not disclose revenue by brands, but the division’s net sales increased 6 percent in its 2010 fiscal year to $341 million, compared to 2009.

United first had to overcome embarrassment some consumers had buying the product.

“There was a reluctance at first from consumers who didn’t want to put it in their cart, ” Lewis said. “We’ve gotten past that stigma.”

United’s products, which sell for between $3 and $10, are designed for those looking for a cheaper option than calling an exterminator, said John Pailthorp, United’s division vice president of marketing.

To help these do-it-yourselfers, United invests the bulk of its marketing dollars on in-store displays and what it calls “product knowledge sessions” at retail locations to show consumers how the products work, he said.

United faces competition in the bedbug category, with more than 300 products registered by the EPA to kill bedbugs. United estimates its market share exceeds 70 percent, based on Nielson data and internal management estimates. Its major competitors include Ortho, which is owned by The Scotts Co., and Homax’s Black Flag brands.

FEEDING ROACHES

In an office building with windows overlooking the Earth City Expressway, a nearly empty laboratory room was filled with a fog-like substance earlier this week. United research chemist Christy Van Preter peered through a window to observe the height of a plume from the company’s bedbug fogger product, which is designed to reach crevices that are difficult to reach with liquid sprays.

Chemists and research biologists test the products at the new research and development center that United Industries moved to this month from a smaller location a mile away in Bridgeton.

United spent about $1 million on the R&D, marketing and sales operations center in Earth City over the past year as well as about $7 million to increase capacity and other manufacturing upgrades at its 330,000-square-foot manufacturing complex near Page Avenue and I-170 in Vinita Park, where all of the bedbug products sold nationally are made. United’s other brands include Spectracide, Repel and Cutter, which also are produced locally.

United has been bulking up its workforce, adding 47 jobs at its St. Louis facilities in 2010, and an additional 18 jobs in 2011, bringing its total St. Louis area workforce to 286. The increase is because of increasing sales of its bedbug and other products.

United doesn’t use live bedbugs in the product testing at its R&D lab. It leaves that work to a third-party contractor that specializes in insects, such as fire ants and bedbugs, that pose high contamination risks.

But the division does have lab rooms stocked with roaches, spiders and mosquitoes for testing purposes. On one wall of a lab room, a rack of shelves are stacked with nearly a dozen 2-feet-high orange plastic containers filled with hundreds of roaches. This week, Travis Wood, a research biologist at United Industries, placed more than a dozen cockroaches in glasses affixed with lids. “Time to feed the roaches,” he said, describing his plans for the afternoon.

No silver bullet

The EPA is in the midst of collecting data nationally on bedbug infestations, but Kris Lancaster, an EPA spokesman, said St. Louis isn’t among the top 10 infested cities in the U.S.

Based on sales of its bedbug products nationally, United says St. Louis ranks in the middle of the top 200 metropolitan markets for bedbug product sales.

Bedbugs have been staging a comeback ever since the pesticide DDT — which killed mosquitoes and bedbugs — was banned in the U.S. in 1972. The increase of people traveling internationally in recent years also is a contributing factor in the re-emergence of bedbugs, particularly in urban areas, said Mark Lesher, environmental scientist with the EPA’s Kansas City office.

“It started at large travel hubs such as New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., and has been moving west to Chicago, and places like Denver,” Lesher said.

In 2009, government agencies including the EPA, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention convened a bedbug summit to study the problem and look for solutions. The second summit was held in February.

So far, no single solution has been identified to eradicate bedbugs.

“There’s no magic bullet right now that can solve the problem,” Lesher said.

The EPA recommends first using non-chemical methods to try to kill bedbugs, including washing and drying bedding and clothing in high temperatures, and turning up the heat in infested rooms to 120 degrees for up to six hours.

If an insecticide is used, Lesher said consumers should look for products that list bedbugs on the label. Lesher also recommended visiting the EPA’s website, cfpub.epa.gov/oppref/bedbug/, to search for the appropriate EPA-registered product.

Still, some bedbugs have become resistant to chemicals in bedbug products.

“You might find a population in Springfield, Mo., that is resistant to the chemical that works fairly well in other areas,” Lesher said.

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