EPA looks for ways to not let the bedbugs bite

AP via Yahoo.com

Tue Apr 14, 12:22 pm ET

ARLINGTON, Va. – Faced with rising numbers of complaints to city information
lines and increasingly frustrated landlords, hotel chains and housing
authorities, the Environmental Protection Agency hosted its first-ever bedbug
summit Tuesday.

Put on by an EPA's federal advisory committee, the two-day conference which drew
about 300 participants to the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel in Arlington, Va.,
will provide the agency with advice and recommendations.

The tiny reddish-brown insects, last seen in great numbers before World War II,
are on the rebound. They have infested college dormitories, hospital wings,
homeless shelters and swanky hotels from New York City to Chicago to Washington.

They live in the crevices and folds of mattresses, sofas and sheets. Then, most
often before dawn, they emerge to feed on human blood.

The Sheraton has had no reported bedbug problems, according to a popular online
registry, so at least conference participants will be sleeping tight.

"The problem seems to be increasing and it could definitely be worse in densely
populated areas like cities, although it can be a problem for anyone," said Lois
Rossi, director of the registration division in the EPA's Office of Pesticide
Programs.

And the EPA is not alone in trying to deal with the problem. An aide to Rep.
G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., says he plans to reintroduce legislation next week to
expand grant programs to help public housing authorities deal with infestations

Many of the programs cover cockroaches and rodents, but not bedbugs. 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.

In 2002, EPA classified bedbugs as a public health pest.

But there are few chemicals on the market approved for use on mattresses that
are effective at controlling bedbug infestations. The appleseed-sized critters
have also developed a resistance to some of the chemicals on the market.

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 from the U.S. over the last 50 years — such as DDT — off of shelves.

Increasing international travel has also increased the chances for the bugs to
hitchhike from developing countries which never eradicated them completely.

"This is a worldwide resurgence," said Dini Miller, an entomologist and bedbug
expert at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, who until 2001
only saw bedbugs on microscope slides dating from the 1950s. Now she gets calls
several times a day from people who are often at their wits end dealing with the
problem.

"I can't tell you how many people have spent the night in their bath tubs
because they are so freaked out by bedbugs," Miller said. "I get these people
over the phone that have lost their marbles."

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 stir a victim's slumber.

Those often hardest hit are the urban poor, Miller said. These are people who
cannot afford to throw out all their belongings or take the sanitation measures
necessary to rid them of the problem. Extermination can cost between $400-$900.

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 test pesticides that are allowed to be used by
farmers to control bedbugs to see if they are safe in household settings.

The pesticide management 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."

___

On the Net:

Harvard School of Public Health: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/bedbugs/

University of Kentucky Insect Advice:
http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef636.asp