I don’t see anyone live-blogging the summit this year — here is M&M’s Natalie Raben’s take on the first day and a release about ESA participants at the summit: ESA members take part in National Bed Bug Summit.

I am not personally as excited about a second national bed bug summit as I was about the first one in 2009 (when giddy would have been an appropriate description), but obviously (or perhaps not so obviously) I think a meeting like this can only be good, and do some good. Sharon Heath is again presenting for the NYC Department of Health and again I want to mention how great we think she is. The education and communication section seems promising, among others.

There is definitely a need to move swiftly beyond strategizing into action, but that is, you know, quite the commonplace thought. Doesn’t make it less true.

Since the first summit in 2009, the scope and details of what EPA and other federal agencies are doing remain unclear. Public communications on both the issues and their work are spare. They formed a federal bed bug work group, and EPA and CDC have rolled out web pages (EPA, CDC) about bed bugs. EPA and CDC also belatedly made a public statement about the public health designation of bed bugs (EPA-CDC joint statement, August 2010). EPA also recently developed a registered bed bug products search tool, a tool which deserves a separate post.

discuss steps the government has taken since April to address the bed bug “crisis.”

Okay, don’t believe me on the scare quotes (PDF)?

?

Also, when will the public get an update?

Directly as a result of the EPA National Bed Bug Summit, PCT, July 15:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering granting a Section 18 label exemption to older chemistries for bed bug control. Under Section 18 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) EPA is authorized to allow an unregistered use of a pesticide for a limited time if EPA determines that an emergency condition exists.

The problem:

[NPMA Senior Vice President Bob] Rosenberg said that the current challenge facing the industry is that even though both states and EPA agree on the need, there is no manufacturer at this point that has committed to produce such products. “It could be any number of reasons from economic issues to concerns about liability,” Rosenberg said.

A couple of months ago we looked at just such doubts from PCT columnist Richard Kramer.

However, let’s be optimistic for once, yes?

This is the Section 18 process. And this is the statute.

Public health exemption, looks like, but would it be a crisis exemption? See EPA’s crisis process flow chart. Ah, so many questions, so little information.

How can the public, I wonder, advocate for these solutions?

Is anyone in a position to tell us more?

We’re going to have to research and think about just what the realistic options among those ‘older chemistries’ are. The Australians still have OPs and carbamates, see the Code of Practice. By the way, there is one organophosphate that is “back”—dichlorvos, see this March 2008 PCT article (PDF)—and there are several products registered in New York State according to the Cornell NYS pesticide database but apparently none labeled for bed bugs.

• National Bed Bug Summit Agenda with Video Webinar Presentations | Pesticides: Science and Policy | US EPA
• This is the main summit page at EPA for the other available documents (workgroup recommendations, etc.): National Bed Bug Summit | Pesticides: Science and Policy | US EPA
• You can also download the presentations that are available as PDFs by accessing the public docket at this link: EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0190

So, we’ll have to parse the presentations which have now been posted to the public docket.

I’m still reading them but so far I recommend that you read the NYC Health Department presentation (Sharon Heath) which is of particular interest to us and note the interesting lab results referenced in Dini Miller’s presentation.   The Cooper, Potter and Rosenberg word documents appear to be empty.

An excessive preoccupation with this EPA meeting?  Maybe.  I’m sure I’m not alone.  Or rather, I hope I’m not.

We’ll review the interesting items in the recommendations and presentations later this week.

So we basically said thanks. We figured they’d heard a bit less of that.

And about those control methods…

At present, the effects of bed bugs on underserved communities in New York City, as elsewhere, can only be described as harrowing. One of the most challenging problems is how to improve access to bed bug control services. As you were told, no doubt repeatedly, there is an urgent need to identify and disseminate good bed bug control protocols, best practices and education. Public health tracking of bed bug infestations would finally also rank high on our wish list.

We feel that EPA can provide expertise and coordinate knowledge networks to aid the efforts of what must be hundreds of people, agencies and institutions that are now tasked with developing bed bug control guidelines throughout the country.

All of this and more would be extremely helpful.

However, what we would beg the Office of Pesticide Programs and its partners in this effort to do, without delay, is that which would have the greatest impact and which you are uniquely positioned to do, and that is to institute a review process to identify and evaluate bed bug control pesticides, tools and methods. This is the ultimate key.

Improve and facilitate, as contemplated under FIFRA, Section 28(d).

We are immensely grateful for your efforts and the attention you are focusing on the problems of bed bugs in our society.

Sincerely,

Renee Corea
New York vs Bed Bugs

These are the available materials so far:

• Final Agenda (PDF)
• a public docket
• Summary of Workgroup Results (PDF)
• Summary of Recommendations Developed at the Summit (PDF)

The webinar of the morning of the first day of the summit will be available for viewing on April 24 according to the site, but that’s next Friday.  I think they meant Tuesday the 21st.

The Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee will meet on April 22 and review the summit recommendations.  This is not yet on this meeting’s agenda, which you can see here.

This is the bed bug summit page at EPA if you want to keep track or check back to download the webinar recording that will be available next Tuesday—or Friday!

This is a lot of material.   I will read this over the weekend.   I hope you will too.  Come on, it’ll be fun.  Please feel free to tell us what you think of these recommendations, let’s talk about them.  Here’s another link to the PDF so you don’t have to scroll up!

I thought it would be possible to submit public comments to the docket, but I see no comment icon enabled.  I hope this is not a Mac problem?

Just thinking that, in principle, it’s going to be not much different than 1933. I dare say.

Bet?

Update:  This was needlessly opaque.  Jessica made fun of me.  It was late and I just wanted you to see and bookmark the docket!   No matter, they’ve posted everything now.   I’ll update in a new post.