Hello,

I am a former pest control technician and current Quality Assurance Manager & Technical Advisor for one of North America’s largest pest control companies.

I have created a bed bug website dedicated to providing resources to the general public.

The Bed Bug Resource can be found at www.thebedbugresource.com . At this site there is also a message board (forum) available. If you or anyone you know would like to ask questions, vent, or offer assistance to others in need please drop on by.

Sincerely,

Sean.

Entomologist / Pest Professional

www.thebedbugresource.com

Bedbug sufferers, as represented by members of this and other online boards, as well as landlords

and/or homeowners paying for exterminators, tenants' rights organizations, and even scientists and exterminators), need to create

a political activist organization--named something like the NYC Anti-Bedbug Coalition -- and hire a professional lobbyist to pass new

legislation and raise money for public awareness campaigns. I'm mainly discussing NYC here, but other cities can do the same. Here's

what I envision:

1. NYC desperately needs a public education campaign to teach citizens and landlords how to prevent these bugs. Residents need to know never to scavenge mattresses or couches from the treet, and to be wary of buying used ones. I'm talking giant ads in the subway system, radio PSAs, news articles with specific facts, flyers on

lamposts, you name it. In addition, services like craigslist and freecycle need to be directly contacted and they should add a permanent warning on their used furniture and "free stuff" sites to

warn people of the risk of spreading bbs.

2. The City Health Department and/or the NYC Anti-Bedbug Coalition should distribute bright, large orange signs for people to tape onto infested furniture with a giant picture of a bedbug and warnings in several languages to NOT take the furniture.

3. Mattress-selling companies must never transport or store used mattresses in the same trucks or storage areas as new mattresses.

This is another way to easily spread the infestation. Refurbished mattresses should be banned outright. Yeah, saves you $150 now, but a used mattress can EASILY cost you $10,000 later when the bug infestation causes you to have to throw out EVERYTHING YOU OWN. I know. It happened to me.

4. Moving companies must be required to clean their trucks and wash the blankets they use to wrap furniture in hot water between every

move. A mover, having moved the furniture of someone with bedbugs, can very easily transmit the bugs to the next customer if they do not

wash the blankets they use to wrap infested furniture.

5. All exterminators must receive updated training in bedbug extermination in order to maintain their licenses. Many exterminators still have not encountered these bugs and can make the

problem worse by using the wrong pesticides. Also, hardware stores selling insecticide should know to direct customers to the correct

treatments rather than giving wrong advice that can make the problem worse.

6. Landlords must be held liable if they do not provide exterminators to their tenants facing an infestation. Landlords in infested buildings should be legally required to inform all tenants

in the building of the specific problem (not just "it's a new kind of roach").

7. Bedbugs complaints should be made a matter of public record, and the NYC Department of Health should maintain an epidemiological map

to track which areas are having the biggest problems.

8. Currently-banned pesticides should be reconsidered for reintroduction considering the epidemic.

So, people, who wants to create such an organization? Anybody have time and interest to pursue this? Are there any lawyers in this

group, or maybe PR people? We can probably be an outgrowth of an existing tenants' rights group, take donations, and start hiring lobbyists and posting great big orange warning signs. What do you think?

There actually are non pesticide products that are successful at getting rid of bedbugs. Ginesis Products makes a product called Kleen Free Enzyme which reacts with the protein in the bedbug and causes them to prematurely molt. (i.e. shed their outer skin) Because it contains no chemicals it is safe to use even directly onto the bed and mattress.

You can find more info at http://www.licescabiesandbedbugs.com

I second the bring-back of DDT. DDT ME, ASAP!

Gale Brewer, as usual, is being a pointless busybody, making sure only expensive brand-new mattresses can be legally sold. Meanwhile, desperate people will still take mattresses off the street.

I can't find out who owns the Sleepy's mattress chain, which is unfortunate because I bet they (or someone like them) threw a few bucks Gale's way.

Folks always blame mattresses (I think getting mixed up w/ fleas or dustmites?). Speaking from a really awful person experience -- those suckers are actually pretty darn big. Like an apple seed when engorged. And they seem to prefer the cracks of wood furniture, bedframes, etc. I don't think they can hide "inside" a mattress as easily. I think you're also most likely to pick them up by putting a suitcase on your bed after staying in a hotel -- or from any bag tossed on your bed (think we got ours that way, from a party of people using our bed as a "coat closet").

I, bedbug, also like to travel from place to place using ebay and i sit in the box awaiting my new arrival..then I proceed to take over and multiply and feed upon you humans.

Speaking as someone who left behind everything she owned in 2004 due to a bed bug infestation, I can tell you that what needs to be happening is either legislation to legalize the use of DDT again, or the development of something new that can kill these little fuckers. (I actually have a scientist friend with a PhD in parasitology who told me DDT is safe enough to use around humans. He said you could essentially bathe in it and nothing would happen to you. He said the fact that it got outlawed in the first place is a case of liberal politicking run amok.) As it stands, nothing the exterminators currently have access to does the job. They don't tell you that in ANY of the news stories I've read. It's a fucking racket they've got going. You (or your landlord if you're lucky) pays the exterminator and they keep coming back and you keep paying the exterminator and this can go on for about a year. You might kill them off by then, but who the hell wants to live like that for a year? I didn't last 2 months.

Oh, and stop picking furniture up off the street.

A friend has this problem and it seems intractable after her and a boyfriend moved into their new apt. She currently has her bed away from the walls in the middle of the room w/ all 4 legs sitting in buckets of water, which seems to help. That's not really a long-term solution, however. One bite caused her eye to swell up terribly.