EPA screws up on Propoxur
The Christian Science Monitor (via AP) reported:
In a letter earlier this month to Gov. Ted Strickland, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson [formerly of New Jersey] wrote that the pesticide Propoxur could pose health risks for children, harming their nervous systems. and thereby did not allow the state of Ohio to be applied in bedbug-ridden homes.
AP noted that Susan Jones, an entomologist at Ohio State University, said the EPA likely overestimated the risk of exposure to children and said an effort was under way to provide the agency with information about how much of the pesticide would become airborne if applied in homes.
While the EPA said its conclusions about Propoxur are based on "the best available science," one wonders if Jackson is "in touch" with the problems bed bugs have caused in New Jersey.
As to "innovation," one sees that a useful product can be blocked from "changing the way we live" by administrative rule.
Lisa Jackson might contemplate an article published in the Newark Star-Ledger about three years ago [by MEG NUGENT , 17 July 2007, p. 33 ] -->
James Lashomb, professor of entomology at Rutgers University, says bedbugs are now "common" in the Garden State. "It's not widely discussed, but it's common. If you go to a backyard picnic or barbecue, they're not talking about bedbugs."
He also says they've become a "very important problem" nationally and internationally.
(...)
Harold Harlan, a Maryland entomologist, knows why, since he's able to observe the thousands of bedbugs he maintains in sealed quart jars, and has been doing so for about the past 30 years. "The behavior of the bug, the fact that they're small and cryptic, and their ability to survive a long time without feeding, give them an edge over all the tools to be used against them," says Harlan, who's currently a private contractor for the Armed Forces Pest Management Board.
(...)
Adult bedbugs can live up to a year without food. They exclusively feed off blood, preferably from humans, but also the blood of other warm-blooded animals such as birds, rodents, pets and bats.
Plus, they're nocturnal little things. They come out to feed at night, usually when people are asleep. "They come and feed and leave you, and go back to their hiding places," says Cooper. [Richard Cooper of Cooper Pest Solutions of Lawrenceville, NJ.]
(...)
Cooper says bedbugs "disburse widely throughout a dwelling" - in the mattress, box spring, headboard, foot board and beyond to nightstands, end tables, any kind of furniture, behind picture frames, in seams and crevices, under screw holes, inside cracks in window frames, baseboard moldings, crown moldings and cracks in wooden floors.
If you find you do have a bedbug infestation, be prepared for battle and don't think you're going to get the job done in a day.
Bedbugs aren't seasonal creatures, and it takes about a month and a half for the egg to develop into an adult. You may find you've wiped out the adult population only to discover another generation has since hatched in your house-hold.
Joan estimates her home's infestation cost the family roughly $1,500 to $2,000. This included, in part, the three visits from their West Orange exterminator and money spent to hot launder all of her son's clothing and cloth items, including curtains, in his bedroom at home. She also thoroughly vacuumed their home every day and disposed of the vacuum bag each time.
In addition, her husband sealed all of their son's bedroom furniture in plastic and carried it out to the garage to spend the winter, and they hoped the freezing temperatures would kill off any remaining bed bugs.
"You need 55 days of bug-free, bite-free time to know the problem's been resolved," says Cooper.
The use of ineffective pesticides, as those approved by the EPA, increases the number of visits to remove bedbugs and tremendously adds to the expense of the removal. The EPA's approach is not cost-effective.
Perhaps if Lisa Jackson were to spend a night in a bedbug infested environment, her environmental policy might change.
***UPDATE
See Lone bedbug sends Kings County Hospital ER into fumigation lockdown
"It was one single bedbug," she said. The hospital scare comes just days after preppy clothes outlet Hollister closed its flagship store in SoHo for three days because of bedbugs.
The company also padlocked sister shop Abercrombie & Fitch at the South Street Seaport for a day.
The city Health Department announced earlier this year that bedbug infestations were on the rise around the city.
Lisa Jackson is soooooo..... out of touch!
***UPDATE
Something Lingering in the Lingerie? Bed Bugs Hit Victoria's Secret
Of --up to 30 percent of humans don't feel the bites once bit --, one should note that after the welt rises, those bitten definitely notice the bite.
In a letter earlier this month to Gov. Ted Strickland, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson [formerly of New Jersey] wrote that the pesticide Propoxur could pose health risks for children, harming their nervous systems. and thereby did not allow the state of Ohio to be applied in bedbug-ridden homes.
AP noted that Susan Jones, an entomologist at Ohio State University, said the EPA likely overestimated the risk of exposure to children and said an effort was under way to provide the agency with information about how much of the pesticide would become airborne if applied in homes.
While the EPA said its conclusions about Propoxur are based on "the best available science," one wonders if Jackson is "in touch" with the problems bed bugs have caused in New Jersey.
As to "innovation," one sees that a useful product can be blocked from "changing the way we live" by administrative rule.
Lisa Jackson might contemplate an article published in the Newark Star-Ledger about three years ago [by MEG NUGENT , 17 July 2007, p. 33 ] -->
James Lashomb, professor of entomology at Rutgers University, says bedbugs are now "common" in the Garden State. "It's not widely discussed, but it's common. If you go to a backyard picnic or barbecue, they're not talking about bedbugs."
He also says they've become a "very important problem" nationally and internationally.
(...)
Harold Harlan, a Maryland entomologist, knows why, since he's able to observe the thousands of bedbugs he maintains in sealed quart jars, and has been doing so for about the past 30 years. "The behavior of the bug, the fact that they're small and cryptic, and their ability to survive a long time without feeding, give them an edge over all the tools to be used against them," says Harlan, who's currently a private contractor for the Armed Forces Pest Management Board.
(...)
Adult bedbugs can live up to a year without food. They exclusively feed off blood, preferably from humans, but also the blood of other warm-blooded animals such as birds, rodents, pets and bats.
Plus, they're nocturnal little things. They come out to feed at night, usually when people are asleep. "They come and feed and leave you, and go back to their hiding places," says Cooper. [Richard Cooper of Cooper Pest Solutions of Lawrenceville, NJ.]
(...)
Cooper says bedbugs "disburse widely throughout a dwelling" - in the mattress, box spring, headboard, foot board and beyond to nightstands, end tables, any kind of furniture, behind picture frames, in seams and crevices, under screw holes, inside cracks in window frames, baseboard moldings, crown moldings and cracks in wooden floors.
If you find you do have a bedbug infestation, be prepared for battle and don't think you're going to get the job done in a day.
Bedbugs aren't seasonal creatures, and it takes about a month and a half for the egg to develop into an adult. You may find you've wiped out the adult population only to discover another generation has since hatched in your house-hold.
Joan estimates her home's infestation cost the family roughly $1,500 to $2,000. This included, in part, the three visits from their West Orange exterminator and money spent to hot launder all of her son's clothing and cloth items, including curtains, in his bedroom at home. She also thoroughly vacuumed their home every day and disposed of the vacuum bag each time.
In addition, her husband sealed all of their son's bedroom furniture in plastic and carried it out to the garage to spend the winter, and they hoped the freezing temperatures would kill off any remaining bed bugs.
"You need 55 days of bug-free, bite-free time to know the problem's been resolved," says Cooper.
The use of ineffective pesticides, as those approved by the EPA, increases the number of visits to remove bedbugs and tremendously adds to the expense of the removal. The EPA's approach is not cost-effective.
Perhaps if Lisa Jackson were to spend a night in a bedbug infested environment, her environmental policy might change.
***UPDATE
See Lone bedbug sends Kings County Hospital ER into fumigation lockdown
"It was one single bedbug," she said. The hospital scare comes just days after preppy clothes outlet Hollister closed its flagship store in SoHo for three days because of bedbugs.
The company also padlocked sister shop Abercrombie & Fitch at the South Street Seaport for a day.
The city Health Department announced earlier this year that bedbug infestations were on the rise around the city.
Lisa Jackson is soooooo..... out of touch!
***UPDATE
Something Lingering in the Lingerie? Bed Bugs Hit Victoria's Secret
Of --up to 30 percent of humans don't feel the bites once bit --, one should note that after the welt rises, those bitten definitely notice the bite.
posted by Lawrence B. Ebert at 5:05 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home