The size of a bed bug compared to a dime. (Photo courtesy of National Pest Management Association)
As director of the Office of Health Homes and Lead Hazard Control, Jon Gant dislikes the phrase, “Don’t let the bed bugs bite.” But at the Second National Bed Bug Summit hosted by the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday, Gant confessed that he utters those words to his 11-year-old daughter every night.
Gant said what he most dislikes is how long people have repeated the saying. “It’s as relevant as way back when, and it means we have a lot of work ahead of us,” Gant said.
The OHHLHC director addressed more than 200 leaders in public housing, pest control and environmental policy at the Georgetown University Hotel & Conference Center as part of a two-day webinar to discuss solutions to bed bug infestations.
Representatives from the Dept. of Agriculture, the EPA, the Dept. of Defense, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, and the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development spent Tuesday informing guests of improvements and discoveries made since the First National Bed Bug Summit, which took place in 2009 at the height of bed bug hysteria. According to the National Pest Management Association, one in five Americans reported last year that they had bed bugs or knew someone who did.
“Science is telling us bed bugs have grown resistant to pesticides. We’ve learned a few weeks ago which genes are responsible for resistance that’s developed in some bed bugs,” said EPA Deputy Administrator Bob Perciasepe.
To combat the pests’ new immunity, pest control agencies must use Integrated Pest Management tactics, which is a combination of methods to kill pests as quickly and cheaply as possible, Perciasepe said. Some IPM tactics include using pesticides, heat, and frequently washing and changing bed sheets.
Perciasepe added that the EPA has provided funding to help the five million families in public housing that might suffer from infestations. In New York City alone, more than six percent of adults reported bed bugs this year.
“Bed bugs have disproportionately become a problem for those who cannot afford treatment, so that increases the stigma,” said Dr. Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, an IPM specialist and urban entomologist at the New York State IPM Program. “We realized it’s a quality of life issue and the quality of life contributes to crime.”
Since 2009, the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development spent more than $250,000 to hone these techniques in lower-income communities, Gant said. He and other speakers expressed concern about the economic burden caused by bed bugs. To date, infestations have increased public housing maintenance bills by 300 percent.
Housing authorities in cities such as Portland, Baltimore and New York City are trying to reduce the stigma surrounding infestation in hopes of encouraging tenants to report problems as soon as possible. Many said overcoming the education and language barriers have proved challenging in preventing outbreaks. One high rise in Nassau County, N.Y., hired a Spanish-speaking social worker to investigate whether non-English speaking Latino residents had bed bugs.
Another housing staff in Portland issued a quarterly newsletter that updated its tenants on the number and frequency of infestations.
Agency representatives also highlighted the progress the Federal Bed Bug Group had made since its creation in 2009. More than 11 states have passed legislation that stops landlords from passing bed bug costs to tenants.
Director of Government Affairs at the National Pest Management Association Gene Harrington said he hopes more states and cities will mimic Maine’s bed bug law: landlords must inspect units and notify tenants before the move-in date, contact a pest control agent, and then take reasonable action against the infestation.
But this “reasonable action” became a point of debate during the summit. While some leaders such as Perciasepe said that IPM was the “way of the future”, others said the method fails to effectively exterminate bed bugs.
Holly Thompson is a program associate at the Safer Pest Control Project in Chicago, a nonprofit organization that aims to reduce the health risks of pesticides. Based on the idea that IPM limits a bug’s air, water and food supply, Thompson said the method does not work with bed bugs, which feed on blood.
“We can’t remove their food supply because we are the source,” Thompson said. She added she came to the summit to ask EPA to change their treatment requirements.
In times of panic, people often resort to cheap do-it-yourself solutions, such as bug bombers and fogger spray. But Thompson said the EPA should outlaw these pesticides because they can be dangerous to children and the environment.
Experts offered suggestions for non-chemical action, ranging from vacuuming to mattress encasements to heat exposure. (For adult bed bugs to die, they must be heated at 118 degrees Fahrenheit for 90 minutes.) Critters typically crawl into sofas and bed sheets, but they have even been known to crawl into places like prosthetic legs, said Dini Miller, an Urban Pest Management Specialist and associate professor at Virginia Polytechnic University.
Guests were not permitted to ask panelists questions today. But attendees will meet with speakers and agency leaders to brainstorm policy on Wednesday .
At the end of her speech, Miller reminded the audience of bed bugs’ true scope.
“Don’t assume this room is bug free,” she said, pointing at the crowd. “My purse is right there, and if anybody has bed bugs, it’s going to be me.”
