NYT does bed bugs

DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. does a light piece on bed bugs in the August 30 NYT which includes a New Jersey connection:

The classic bedbug strain that all newly caught bugs are compared against is a colony originally from Fort Dix, N.J., that a researcher kept alive for 30 years by letting it feed on him.

Federal agencies did not come off well:

This month, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a joint statement on bedbug control. It was not, however, a declaration of war nor a plan of action. It was an acknowledgment that the problem is big, a reminder that federal agencies mostly give advice

The fact that the EPA is blocking Propoxur [ 2-isopropoxyphenyl N-methylcarbamate ] was not mentioned. Of the text:

“I’d like to take some of these groups and lock them in an apartment building full of bugs and see what they say then,” Dr. Potter said of environmentalists.

Perhaps one should do such to Lisa Jackson, head of the EPA.

Of precautions:

Many people are not alert enough. (Both Mr. Cooper and Dr. Goddard said they routinely pull apart beds and even headboards when they check into hotels. Dr. Goddard keeps his luggage in the bathroom. Mr. Cooper heat-treats his when he gets home.)

Of movie theaters:

However, he added, “I don’t even know what to say about them being in theaters. That’s kind of spooky.”