[Bed Bug Supplement] Game Changer or Gimmick?

The latest and greatest bed bug products are everywhere: pest management conferences, the Internet and even Sky Mall magazine. Their effectiveness ranges from high to highly improbable.

As long as bed bugs are a lucrative problem, pest management professionals can expect new products to flood the market. Case in point: Vendor attendance more than doubled at BedBug Central’s North American Bed Bug Summit in Chicago last September.

Some products can give PMPs a real treatment advantage. The challenge is weeding through the many bogus products and shameless promoters out there, said Entomologist Dr. Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann of Cornell University.

Separating fact from fiction is complicated, but possible. In a nutshell, experts advised keeping an open mind and asking a lot of questions.
 

Ask for the Research. Bringing products to market in a technically driven industry requires “you have the efficacy data to back it up,” said Protect-A-Bed Industrial Division Sales Director Brian Hirsch. A product can’t be tested with a protocol made up by someone in his garage, he explained.

Research generally comes from three sources: universities, independent labs and manufacturers. University research is thorough and subject to peer scrutiny, but not all products can be included in studies, so few are evaluated. Having research from independent and in-house laboratories is better than having none, but this research has been paid for or conducted by the manufacturers themselves.

Michael Botha, president of Sandwich Isle Pest Solutions in Pearl City, Hawaii, said he never has had a manufacturer point out the negatives of using its product. He does, however, take manufacturer data seriously.

PMPs should ask for a copy of the complete research report, rather than merely accepting the assurance that the product was tested and works, said Robin Todd, executive director of ICR, a Baltimore-based independent lab that tests the efficacy of conventional insecticides, 25b products, devices, treated fabrics, fumigation products and physical controls like mattress encasements. The report should have a title page, executive summary, results and graphs, test protocol instructions, raw data and a statistical analysis.

Ask Questions. Make sure you understand who funded the research, who wrote and reviewed the test protocol, and whether the protocol was based on valid scientific methods and practical application of the product.

Lab-based studies can be “woefully insufficient,” said Gangloff-Kaufmann. They tell PMPs nothing about what happens in the field with the practical use of the product.

Todd advised closely evaluating the raw data. Did the study have a control for comparison? Did the bed bugs in the control suffer negligible mortality, that is, less than 10 percent? How was the product applied and at what rate? Todd has seen some tests show products as effective but “only when you drown the insect.” Is the test rate the same rate you’d be applying in someone’s home? Were the pests forced into exposure or given a choice? Under what conditions were the tests run? Would you find these conditions in the real world? Was the data generated according to Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) standards?

ICR Business Development and Research Director Dr. Reginald Coler, B.C.E., said PMPs should look for greater than 90 percent mortality in a product. And products claiming to kill bed bug eggs need specific tests to determine effectiveness.

“Products may make certain claims or inferences, but you have to look at the data,” he cautioned. This is especially true for EPA-exempt 25b products, which don’t have an additional layer of EPA oversight.

What if a manufacturer doesn’t have research? For small companies, it’s a time-consuming, expensive investment. Mike Lindsey, president of Bed Bug Boxes in Fort Collins, Colo., considered having his portable thermal boxes tested by an outside lab but isn’t convinced this will translate to more consumer sales. Standardized tests for his product don’t exist, and consumers aren’t looking for that level of information, he said. Instead they want more YouTube videos on how to use the product.

Being transparent and open to continuous improvement are just as important, Lindsey said. His initial product received mixed PMP and consumer reviews, so he took it off the market and redesigned it, informing parties in an open letter to the pest management community. Although painful, the process resulted in a more effective product. “In the end, it’s going to come down to reputation,” he said.
 

Ask a Pro-in-the-Know. Research entomologists at state cooperative extension programs can help evaluate research reports and provide insights on whether a product will work. They usually offer facts “without any sugar coating,” said Botha.

Dr. Dina Richman, pest product development manager at FMC in Philadelphia, suggested attending seminars where university researchers are speaking. Just realize even university researchers can have conflicting opinions on product performance. This may be due to working with different bed bug populations, which have different resistance levels and behaviors, like feeding frequency, fecundity and molting, she said.

Get input from trusted industry colleagues. Botha asks fellow members of the Copesan Technical Committee about their experience with a new product before starting his own, internal evaluation.

National distributors are a “great clearinghouse” for bed bug product evaluation, said Hirsch. They’re a “buffer between the junk and the good stuff.” If they’re not picking up a product, “there’s a very good reason why.”

Residex tests products in-house and has customers trial them in the field. No product gets on the distributor’s shelves without being tested first, said Regional Sales Manager Tom Algeo, who covers the Philadelphia-New York City area. Still, not all products live up to expectations.

BedBug Central evaluates products it sells and doesn’t sell, said Jeff White, the firm’s entomologist. BedBug Central is working with a third-party research group to develop a bed bug seal of approval, similar to the Good Housekeeping Seal. Products would need to pass minimum tests to qualify.
 

Test it Yourself. Because lab research doesn’t always factor in real-life field challenges, Botha relies heavily on trials conducted by his own bed bug task force.

This group, which approves all protocol revisions, consists of Botha, his top bed bug technician, salesman, technical director and QA manager. The group starts by reviewing new product literature, and then gets input from Copesan Technical Committee members, researchers and other PMPs across the country. If feedback is promising, the group holds field trials, evaluates results and decides whether or not to add the product to the company protocol. The entire process takes two to four weeks.

Eradico Services in Novi, Mich., likewise takes a cautious approach. The company’s technical and operations directors do a “tremendous amount of research” before conducting field tests in select client communities, said President Chuck Russell.

When bed bugs first came back on the scene, Russell didn’t charge these multi-unit housing customers in return for testing products on their sites. It’s “very beneficial to have that kind of relationship with clients.” Through trial and error, “we developed what we thought was a pretty strong protocol.”

Russell has learned from the lawn side of his business not to be the first one to use something new, because it’s likely not all the kinks have been worked out yet. “Before putting our reputation on the line, we want to make sure we’ve tested the product really well.”

It’s important for PMPs to do “their own due diligence” because not all products perform as claimed, said FMC’s Richman. This helps “weed out the snake oil from the products that really work.” PMPs also should test products to make sure they work in their particular situation. “We don’t understand the behavior of this critter completely yet,” and what works in one situation may not work in another, she said.

It’s also easy to be misled, cautioned White. A field study may show the product works beautifully, but in reality a similar product could have worked just as well. He advised conducting a “quick and dirty” field test with five units. If the results are positive, expand the trial or take the results to an expert for input. Just don’t jump to conclusions.

Russell is sure his team has passed over good products because they didn’t fit the company’s protocol. Still, keeping an open mind is essential, he said.

A cartoon in the Eradico office sums it up: A king preparing for battle says, “I can’t be bothered to see any crazy salesman — we’ve got a battle to fight.” The salesman is selling a Gatling gun.

“We don’t want to be the king who’s ignoring the newest product that could make a big difference in the marketplace,” said Russell. “But you have to wade through an awful lot until you get to that one product that does make a difference.”

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