The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently hosted its first-ever National Bed Bug Summit. And, as the AP article reports, Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-NC) is planning to reintroduce legislation to "expand grant programs to help public housing authorities cope with infestations." The bill will be called the-- I kid you not--"Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite Act."
It seems that the real bloodsuckers are the politicians and bureaucrats in Washington wasting taxpayer money on such programs. Then again, wasn't it the Founding Fathers who said that "all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness--and the Freedom from Bedbugs"?
I know I'm a squish, but isn't this the sort of thing that governments should do? Pest infestations are genuine public health problems--the kind where your tolerating a bedbug infestation means that I might end up with critters. Indeed, I'm stalking a mouse right now that seems to be feasting in the neighboring row house, then coming over to our place to sleep. Public health has made titanic achievements in sanitation, under which rubric pest infestations fall, and even most libertarians recognize this.
There’s a real problem that occurs when we mock people and occupations for political expediency. Over time this results in occupations being stigmatized or becoming less attractive to potential entrants, resulting in a decrease in the quality of personnel doing this work. When it comes to sanitation engineers, the people who literally build the foundation of civilized society, I don’t want a field comprised solely of those who couldn’t find work elsewhere.
I'm confused by your comment. Sanitation Engineer is a euphemism for garbage-man, right? I've never heard of someone making fun of garbage-men, although riding on the back of a truck and emptying trashcans into that truck is a very low-skilled and undesirable job. On the other hand, I've heard of people making fun of the euphemism sanitation engineer, but only because it is ridiculous to call a garbage-man an engineer.
Maybe he's referring to the civil engineers who design and build sewer systems?
IDK - like you, I am confused.
Yeah, I was referring to the white collar types.
I thought the article was hilarious. If I understand correctly,
1) The EPA banned all of the effective pesticides previously permitted by law;
2) The feds are sitting on all applications to allow new pesticides.
In response, the feds are proposing:
1) To hold a big conference;
2) To send more money to the states, which they will then use for "bedbug awareness" or some other non-pesticide "solution", and which will be obtained by tax dollars; and
3) To pass a "Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite Act," which does not appear to contain any provisions legalizing anti-bedbug pesticides.
In short, the federal government outlawed the actual killing of bedbugs, and now proposes to spend a lot of money holding conferences for federal bureaucrats, giving speeches on C-Span and generally "studying the problem" of how why have begun to see more pests after we outlawed the use of pesticides.
I'm certain there's a pesticide-free bedbug eradication company in desperate need of funding somewhere in the mix. I would guess said pesticide-free bedbug eradication's main offices are located in North Carolina.
Ah, the joys of urban high-density living! Biking, busing, bedbugs.
Now if only OUR city government would up and solve the problem of bunny wabbit (that would be Texas Cottontail...) infestation...
Bedbugs are not strictly an urban issue. My wife and I recently dealt with a bedbug nightmare; we live in the city but guess what? We got them from a hotel in the suburbs.
Megan also errs when she suggests that bedbugs are the result of poor sanitation conditions. They are the result of increased international travel and immigration. Bedbugs don't thrive on dirt or garbage. They live on human blood. They are also extremely difficult to eradicate. They can live many months without sustenance. They are tiny, so they can hide in floorboards, walls, or just about anywhere. Typically it requires multiple (or better yet, ongoing) visits from a pest control expert to manage them.
That all said, does this validate a big government investigation? Probably not, because there is little government can do that people can't do themselves. Except maybe subsidize the cost, which is coming out of your and my pocket anyway.
Megan, why aren't you asking your gov't to fight roach infestations? Shouldn't we nationalize some pest control companies?
If someone was to show me that the beg bug infestation has reached some epidemic proportions, and could be considered an emergency by a reasonable person, I may well agree with you, and lets send in FEMA, but until that point, people who live close by can learn to split the pest control bill.
I'm guessing you don't live in a city. It's actually true that if your neighbors have bedbugs (or roaches), and don't do anything about them, your own bug fighting efforts will probably come to naught. They come through the walls. You can, in fact, send the public health folks after neighbors who harbor infestations--something that suburbanites recognize when neighbors leave out piles of trash to attract rats and raccoons.
Piles of trash, rats, and raccoons? Suburbs in DC sound nasty. I do have all three where I live, but not in the same place. No wonder you prefer metro life. All the critters of suburban life, but fewer stores, restaurants, and transportation options.
Those of us in flyover country generally don't have varmint infested piles of trash in front of the neighbor's house.
It happened to the parents of a friend, who live in a very nice suburb of Philadelphia. The people with the giant piles of trash are ministers who host church events . . . the pizza boxes and empty cookie tins attract all sorts of varmints. They understood that the correct action was to call the police. Unfortunately, the police chief goes to that church . . .
Megan - That's still nasty, fancy Philadelphia suburb or not. I think I'd call local media. Or head over under cover of night and re-stack all the trash on their front porch.
On a different note: why does moveable type stop offering the reply button when the replies reach some number of vertical inches?
Yet another reason not to live in a city.
That having been said, in such a circumstance I would probably call the city health officials, or county if it's a rural area. I would not call in the federal Environmental Protection Agency to get rid of my raccoons.
You missed the part where this is being done for public housing, not housing in general. This isn't public health per se, this is just being a good landlord.
Any bets on how much of the money will actually be used to to, you know, eradicate infestations? 10%? 5%? Any?
I'm sure there'll be a nice photo op with a few getting squashed. That's probably a good $50k spent on eradication right there.
Don't ever get a mattress delivered by a company that hauls away old mattresses - those trucks are bedbug transfer stations.
The far more interesting question is "why now?" I never heard of bedbugs except as the semi-mythical creatures that my father would invoke upon sending us to bed, until about 3 years ago. Then, infestations began to proliferate. It seems that bedbugs reached a tipping point, but why? People didn't suddenly start living in closer quarters, and I doubt there's been a dramatic, society-wide decline in hygiene.
Easy answers: 1) The problem's been there all the while, but it's now a media panic. 2) Craigslist and Freecycle spread them around. 3) Duh, global warming.
I doubt it's any of the above, but what gives?
Chris
J Mann's post was correct. Effective pesticide was banned during Clinton administration, despite protests from many scientists who expected that an explosion in bedbugs would occur. Now an explosion in bedbugs has occurred.
Bedbug is such a pejorative term. It helps if you refer to them as sleeping buddies.
So why budbugs and not ants, roaches, termites, etc...? Bedbugs are annoying but apparently are not known to transmit disease. They cause irritating bites in people who are allergic but other than that are no worse than other bugs and better than some. Why are we not using Federal government resources to eradicate fleas in pets, ants in apartments, etc...?
I know that this article is about public housing but I keep hearing news reports about the bedbug epidemic and What Must Be Done!