[BED BUG SUPPLEMENT] BEACON CALL

Over the last year, bed bugs certainly got their 15 minutes of fame, and then some. In recent months it’s been difficult to find a day when bed bug infestations did not make the news.

Some stories focused on the “ick” factor of the burgeoning infestations: movie theaters, retail clothing stories and hotels. Other stories focused on illegal control efforts: unlicensed PCOs using agricultural pesticides inside structures. And still others talked about the difficult job of controlling bed bugs, which don’t need many resources to survive, and that have begun exhibiting resistance to a number of commonly used pesticides.

All of it has left industry professionals, let alone the general public, scratching their heads.

But last fall the NPMA took a lead in combating this developing industry quagmire by creating the Blue Ribbon Bed Bug Task Force, a sort of think-tank comprised of nearly 40 stakeholders, including pest management professionals, state and federal regulators and university experts. They were asked to draw up comprehensive responses to the bed bug pandemic in terms of education, best practices, policy, outreach, and research and product efficacy.

Now the first of the Task Force’s efforts have come to fruition: a set of Best Management Practices for Bed Bugs was released in late January. The project is virtually unprecedented for the association, considering that the guidelines were released as widely as possible, to all pest control companies — not just NPMA members — and consumers as well. NPMA explains the wide release was the right thing to do and only the first of its efforts dedicated to this cause.

The Back Story.
In essence, the practices are a set of guidelines designed to help PMPs control bed bugs effectively, responsibly and safely. They’re also meant to let consumers know what to expect of control efforts. Creating the guidelines was a process that brought together many talented minds on the topic: i.e., the Blue Ribbon Task Force.

NMPA Senior Vice President Bob Rosenberg said in a November 2010 press release that the group’s efforts “are designed to ensure that the pest management industry remains at the forefront of the war on bed bugs and ensure the continued credibility of the industry with consumers, media and policy makers.”

Toward that end, the association, via its Task Force, pursued a broad, comprehensive strategy that considered many points of view. “The idea was to try to get as good a group of knowledgeable people together to help decide what we as an industry needed to do,” Rosenberg explained. Besides pest control company owners and managers, the group includes top industry researchers, attorneys and federal and state regulators.

The first meeting of the Blue Ribbon task force occurred in Honolulu, Hawaii, in conjunction with the association’s PestWorld 2010 convention. Rosenberg, who is staff liaison for the group, recalled the Friday afternoon in late October. “I’m sure there were about a hundred places people would have rather been than the meeting room on a Friday afternoon in Hawaii,” said Rosenberg, “but the place was packed.” Besides the task force members, close to 200 other conference attendees also showed up to listen in during the several-hour meeting.

To get things moving, the NPMA staff had drafted questions outlining some of the most pressing questions on such things as credentials, treatment and inspection standards, monitoring guidelines and efficacy information.

“The purpose of that first meeting was to develop a game plan for developing this proactive, comprehensive industry response,” Rosenberg explained. Several needs were identified, Rosenberg said, with the BMPs being first and foremost among them.

“The industry, the American public, were pretty much all over the place on bed bug detection and prevention and control, and what we needed were a set of parameters, via the set of best management practices, and we needed them really quickly,” said Rosenberg. “Honestly, I don’t know that we’ve ever had a louder, clearer message than came out of that meeting.”

The Task Force said it also needed to look at credentialing, certification and training; public policy; public outreach, education, messaging and data needs; and research and efficacy. Then the group was divided into four small work groups charged with addressing those topics. The biggest work group — with close to 20 members — took on Best Management Practices as well as credentialing, certification and training.

After a series of face-to-face meetings, webinars and conference calls, the work group came up with the list of BMPs. “In a very short period of time, less than 90 days, we put together what I think was a broad diverse consensus in support of this document which we think of as a milestone for the industry,” Rosenberg observed. Before being released, the BMPs were approved by the entire Task Force and the NPMA board of directors. Additionally, Rosenberg noted, all 7,000 NPMA members were invited to view the draft BMPs and comment via an open webinar. About 400 people showed up for the call. Interestingly, said Rosenberg, “a lot of the good advice we got, some of the best comments we got, came from people that were not on the Task Force.”

What’s interesting about the practices is that the association has distributed them widely throughout the industry — to members and non-members alike — and to consumers. The association’s consumer web site offers a slightly condensed consumer edition of the guidelines as well as a four-page consumer brochure summarizing the BMPs.

Rosenberg explained the wide release was simply the right thing to. “We want everyone to know about it,” he said. “We’d like to see government agencies adopt it. We’d like to see companies adopt it.”

Recent national news coverage of unlicensed operators or those using agricultural pesticides indoors was also a factor. “When somebody provides a bed bug-related service or sells a bed bug-related product that doesn’t work, and if it creates bad publicity, it’s a black eye for the whole industry,” Rosenberg said.
 

An Urgent Need.
Coming up with the BMPs was considered priority number one by the group, for many reasons. One, cited Rosenberg, was the growing concern about bed bugs particularly in the second half of 2010. “Along with the growing concern was a rise of people jumping into the market to provide solutions,” said Rosenberg, “most of whom we hope were providing good reliable services.” But, he added, “we also were seeing a lot of people jumping into this market that aren’t qualified.” He explained the BMPs were intended to help consumers be able to differentiate good services from “fly-by-nighters.” Compounding the problem, Rosenberg said, is that people who discover bed bugs in their homes sometimes resort to desperate measures. “We want to make sure that they have the best possible information so they can make a good informed consumer decision,” he explained.

Also prompting the Task Force’s creation of the BMPs has been a spate of media stories in recent months about unlicensed pest control companies using unregistered products in peoples’ homes, or companies and individuals using banned products indoors to control bed bugs. And there are some consumers who mistakenly believe the agricultural pesticide malathion is the thing to use to control bed bugs. A web search conducted in February 2011 yielded links to blogs suggesting the use of malathion indoors to control bed bugs, a use that’s illegal in the United States.

NPMA Technical Services Director Jim Fredericks said NPMA research indicates that 95 percent of pest professionals report having treated bed bugs at least once in the past year. However, that doesn’t mean 95 percent have a wealth of experience in bed bug control. Fredericks said while pest control companies operating in larger cities may now have a good handle on controlling bed bugs, companies in smaller markets may need this information. “Our members and firms were looking for a set of best management practices to get an understanding of ‘How do I get started, how do I get involved in this and how do I help out,’ so that’s one of the things that the best management practices provides.”

Efficacy remains a hot button, Fredericks said, particularly with some of the non-chemical control methods such as heat or freezing treatments or the use of canine bed bug detection, since there isn’t a regulatory body tasked with certifying these methods. “Most of the regulatory bodies we’re dealing with are dealing with pesticide application,” said Fredericks. “So with these tough credible standards there is some sort of a guideline out there that not only people who are providing services can adhere to but consumers can also be educated as to what to expect and what they should be looking for in a firm.”

Rosenberg said many control products used decades ago (the last time bed bugs were a significant pest) are not available now. And unlike cockroach control, which most (if not all) PCOs have down pat, bed bug control remains elusive for some. “People were and still are developing different paradigms and different models for dealing with bed bugs,” said Rosenberg. Rosenberg also referred to a proliferation of various efforts by different government agencies to address the burgeoning bed bug problem, but those efforts appeared to lack coordination or inter-agency cooperation.

The Details.
In essence the BMPs cover 15 major areas of bed bug best management practices, including those relating to service agreements, training, client education and cooperation, detection guidelines and canine detection certification standards, among others. While the document does provide some specifics in terms of advising companies how they should be performing various bed bug services, that’s not necessarily the intent. Rosenberg pointed out while the NPMA isn’t a standard-setting organization, and no one’s obligated to follow the BMPs, “we think by virtue of their quality and their strength that it will become a defacto national standard.”

“It’s not a very prescriptive document,” Rosenberg explained. “It delineates the boundaries of what can constitute good practices so that customers can make informed choices.” Companies offering products or services within those boundaries can be purchased with confidence, Rosenberg added, while products or services outside those boundaries, probably cannot.

One section of the document that Fredericks calls “a milestone” refers to the use of bed bug scent-detecting canines. He cited various media reports calling some canine teams into question. Toward that end, the BMPs call for canine teams to be certified by qualified, independent, experienced, third-party evaluators. An appendix in the document lists the qualifications needed by those evaluators. “We not only recommend that these teams should be able to find bed bugs but then also outline the minimum requirements for that certification test,” Fredericks explained.

On the topic of training, the BMPs state that all company representatives that might even be asked about bed bugs — including front-office personnel or customer service reps—need to have some basic training in such things as bed bug biology and habits, typical control expectations, signs of infestation and inspection procedures.

The document also provides guidelines on educating consumers about bed bugs and securing their cooperation, and says companies need to clearly inform customers who’s doing what when it comes to preparation. On the topic of detection, the document lists numerous sites that should be inspected. Fredericks cautions the BMPs are not meant to provide an exhaustive list but rather some basic guidelines for a good solid inspection. No matter how many specific places in a home or hotel room or apartment were identified, Fredericks said, “we were never going to find every scene or be able to list every one.” Thus, the BMPs offer general guidelines about inspecting areas where bed bugs may hide or where they may travel.
 

New Frontiers.
Rosenberg said the release of the BMPs is “almost unprecedented.” Not since 1951 has the association distributed a document advising companies on how to conduct a specific service. In that year the association, then known as NPCA, came out with its “NPCA Approved Reference Procedures for Termite Control,” at a time when the methods of reliable termite control were unclear. “People I think in that year were looking for a definitive uniform set of guidelines,” Rosenberg explained. “In some loose way the need for that document was a little bit like the need for this document.”

While the BMPs were the obvious urgent first priority of the task force, it’s not the end of the task force’s work, with many questions left to be answered. For one, Fredericks says, the BMPs themselves will continue to evolve as new technology and innovations are developed and studied. A “2.0 version,” quips Rosenberg, is in the works now. That work group is also looking at credentialing and certification standards. A second group is discussing public policies such as securing federal research dollars or deciding how to evaluate pesticides. The research and efficacy group is considering where future research efforts should be directed. And the messaging/public outreach/data work group is running consumer information surveys.

Some complicated questions remain to be answered, Rosenberg said, concerning research and efficacy. For example, what claims should companies be able to make regarding efficacy or residual effects? It’s one of the many issues the task force will be considering over the next several months.

“I don’t think we think that we’ve solved the problem or are ready to call it quits and declare victory,” Rosenberg added. “This is just the beginning.”

But for now, the NPMA says, the industry is grateful for this first step. Rosenberg said it’s been remarkable that such a diverse group of professionals could so quickly reach a consensus on the wide range of bed bug issues. “At the outset it didn’t seem like that would be possible,” he observed. “I think one of the reasons we were able to get there was because everyone realized the need for something like this was so great.”

And Fredericks says the response from PCOs thus far has been positive. “We’re hearing it from pest management firms,” he said. “It’s been a resounding ‘thank you,’ that this was definitely needed.”

The author is a frequent contributor to PCT. She can be reached at lmckenna@giemedia.com

Web Links to the BMPs
For Companies
http://www.npmapestworld.org/publicpolicy/documents/NPMABedBugBMPAPPROVED20110124_prettified.pdf
For Consumers
http://www.pestworld.org/bed-bug-bmps