[BED BUG SUPPLEMENT] EPA Hosts 2nd Annual Bed Bug Summit

It was appropriate that the U.S. EPA chose Georgetown University to host the second National Bed Bug Summit, Feb. 1-2, since the talk was dominated by the call for more education.

More than 250 people attended the two-day event, which attracted government, regulatory, research, consumers and industry representatives for what was billed as the first step toward establishing a framework for a national policy to combat this widespread pest problem.

“One of our goals is to reduce consumer confusion when it comes to bed bugs,” said Claire Gesalman, chief of EPA’s communications services branch. “We want to close the gap of missing information by establishing a central clearinghouse of information.”
 

COMMUNICATION 101.
However, tackling the communication issue when it comes to bed bugs is not an easy task considering the number of stakeholders involved. There are consumers, pest management professionals and numerous government agencies at the federal level including EPA, USDA, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as numerous state and local government entities.

The central clearinghouse of information that EPA’s Gesalman spoke of would serve the various constituencies’ needs for communication tools that can be used to help educate consumers on how they can be part of the solution to controlling bed bugs. However, no delivery platform for the dissemination of the information has been decided upon and lack of funding is hampering the effort.

Representatives from public housing authorities in Portland, Ore., and Boston, Mass., both credited successful communication efforts aimed at tenants in helping them with getting the message across about the facts associated with bed bugs. “It is an ongoing process of education for residents and we have had success when we have been able to get the right information into their hands,” said Jonathan Wild, property manager with the Housing Authority of Portland, Ore.

Getting the information into the hands of consumers that are impacted by bed bugs, however, is not as easy as putting up a poster in the laundry room or having a tenant meeting.

“It is a two-headed issue that you have to contend with,” said Dr. Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, IPM specialist/urban entomologist for the New York State IPM Program, who has worked extensively in New York City and Long Island’s Nassau County. “You have social and cultural blockers that lead to challenges in getting the information out there and providing treatment. As a result, people who need the service are falling through the cracks.”

Industry professionals in attendance at the meeting agreed that better communication is part of the solution but time is of the essence.

“This is a serious crisis that we are facing,” said Bob Rosenberg, senior vice president, NPMA, who spoke on a panel at the event. “There is a need for a coordinated response that involves industry and government.”

Stoy Hedges, director of technical services for Terminix, attended the two-day event and feels a central clearinghouse of information would be helpful to both consumers and industry.

“The government, the EPA in this case, is well-suited to being a host for such a clearinghouse,” said Hedges. “Having the ability to link to the latest research papers and other information, as well as forums for getting questions answered would be very useful.”

CONSUMER PROTECTION.
Hedges cautioned that while a central information source would be helpful, the information provided would have to be verified by EPA before being released for consumption.
“There is a lot of information out there regarding bed bugs and not all of it is accurate,” said Hedges. “Whatever format it is finally presented in, the information needs to be verified so consumers are getting an accurate picture.”

NPMA recently released its Best Management Practices for Bed Bugs, available at www.npmapestworld.org, in order to facilitate the distribution of the latest factual information on bed bug detection and control for consumers. (See the article on NPMA’s BMPs on page 130 of this issue.)

“Consumer protection is very important to the pest management industry,” said Jim Fredericks, director of technical services for NPMA. “Industry professionals have the knowledge and are in the best position to recommend the proper treatment strategies.”

While the event included several presentations on the latest technologies available to treat for bed bugs and updates from the research community on their efforts, no across-the-board treatment remedy is apparent.

“Bugs go where people go and that is part of the problem,” said Rick Cooper, vice president of Bed Bug Central and a researcher at Rutgers University. “Field experience is helping the industry develop the proper treatment methods but there has been overreaction to the problem in some areas.”

For example, encasement of infested items such as clothing or furniture, has proven more effective in some cases than simply throwing the items out in the trash, which was accepted as a standard response when an infestation was discovered. When it comes to combatting bed bugs, Cooper said “it is not about the what, it is about the how.”

Allison Taisey, program coordinator for the Northeastern IPM Center at Cornell University, echoed Cooper’s sentiments saying, “No two bed bug treatments are alike and you can’t simply offer one definitive solution.”

GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT.
And while industry and government agencies are both driving towards the same goal — getting a handle on a pest that one in five consumers have had or know someone who has had an experience with them — the summit left unanswered questions and some wondering if the government and industry are on the same page.

“We both want the same thing and that is to find solutions to controlling and eliminating bed bugs,” said Rosenberg. “We know that EPA and the other agencies do not have the needed staff or resources to attack this problem as fast as everyone would like.”

Rosenberg cited the fact that the USDA has devoted one researcher to the bed bug effort and that is simply not enough to meet the need.

As for the industry’s desire that EPA relax the barriers for certain product registration requirements and fast-track new products that might help in the fight, Rosenberg said he is hopeful. He indicated the industry is partnering with EPA on several efficacy workgroups to study options for new products, including some currently labeled for agriculture uses that avoid the resistance problems and could prove effective.

“We can work together to find solutions and events like this escalate the awareness of the issue and demonstrate a need for the government to act,” said Rosenberg.

Veteran industry PMP Billy Tesh of Pest Management Systems in Greensboro, N.C., attended the summit and came away concerned about the speed at which EPA was moving to address the issues surrounding bed bugs.

“There seems to be little movement on the main issues with bed bugs,” said Tesh. He acknowledged that EPA and the other government agencies were in a budget crunch but he said that should not stop them from being more resourceful.

“They need to find a way to reallocate and refocus existing resources toward bed bug research and programs to help stem the crisis,” said Tesh.

Like others in the industry he feels establishing a central clearinghouse of information would benefit all the shareholders with a stake in eliminating bed bugs. Tesh would like to see a single entity lead the effort but with representation from the pest management industry, as well as the apartment and housing and hospitality industries.

“If they involve the stakeholders in the effort, the likelihood of the information being beneficial and accurate increases,” said Tesh. “And that will benefit everyone.”

Though not overly optimistic about the prospects, he hopes EPA will take another look at the product registration and re-registration process, and consider allowing certain products not currently labeled for bed bugs to be updated.

“Industry will have to continue to push EPA to take a second look at some of the older chemistry that could help,” said Tesh. “Research has shown that effective control for bed bugs is achieved through a rotation of pesticides, and the more options available the better our chances are of eliminating the problem.”

Entomological Society Posts National Bed Bug Summit Presentations
Presentations from the second National Bed Bug Summit have been made available through the Entomological Society of America‘s (ESA) new urban entomology network site.

To review PDFs of some of the PowerPoint presentations from the Summit, visit http://esanetworks.org/group/urbanandstructuralentomologists/forum/topic/show?id=6295836%3ATopic%3A2808&xg_source=msg.

There is no narration, so you don‘t get the full content of the presentations, but there is still considerable information in the slides. — Mike Merchant, Insects in the City blog, http://insectsinthecity.blogspot.com/

Jeff Fenner is a partner in B Communications, an integrated communications/marketing firm specializing in the needs of pest management, lawn care, landscape and golf course management professionals. He can be reached at jfenner@giemedia.com.