[Links added for this online version.]
January 27, 2009
The Honorable Christine C. Quinn
Speaker of The New York City Council
City Hall
New York, New York 10007
Re: A Policy Framework to Control the Spread of Bed Bugs in New York City
Dear Speaker Quinn,
The New York Times‘ editorial of January 14, Getting the Bed Bugs Out, calls on city and state elected officials to take action against bed bugs, to “press for better training and more rigorous certification of exterminators, more public education about these pests, tougher standards for used furniture and a task force to figure out how to stay ahead of an army that seems to be growing every year.”
New York vs Bed Bugs is a grassroots advocacy organization formed last March in response to the bed bug resurgence in our city. We advocate a comprehensive bed bug control plan for New York City. We believe that incremental steps can be taken to abate the current level of infestation and smart long-term strategies can be set in motion to control a pest outbreak that causes so much misery—and economic distress—for New York citizens.
We respectfully urge your consideration and support of legislation proposals introduced in the New York City Council by Council Member Gale Brewer that would create a bed bug task force (Int. 57-2006), a Department of Health and Mental Hygiene education program and hotline (Int. 873-2008), and bed bug trash guidelines (Int. 872-2008). We urge the City Council to hold hearings at the earliest possible date.
Bed bugs are blood-sucking insects that have been on the rise worldwide for at least the past decade. 311 complaints about bed bug infestations in New York City increased 4,698% from 2004 to 2008. Our society unfortunately lacks effective and widely-deployable control methods. Thousands of people in our city are affected, and they are emotionally, physically and financially drained by bed bug infestations.
Bed bug infestations spread easily between floors and apartments in multi-unit dwellings and are very difficult to eradicate, requiring costly and invasive control measures. Cleaning alone is insufficient to control infestations. Pesticides alone are inadequate. Treating a single infested apartment in a building, or treating apartments serially based on bite complaints—especially given the unknown numbers in the population who are asymptomatic—is often insufficient to eradicate an infestation.
Bed bugs affect the health and quality of life of New Yorkers by causing allergic reactions, secondary skin infections, sleep deprivation, stress, anxiety, depression, and desperate and unsafe applications of pesticides in efforts to self-treat an infestation. Bronchial asthma and infant anemia have been suggested by studies, but more research will be necessary to establish the risks.
An indication of the depth of our bed bug problems is that bed bugs have been appearing in public schools, in hospitals, in offices, in theaters, in public and private spaces throughout our city, threatening a deterioration in our city’s quality of life and reputation. New Yorkers of every socioeconomic background are at risk of exposure. The financial expenditures necessary to control infestations burden families and business- and property-owners alike.
In 2008, we consulted an urban pest management expert who recommends an epidemiological approach to control this bed bug outbreak. Entomologist Clive Boase identified the components of an eradication strategy as follows: 1) early detection of infestations, 2) access to professional pest control services; 3) access by pest control staff to infested areas; 4) preparation of premises to be treated; 5) treatments that actually eradicate infestation; and 6) follow-up inspections to ensure eradication has actually been achieved.
We believe that the tasks required to control the spread of bed bugs in our city can be derived from these priorities:
- Tracking infestations data. We need a non-adversarial system of data collection and analysis to find the true scope of the problem. In Cincinnati, a recent survey showed that 14.5% of respondents reported a bed bug infestation in 2007, a year when the official complaint tally was less than 800 complaints. The under-reporting rate suggested by this survey would yield a worrisome number if applied to New York City official statistics.
- A public education campaign. A bed bug hotline, public service announcements, and well-designed bed bug information materials—rights and responsibilities of tenants and landlords, prevention, identification, unreliable indicators of infestation (allergic reactions), reliable signs of infestation, best-practice information, Integrated Pest Management recommendations—delivered on the web and directly to communities without internet access.
- Clear bed bug control guidelines. We believe that the single, most effective action that would have an immediate impact in controlling the spread of bed bugs is the automatic inspection and monitoring by qualified pest management personnel of apartments and spaces adjacent to a known site of infestation. Poorly controlled infestations generate secondary infestations. Spread between floors and apartments via unsealed walls, and plumbing, electrical and heating conduits is very common. Notification of building residents and the dissemination of good bed bug information and best-practice advice to all the residents in an affected building would reinforce awareness and prevention and facilitate early detection of infestations.
- Specialized training of pest control providers, bed bug inspectors, and property management staff. The importance of inspections, the methods and tools of inspection, preparation and treatment, and good bed bug management principles and techniques should be widely disseminated among professionals and property management staff, with the objective of decreasing the numbers of infestations that are mismanaged, that become entrenched and thus likely to spread in the community. Additional public/private strategies should be investigated, such as social enterprise bed bug control, tenant preparation assistants, and other creative approaches that should be fomented and developed.
- Sensible used mattress and furniture regulations. Bed bugs spread via the sale of improperly sanitized used bedding and used furniture and via the improper transportation of used bedding and furniture in trucks.
- Bed bug trash disposal protocols. Not only does the dragging of infested belongings (which may be saved with proper treatment) throughout common areas en route to trash disposal spread bed bugs, but bed bug trash that sits in basements awaiting collection can provide a reservoir of bed bugs that may reinfest the building or expose building staff. Sanitation workers must also be protected from exposure to bed bugs in improperly sealed bed bug trash. And all efforts to deter residents and passers-by from collecting infested items from the trash would greatly benefit overall control efforts and reduce the spread of infestations.
We believe that the best vehicle to identify best practices, coordinate resources, and devise intelligent control policies is an inter-agency bed bug task force—with entomologists and urban pest management experts as active participants—modeled on the bed bug task forces led by local public health departments already operating in cities like Cincinnati and Toronto.
Please help shape a comprehensive policy response to this emerging threat to our city’s quality of life.
Sincerely,
Renee Corea
New York vs Bed Bugs