What appears so effortless and natural in other cities has to be legislated in our own.

No matter, we can do this too. And we will.

But our first hope is that our city agencies will truly collaborate with each other and with the new bed bug advisory board.

It is going to be difficult but not impossible.

The AP story about about the New York City Council’s passing of Intro 57-A, the bed bug advisory bill, is notable for this:

In the meantime, the city health department is producing a detailed bedbug control guide, which officials estimate will be completed by June. The department also plans to update its Web site with more advice about controlling an infestation and other tips.

and this:

The housing department is also starting an online class on identifying bedbugs, conditions that allow them to thrive and the best ways to get rid of them.

I suppose it’s good that New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) have moved on from their standard fare (in the case of DOHMH, “bed bugs don’t spread disease,” and in the case of HPD, “bed bugs are only a fraction” of housing violations). And I recognize that they have to say something to reporters.

But this is symptomatic of the problems we have. DOHMH is developing educational materials on its own without, to our knowledge, consultation and advice. HPD has already done the same and now plans to put its educational materials on the web, again, without consultation or collaboration. This duplication of efforts and resources is not what we want. Ideally, we want a single, interactive web resource and good print materials with wide distribution. It would be best if DOHMH, HPD and the Department of Sanitation collaborated on this project.

Yes, an update (upgrade, really) of DOHMH educational materials about bed bugs is sorely needed and overdue. I’m very happy DOHMH has finally announced this project—and we know their understanding of the seriousness of our bed bug problems has evolved; these are good people and we expect their work will be very valuable. In fact, we have been looking forward to it for some time.

But in order to make our point we have to say that their current fact sheet appears to have been written for some mythical city of homeowners with zero mention of the difficulties and requirements of bed bug control in multi-unit buildings.

This is such an essential element of bed bug education for our city that it simply cannot be overlooked in a credible resource.

Even the USDA’s 1970s pamphlet on controlling bed bugs (yes, the one ridiculed and banned by Reagan adviser Edwin Meese) had an excellent statement on dispersal, at the end of its guide for mixing sprays (and on that, of course, lindane was at the top of the list!):

Bed bugs in hotels, apartments, and other multiple-type dwelling places may spread quickly from one unit to another. If they are found in one unit, the owner or manager of the building should have all the units inspected, and should arrange for control of any infestations revealed by the inspection.

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture. 1972. How to control bed bugs. USDA Leaflet No. 453. USDA. Washington D.C.

That’s what we’re talking about.

But we don’t know whether DOHMH intends to address this aspect appropriately.

Will they? We certainly hope so. But the only guarantee is if they choose to work with the advisory board and cooperate with others.

At this point, we really must beg them to do so.