New York vs Bed Bugs » Events

Bed bug lecture at Mid-Manhattan Library today

Renee Corea — Tue, 04 May 2010 15:16:47 +0000

Entomologist Richard Cooper will lecture on bed bugs at Mid-Manhattan Library at 6:30 p.m. today.

“Bed Bugs: What You Don’t Know Could Come Back to Bite You” with Richard Cooper | The New York Public Library — see also the flyer (PDF):

Acquire the background on the resurgence of bed bugs in the United States over the past ten years, learn about the emotional, financial and legal impact associated with bed bug infestations, find out about the aspects of biology and behavior that make bed bugs one of the most challenging pests to eliminate, discover what is and is not effective in controlling bed bug infestations, the steps that you can take to protect yourself and what to do if you suspect that you have bed bugs.

This is a free event for a general audience but could be very useful to property managers and assorted bed bug-besieged parties…

There are so few educational opportunities in the city, I thought you’d want to know despite the very late notice.

Update: The room was full, the lecture naturally very useful and informative and, judging by the questions, very well-received.

No, unfortunately, posting will not resume. While I’m here, however, let me recommend if you haven’t seen it Richard Cooper’s (and colleagues’) recent article about bed bugs in offices (PDF).

Best…

An evening of bed bugs, cont’d

Renee Corea — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 01:11:10 +0000

Lou Sorkin began his lecture at last week’s special meeting of the New York Entomological Society by recounting a few choice tales of insect gourmandism—like the one about the tarantula tempura served at one of The Explorers Club’s annual banquets. Someone forgot to pluck their urticating defensive hairs and a call from the health department ensued. I heartily wish I could share much more with you (no, really) but I think I busied myself with some papers at Lou’s mention of the depilatory quality of cooked tempura batter. Don’t serve Lou mealworms is the only advice I can muster; unlike urticating hairs, mealworms make him sick!

The Great Lou

Lou is famously exacting about public education materials about bed bugs. We are all better for his insistence over several years on highlighting the differences in appearance between the life stages of bed bugs. He spent considerable time on life stage drawings and photographs (beware the missing instar) and showed us (approvingly) Stephen Doggett’s update to his famous bed bug life stages (which you can see on page 16 of the latest draft of the Code of Practice) which was produced by photographing each bed bug individually and referencing the immature stages descriptions in Usinger for each instar. Lou clearly believes—and continues to persuade many of us—that accuracy and comprehensiveness in these matters is key in public education messaging.

He showed us innumerable photographs of bed bugs and bed bug harborage sites in all their glory, from the expected to the unexpected, his words and choice of photos cautioning in so many ways against the sort of received wisdom we have been exposed to for years (not 5 eggs a day, not only nocturnal, not just clover-leaf inspections…). Alert-looking bed bugs next to dead bed bugs, numerous barely-distinguishable immature bed bugs next to one or two adults (“you are not close enough”), heartbreaking advanced infestations, across-the-hall dispersal, the limited effectiveness of vacuuming—for both eggs and bed bugs, noting that he often plays with bed bugs and paint brushes (Lou!) and often they do not budge. I am so grateful for Lou touching on all these subjects, even if it was to a roomful of pest control pros. I wish more of you had come.

It was an interactive evening of bed bugs

Lou gave each person in the audience a loupe as a gift (like the one he gave me recently). And he had these for everyone to practice on:

Live bed bug display boxes

You all know about the value of a notched MetroCard as an inspection tool:

Notched MetroCards - a Lou Sorkin bed bug inspection trick

“Grade School Bed Bug Project?”

These are two slides from Lou’s presentation which describe inexpensive monitoring ideas that you can use at home:

Folded paper passive bed bug collector - click for larger size

Improvised sticky traps:

Examples of sticky tape monitors - click for larger size

Materials: “blue painter’s tape and 2 kinds of double-sided carpet tape plus using the backing of the tape as a cover.”

Vajra Kilgour

Vajra Kilgour is Vice Chair of Metropolitan Council on Housing and associate producer of WBAI 99.5 FM’s Housing Notebook. (Both Lou and Catharine Grad appeared on the program on January 4 to discuss bed bugs—read Bedbugger’s take and recap here.) Ms. Kilgour spoke about Met Council’s hotline (Q: “My landlord says I brought them in and I’m responsible.” A: “Your landlord is lying.”), Met Council’s bed bug fact sheet which she is personally working on developing, and legislative work. She noted that “laws can make a difference; there is less lead poisoning in NYC.”

She suggested that in the hard struggle to persuade landlords to do what they are legally required to do—maintain apartments in habitable conditions—the strongest action that tenants can take is to organize. She talked about the desperation of people who suffer from bed bugs—housing court litigants that are “bitten from head to toe”—and the people who simply cannot afford to heat-dry all their clothes, much less afford dry cleaners or throwing anything away.

The value of a strong tenant association is one important take-away message from Ms. Kilgour’s presentation.

Catharine A. Grad

Catharine Grad (Grad & Weinraub, LLP) spoke about the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants. She said that “a landlord has the obligation to eradicate bed bugs in a building; that is the law.” However, she urged the PMPs in attendance not to casually tell people (tenants) to move out or break their leases.¹ “You have to show that the situation is intolerable to move out,” and “if the situation is being treated, you can’t break the lease—it’s a question of magnitude.”

Tenants are obligated to provide access to their apartments and risk eviction for their refusal. She recognized that when landlords provide inadequate pest control services, tenants must still provide access and “work with” even incompetent pest control professionals or risk becoming part of the problem.

When pressed about alternatives to going to court by a member of the audience who had spent thousands of dollars in litigation, Ms. Grad said that court is “a blunt tool, far from a perfect tool” that takes a long time, but there are effectively no alternatives (“the alternative to court is to get a consensus in a community that is strong enough to compel landlords and tenants to act responsibly”) and so landlords and tenants should not wait. Landlords who cannot gain access to infested apartments should begin court actions as soon as possible, and the same goes for tenants who cannot get their landlords to act responsibly.

She said it would be helpful for landlords and tenants to have “more specific directives” about how to proceed with infestations.

Megan Quenzer

Megan Quenzer’s perspective was precisely that of a tenant receiving inadequate bed bug pest control in her building. A new PMP who apparently knows what he’s doing has improved the situation, but the infestation in the building remains and Ms. Quenzer believes the bed bugs are simply moving from apartment to apartment through the walls, returning to apartments where they were thought to be eradicated.

She stressed the need for community education, for landlords as well as tenants (“everybody needs to be educated”), and expressed the hope that the city will track infestations and regulate bed bug services. She spoke of the efforts in other cities, particularly in Boston, and held her ground in the face of some persistent questioning by some in the audience about the futility of control efforts in the face of tenant introductions. It was also interesting, and sad I suppose, that some in the audience urged her to simply move out.

I am always seriously impressed by people who overcome the stigma of bed bug infestations (or are simply impervious to it) and speak publicly about their own experiences. I think Ms. Quenzer reached the pest control professionals in the room.

An audience of PMPs

The audience as I said was mostly from the pest control community, but I was happy to see Council Member Gale Brewer and Sharon Heath from the Department of Health. Some of the industry folks in attendance were Cesar Soto (Freedom Pest Control), Tim Wong (M&M), Natalie Raben (M&M), John Furman (Boot A Pest), John and Sue Russell (Action Termite & Pest Control), Todd Lorah (Action Termite & Pest Control), Kitty Lee (Residex), Gil Bloom (Standard Pest), Rick Cooper (Cooper Pest), and many others.

Killer Who?

A note, however. The fact that the audience was overwhelmingly from the industry created an interesting dynamic when the guest speakers (a tenant advocate, a tenant lawyer and a tenant!) spoke in the second half of the evening. It’s useful to understand things as they really are and so I will quote one thing said by an anonymous PMP at the meeting:

“People go on the internet and become geniuses.”

Well.

Guess what, though, surprisingly, there was little back and forth about dogs! Or maybe I’m conditioned to expect the arguing about dogs that in any case did not materialize.

Bed bugs will not go away on their own

During his presentation Lou showed us this public education poster developed by WoodGreen Community Services in Toronto that I think would be a fitting way to end this post:

Bed bug education poster, WoodGreen Community Services

Source: All About Bed Bugs: An Information Guide (PDF)

Please tell someone about bed bugs.

Finally, I want to share what one person who was in attendance said. His reaction to what he heard during the meeting was, “this is so depressing.” Yes, it is in so many ways. But please remember what Dr. Stephen Hwang told us recently, because we truly can afford neither complacency nor hopelessness.

Heartfelt thanks to Lou. For more Lou, check out our interview from last year.

This caution about giving improper advice to tenants cannot be stressed enough. I think that it is extremely important to understand that withholding any part of the rent and other actions such as breaking the lease, especially when undertaken without proper legal advice, expose the tenant to the risk of being sued by their landlords. Tenants can and should take their landlords to housing court instead. “HP” proceedings for repairs, I learned at a legal clinic offered by the West Side SRO Law Project recently that I have been meaning to tell you about, do not expose tenants to this risk and should therefore be recommended first.

An evening of bed bugs

Renee Corea — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:40:36 +0000

Lou Sorkin is without a doubt the kindest person in the whole bed bug-riddled City of New York. It was great to see him enjoying himself at his lecture last night. And his guests were wonderful.

There were also these urticating spider hair cuisine references… (You don’t want to know! Or maybe you do? Then you’ll need to ask Lou.)

So, what happened to you? Square. Actually attendance was mostly, it seemed to me, from the professional pest control field.

I’ll write up my notes and post them later.

Lou talkin' droppings. Bed bug signage.

The New York Entomological Society presents “What Do You Really Know About Bed Bugs?”

Renee Corea — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 23:41:02 +0000

WHO: Everyone’s favorite NYC entomologist, Lou Sorkin

WHEN: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 – 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM

WHERE: Kaufman Theater, First Floor, American Museum of Natural History, 79th St. and Central Park West

DETAILS: What Do You Really Know About Bed Bugs?

FREE!

Other speakers to be announced.

NYS continuing education credits for pest control professionals are to be confirmed. (The meeting notice requests RSVP if attending for credits.)

Details are forthcoming but you can expect bed bug identification, biology, and pest management to be discussed. And, because it’s Lou, there will be great photos and videos.

I will be attending and hope to see you there.

…you and your friends, your landlord, your neighbor, your sleep therapist, your manicurist, got it?

“Crisis”

Renee Corea — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:56:01 +0000

EPA will give an update on the National Bed Bug Summit today at NPMA’s PestWorld in Las Vegas. Lois Rossi and Kevin Sweeney will:

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?

Central Ohio Bed Bug Summit on November 10

Renee Corea — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:02:39 +0000

Update: Ohio’s Section 18 exemption filing was announced at the summit.

The Central Ohio Bed Bug Task Force, the volunteer bed bug task force that is fighting bed bugs in the Greater Columbus area, is holding its second annual bed bug summit on November 10. Second annual! What extraordinary work they are doing.

The agenda includes a refresher course by Dr. Susan Jones; multiple presentations on the specific challenges of bed bug infestations in rental housing, health and social services, schools, the hospitality industry, pest management, regulation, and enforcement; a legislative update; and a moderated panel discussion.

We’re all stakeholders in the great bed bug challenge of our time but if you have an interest in bed bug public policy or work in property management or any of the seriously affected industries and services, I think this is the only place to be on November 10:

Since its inception in November 2008, the Central Ohio Bed Bug Task Force has done a great deal to educate everyone in Central Ohio about the growing problem that bed bugs pose for our community. Bed bugs have caused significant financial and psychological distress for hundreds of Franklin County residents, and the number of infested buildings grows every day.

Bed bug infestations occur in the City of Columbus, in the suburbs, and in the rural parts of our area. No one is immune from an infestation. Bed bugs have infested hospitals, schools, hotels, apartment buildings, private homes, movie theaters, nursing homes and numerous other places.

We would like to share what we’ve learned, what we’ve accomplished so far, and what challenges remain as we try to reduce the impact of this pest in our community.

The meeting will be held on November 10 from 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM at the Ohio Department of Agriculture, Bromfield Administration Building Auditorium, 8995 East Main Street, Reynoldsburg, Ohio. Seating is limited. If you plan to attend or have questions about the program, please contact Paul Wenning, Central Ohio Bed Bug Task Force Chair, as soon as possible at (614) 462-3928, or by e-mail: pfwennin@franklincountyohio.gov.

Seminars, symposia, envy, envy, envy…

Renee Corea — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:47:15 +0000

Check out the program (PDF) for the NPMA’s National Bed Bug Symposium held yesterday in Newark (a second one is taking place in Seattle tomorrow).

So, now that The New York Times has dubbed us Bedbug City, will we finally have a seminar of our own?

I say, yes, absolutely. Why not? I’m tired of all of this happening elsewhere.

Ours will be more modest, naturally, because it will be free.

Section 18 exemptions under consideration?

Renee Corea — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 23:13:16 +0000

Update – November 2009: Ohio has requested a Section 18 exemption for residential use of propoxur.

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.

EPA webinar presentations posted

Renee Corea — Sat, 09 May 2009 23:11:34 +0000

Yes, there are audio problems, but they’re up and you should take a look, especially as there are a couple of presentations that are not posted on the docket.

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

Symposium envy

Renee Corea — Thu, 07 May 2009 04:42:34 +0000

So I found a couple of places that have recently organized bed bug public meetings. I’m sure it’s not even close to a complete list.

Connecticut

A Connecticut Bed Bug Forum was held at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) on March 17 (press release, PDF). This page at CAES contains several documents on the forum, including a research presentation (PDF) (interesting) by Dr. John Anderson and a legal presentation (PDF) by a Connecticut State’s Attorney. Notice also the bed bug control guide in English, Spanish and Mandarin. This event was organized by entomologist Dr. Gale Ridge in cooperation with the Connecticut Departments of Health, Environmental Protection, Division of Criminal Justice, the Norwalk Health Department and Connecticut Pest Control.

As if that were not enough, a second forum will be held on October 15 (PDF).

Hartford

Hartford will hold a Community Forum on Bed Bugs on July 15, 2009. This forum is hosted by the Department of Health and Human Services Health Education Program.

Winnipeg

A Bed Bug Symposium (agenda, PDF) was held on March 4 at the University of Manitoba.

There was, by the way, an interesting press item about bed bugs in Manitoba recently which indicates the extent of the social impact: when home health care workers “pull their services” because apartments are crawling with bed bugs or because of the pesticide treatments for bed bugs, are bed bugs not an emergency health matter for seniors receiving care? Also, notice the update in this story on 260 Nassau Street, the Winnipeg building which was evacuated for 5 days for bed bug treatments that we mentioned briefly when we were discussing our own public housing bed bug problems. Four apartments are still infested. Four sounds hopeful. But four is not zero. Zero is the ever-elusive bed bug number you want.

Yes, I know. But I’ve never organized anything like this. But we will, I guess. I’m not sure why I’m intimidated by this. But someone has to do it.