Exterminators look to highly toxic chemicals to stem the current invasion of bed bugs

Posted by Susie

Sep 052010

Some pest controllers are placing their hopes on resuscitating propoxur, a highly toxic chemical that was phased out of indoor uses because it could cause nervous-system damage in children. But there are other far less toxic ways to address the problem.

Graffiti of a big red bed bug on a white brick building. Underneath the words are spray painted: BED BUGS!

Bed bugs are on the rise! Be sure to explore the use of less toxic measures before automatically going nuclear on the little buggers with highly toxic chemicals.

Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) are on the rise in the U.S. after near extinction for more than 20 years. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says the outbreak is now regarded as a “major problem.” The reason seems to be all the international travel where the varmints are hitching a ride in our luggage.

Once introduced into your home, bed bugs most often live in your mattress and bite you while you are sleeping, although they do not transmit disease. The current increase in cases is causing added concern because the bugs have resistance to the pesticides used 40 years ago like DDT, which is now banned anyway, so some homeowners and exterminators who are not eco-minded are looking to use some highly toxic chemicals. Reports a New York Times editorial:

Some pest controllers are placing their hopes on resuscitating propoxur, a highly toxic chemical that was phased out of indoor uses because it could cause nervous-system damage in children. Ohio and Kentucky have asked the Environmental Protection Agency to allow professional exterminators to use it indoors, and other states may follow suit. The requests are based in part on laboratory tests by a Kentucky entomologist on small groups of bedbugs. Some of today’s leading pesticides could not kill even half of the bugs, while propoxur wiped them all out in two hours. The E.P.A. is studying whether there might be limited situations — a nursing home with no children present — where it could be used.

Propoxur would probably kill better than current pesticides, but nobody expects it could be an all-purpose solution the way DDT once was. Pesticides need to be supplemented with non-chemical options, like heat or steam treatments, vacuuming, tossing infested sheets or clothes into a hot washer or dryer, encasing mattresses to entomb the bugs, and sealing crevices. It is hard to know whether these tactics will be enough to reverse the rapid rise of infestations.

As the editorial says, there are some far less toxic measures that should be explored by anyone faced with an invasion of these bloodsuckers. Says Dr. Andrew Weil, who practices integrative medicine:

Getting rid of bed bugs isn’t easy. They seem to be developing resistance to most natural pesticides, but an entomologist who spoke at the EPA bed bug summit said that one still seems to work: a plant oil called IC2 made by EcoExempt. Another relatively new natural product, Nature’s Avenger Bedbug Killer, contains peppermint and clove as the active ingredients. (The fact that a pesticide is natural doesn’t necessarily mean it is safe. Please use caution with any compound, especially around children and those with asthma or other respiratory problems.) If you call in professionals, ask them to first try pumping hot air into your bedroom – bed bugs can’t survive extreme heat.

To prevent an infestation, try these measures:

When traveling, check behind hotel bed frames and under mattress covers for orangish-brown fecal spots.

When you get home, wash all your clothes in hot water and store suitcases in a plastic bag in a hot car trunk or attic.

Use a mattress cover designed to suppress bed bugs.

If you have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, proceed with caution on using natural pesticides. But now you know you have some safer options should you find these bugs in your home.

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