If you get bedbugs, you do not have to call a licensed pest manage company, but you’d be foolish not to, is the take-away message from a warning issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last August. “Making use of the wrong pesticide or utilizing it incorrectly to treat for bedbugs can make you, your family members, and your pets sick,” the EPA said in a consumer alert quoted by The Hill Healthwatch on line. “It can also make your home unsafe to reside in – and may well not solve the bedbug issue.”
Alarmed by reports of dangerous pesticide misuse and extreme measures being taken by some homeowners and apartment dwellers in do-it-oneself efforts to eradicate bed bugs, the U.S. EPA and Centers for Disease Handle and Prevention (CDC) issued a joint statement last July warning shoppers against making use of outdoor pesticide merchandise inside their residences in attempts to get rid of bed bugs. Reports from licensed pest manage specialists in the field and news media of persons dousing their beds, their pajamas and even bathing their youngsters in garden insecticides has caused developing concern among government officials, the healthcare neighborhood, public wellness guardians, and the National Pest Management Association (NPMA). The use of harsh chemical compounds not authorized by the EPA for residential use can trigger serious burn-like irritation of the skin and eyes, achievable damage to the central nervous technique, and may possibly even expose you to carcinogens.
There have also been many news reports of home and apartment fires begun by desperate people applying hugely flammable liquids to kill bedbugs. In January, a Cincinnati, Ohio man who was wiping down his furniture with a mixture of insecticide and alcohol began a fire in his apartment when his cigarette ignited fumes from the chemical mixture. In July 2008, an Eatontown, New Jersey man blew up his apartment even though attempting do-it-yourself pest manage. A pilot light ignited the chemical spray and fumes causing an explosion that blew out the front windows of the apartment and resulted in a fire that destroyed the man’s apartment and brought on significant damage to neighboring units.
“Pest handle firms reported seeing quite a few ineffective and potentially hazardous measures made use of by do-it-yourselfers, such as ammonia, bleach, fire, smoke, kerosene, wasp spray, and bug bombs, as nicely as concentrated pesticides purchased on the world-wide-web,” University of Kentucky entomologist and national bedbug specialist Michael Potter, writes in Bugs With no Borders, Defining the International Bed Bug Resurgence, an international survey of pest management providers lately conducted by the University of Kentucky in conjunction with the NPMA. “As bedbug victims grow to be much more desperate, significant injury may possibly result from such applications, especially amongst those who select not to hire a specialist,” he warns.
Bedbugs do not usually respond to house treatment. These apple seed-sized insects that feed on human blood are difficult to kill, a function of their biology and behavior. At greatest, do-it-your self household treatment options may possibly force bedbugs to relocate, spreading infestations additional rapidly. These insects have a difficult, protective carapace that is not very easily penetrated. To kill, pest control merchandise will have to come into direct physical get in touch with with the insect and their eggs are unaffected by products at present authorized by the EPA for residential use. When not feeding, bedbugs hide in inaccessible spaces deep inside minute crevices, inside walls, behind baseboards, under floorboards, and inside electronic devices. Bedbugs and their eggs are also simply transported on clothing and belongings, permitting infestations to promptly spread by means of a property or apartment developing. This combination of biology and behavior tends to make it almost impossible to kill an complete bedbug infestation with a single pest manage remedy. Three skilled pest control treatment options spaced two weeks apart are normally expected to effectively exterminate a bedbug infestation and guarantee that all hidden bugs and newly-hatched eggs have been killed.
Experienced extermination by a licensed pest manage organization with an expertise in bed bug elimination is the most helpful way to exterminate bed bugs. The EPA, on the Bed Bug Details Web page posted on its web site, states, “Acquiring a pest management skilled (PMP) involved as soon as achievable rather than taking time to try to treat the dilemma yourself is incredibly helpful at preventing further infestations.”
Fast action is important in battling bed bug infestations. Bed bugs reproduce at an alarming price and infestations can develop speedily. Throughout its six- to 12-month lifespan, a female bed bug can lay 500 eggs with offspring capable of reproducing inside a month. It is typical to see three or additional bed bug generations present in an established infestation. Prompt therapy in the earliest stages of infestation can limit the infestation and prevents it from spreading.
To successfully treat bedbug infestations, licensed pest manage pros employ a mixture of environmental management procedures, called Integrated Pest Management (IPM), and a range of pest control materials approved by the EPA for residential use only by licensed pest management pros. Successful bedbug extermination begins with meticulous pre-therapy preparation to eliminate clutter, clothing, bed linens and other items that might permit bedbugs to escape exposure to pest handle components. When web site preparation is comprehensive, a mixture of pest handle components is employed to attack bedbugs on various levels.
Issues about wellness and safety issues that have arisen from misuse of pest manage chemical compounds by unlicensed or improperly educated pest controllers and unqualified contractors trying to cash in on public fear prompted the EPA to warn buyers to keep away from insect extermination services created with “unrealistic promises of effectiveness or low expense.”
Last July, a Newark, New Jersey pest manage enterprise was accused of illegal application of chemical substances not approved for residential use. While supplying bed bug therapies to 70 homes and apartments units, technicians sprayed potent chemical compounds on mattresses and children’s toys. In accuratetermite.com , Ohio final June, an unlicensed contractor hired to exterminate bed bugs saturated an apartment complex with an agricultural pesticide, sending seven tenants to the hospital and causing public well being authorities to quarantine the home.
