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September I, 2010
Page 23
Bedbugs Bring Desperate Measures Neal’s
Authorities
Heart
struggle against
infestations
(AP) - A resurgence of bedbugs
across the U.S. has homeowners
and apartment dwellers taking des­
perate measures to eradicate the
tenacious bloodsuckers, with some
relying on dangerous outdoor pes­
ticides and fly-by-night extermina­
tors.
The problem has gotten so bad
that the Environmental Protection
Agency warned this month against
the indoor use of chemicals meant
for the outside. The agency also
warned of an increase in pest con­
trol companies and others making
"unrealistic promises of effective­
ness or low cost."
Bedbugs, infesting U.S. house­
holds on a scale unseen in more
than a half-century, have become
largely resistant to common pesti­
cides. As a result, some homeowners
and exterminators are turning to
more hazardous chemicals that can
harm the central nervous system,
irritate the skin and eyes or even
cause cancer.
O hio authorities, struggling
against widespread infestations in
Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton and
other cities, are pleading with EPA
to approve the indoor use of the
pesticide propoxur, which the
agency considers a probable car­
cinogen and banned for in-home
use in 200^. About 25 other states
are supporting Ohio's request for an
emergency exemption.
EPA rejected the request in June.
An ag en cy sp o k esm an , D ale
Kemery, said the EPA has pledged
to find new, potent chemicals to kill
bedbugs, which can cause itchy,
red bites that can become infected if
scratched.
In the m eantim e, authorities
around the country have blamed
house fires on people misusing all
sorts of highly flammable garden
and lawn chemicals to fight bed­
bugs. Experts also warn that some
hardware products — bug bombs,
cedar oil and other natural oils —
claim to be lethal but merely cause
the bugs to scatter out of sight and
hide in cracks in walls and floors.
A pest control company in New­
ark, N.J., was accused in July of
applying chemicals not approved
for indoor use throughout 70 homes
and apartments units, even spray­
ing mattresses and children's toys.
No illnesses were reported.
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Insect scientists say bedbugs are appearing on a scale not seen
since before World War II. (AP Photo)
In Cincinnati, an unlicensed ap­
plicator saturated an apartment com­
plex 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. Au­
thorities are pursuing crim inal
charges.
" Bedbugs, a common household
pest for centuries, all but vanished
in the 1940s and '50s with the wide­
spread use of DDT. But DDT was
banned in 1972 as too toxic to wild­
life, especially birds. Since then, the
bugs have developed resistance to
chemicals that replaced DDT.
Also, exterminators have fewer
weapons in their arsenal than they
did just a few years ago because of
a 1996 Clinton-era law that requires
older pesticides to be re-evaluated
based on more stringent health stan­
dards. The re-evaluations led to the
restrictions on propoxur and other
pesticides.
Though propoxur is still used in
pet collars, it is banned for use in
homes because of the risk of nau­
sea, 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.
Critics in the pest control indus­
try say that the federal government
is overreacting and that professional
applicators can work with families
to prevent children from being ex­
posed to harmful levels of the chemi­
cal, which is more commonly used
outside against roaches and crick­
ets.
Bit Marion Ehrich, a toxicologist
at the Virginia-Maryland Regional
College of Veterinary Medicine, said
the EPA is showing appropriate
caution. She said other scientists
who have studied the bedbug prob­
lem are not eager to see propoxur
released in homes.
Experts say it is going to take a
comprehensive public health cam­
paign — public-service announce­
ments, travel tips and perhaps even
taxpayer-funded extermination pro­
grams for public housing — to re­
duce the bedbug problem.
People can get bedbugs by visit­
ing infested homes or hotels, where
the vermin hide in mattresses, pil­
lows and curtains. The bugs are
stealth hitchhikers that climb onto
bags, clothing and luggage.
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