Bed bug aggregate pheromone traps “within two years” says Dr. Gerhard Gries
By nobugsonme on Jun 17, 2008 in Vegas, bed bug aggregate pheromones, bed bug dog, bed bug pheromones, bed bug research, bed bug trap, bed bugs, bedbugs, british columbia, burnaby, canada, dr. gerhard gries, entomologists, vancouver
This Globe and Mail article is about Vegas, Care Pest and Wildlife Control’s bed bug dog, based in Burnaby, British Columbia.
But it includes a section on the status of bed bug aggregate pheromone research being undertaken by Dr. Gerhard Gries of Simon Fraser University:
Understanding how insects communicate with each other is the key to developing effective new tools in the fight to eradicate bedbugs.
Simon Fraser University professor Dr. Gerhard Gries, an expert in insect chemical ecology, is investigating how bedbugs use airborne chemical compounds called pheromones to communicate.
Not only have Prof. Gries and his collaborators identified this compound, they now know how to manufacture pheromones in a laboratory.
“A synthetic replica of this message, made of very harmless chemicals, can be put into a trap and placed in a room with a potential infestation, and if any insects appear, you know there are bedbugs in the room.”
The SFU-developed pheromone traps have been patented and will soon undergo testing. If all goes well, they will be in the toolboxes of Vancouver exterminators within two years.
We’ve heard more than one team is working on bed bug pheromone traps.
Whoever wins the race to the working bed bug trap will have a lot of happy customers.
Not to sound ungrateful, but I sure hope it takes less than two years.
content rss
Cody | Jun 18, 2008 | Reply
Maybe we could just crush up some bugs and make our own.
lieutenantdan | Jun 18, 2008 | Reply
I remember two years ago hearing that pheromone traps were due out in two years. I suggest that we should not get our hopes up.
Winston O. Buggy | Jun 18, 2008 | Reply
Unfortunately very little about bed bugs is quite so simple. If you set out to create a good viable pest you would be hard pressed to do a better job.
nobugsonme | Jun 18, 2008 | Reply
Winston is right, bed bugs are amazingly designed.
Dan, you’re absolutely right.
Although Richard Cooper claims to have a working trap, which implies his model (aggregate pheromones or not) will likely be available much sooner than two years.