He also discusses the upcoming PCT bed bug seminars where he will talk about the history of bed bug management (did you know that in the 1600s, people were talking about bed bug prevention?), new research about bed bugs, and innovations in bed bug management.

Gabcast! PCT Podcasts #53 - An Update on Bed Bugs from Dr. Mike Potter
Click the play button below to listen.

• New Yorkers: Lou Sorkin on the radio Tuesday at 10:40 am
• entomologists podcasting; bed bugs and disease; another bedbugged motel closed; Singapore, Hawai’i
• PCTOnline on its bed bug seminar last week
• Bed bugs being raised at Virginia Tech urban pest management labs

ShareThis

I say yes, especially if you live in Greenpoint.  Greenpointers and their Williamsburg neighbors are seriously bedbugged.

So, Miss Heather of newyorkshitty.com and her friend Ann Kansfield (the Co-Pastor of the Greenpoint Reformed Church) worked together and got HPD to agree to come to Greenpoint.  So far, this is the second HPD bed bug seminar to be announced in Brooklyn.  (The first to happen will be on 3/12, next Wednesday, in Bushwick.)

The Greenpoint bed bug seminar will be on May 6th from 6-8pm.  This announcement comes from Ann Kansfield, via Miss Heather’s blog, so I would not call HPD to sign up just yet.

But just so you know, the location will be:

Greenpoint Reform Church
136 Milton Street
Brooklyn, NY 11222
(718) 383-5941

And if you want to thank Miss Heather for helping rid her ‘hood of crazy bed bugs, visit her blog and leave a comment.  There’s a request for people to put up flyers for the event in the neighborhood too, so if anyone local wants to vounteer, go and let Miss Heather know.

To thank Pastor Ann Kansfield for making this possible, Miss Heather says you can email her at pastor (at) greenpointchurch (dot) org.

I hope that others will consider lobbying for bed bug seminars in their neighborhoods, and help publicize those that are happening.   Thanks to Miss Heather and Ann Kansfield for their hard work!

• Bed bugs in NYC: if we could just get Bill Murray on the case
• Greenpoint HPD Bed Bug Seminar
• Winter scene in Williamsburg, with curbside mattresses
• HPD expands bed bug seminars

ShareThis

Oddly enough, I could not find it on the NY City Council website or on Brewer’s defunct blog.
THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
COUNCIL MEMBER GALE A. BREWER

CITY HALL
NEW YORK, NY 10007
TEL: 212-788-6975
FAX: 212-513-7717
www.nyccouncil.info

Brewer Bedbug Battle Continues!

February 28, 2008 - For the last two years I have worked with the Bloomberg Administration to develop a public education program to inform residents about bedbug prevention, identification, and treatment. Since early January 2008, public education seminars, led by the staff from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, have been held in Queens and Manhattan, with a third planned for Brooklyn in March.

At every gathering hundreds upon hundreds of residents have attended; it is standing room-only because New Yorkers are desperate for accurate information about bedbugs. In our outreach to the community, residents are encouraged to contact 311 if they cannot attend one of the initial launch seminars or to request a seminar for their own community. Due to the overwhelming response, HPD has partnered with Operation Hope in West Harlem to host a seminar this evening. Additional seminars for April and May are planned and HPD is also folding bedbug education into the Owner?s Night curriculum.

But we also have a lot more to do. I am currently drafting legislation requiring the City to provide large plastic bags and brightly colored “Caution! This May Contain BedBugs!” stickers to City residents in order to completely encase infested furniture and other household items intended for curb-side pick-up. Both the bags and stickers would be available through 311 and at City agency offices. Piloted by the City of Boston, this service would increase the public?s awareness of bedbugs, as well as help protect sanitation workers who pick up infested furniture. I have also introduced legislation to mandate coordination of city agencies on this topic and to focus on the transportation of new and used mattresses.

Contact: Shula Warren 347-563-1295

• Gale Brewer invites bedbuggers to her annual open house
• New York City is behind in the bed bug wars
• Second Bed Bug Seminar (2/5 in Astoria)
• Bed bugs in NYC: if we could just get Bill Murray on the case

ShareThis

Tuesday, February 5 from 8PM to 9PM at Ricardo’s Catering Hall, 21-01 24^th Avenue in Astoria, Queens.

Remember to RSVP, per the city’s request:

Anyone interested in attending any of these seminars is encouraged to call (212) 863-8830 to reserve a space. Translation services will be provided for Spanish-speaking members of the public.

Word from attendees of the first event in Washington Heights was that the presentation was pretty basic.

Hopefully they will spend more time on questions and answers than they did last time, and you can ask some of your questions then.

• Update: bed bug resources in Spanish: PCO assistance needed!
• Update: bed bug resources in Spanish: PCO assistance needed!
• Still more on New York’s response to bed bugs
• Need for Spanish resources on bed bugs

ShareThis

Bedbugger was not on the scene, unfortunately, but we did get some eyewitness reports.

Our source noted that there was useful information shared, but questioned whether the audience wouldn’t be better served if the presenters had a more intimate and extensive knowledge of bed bugs. (The program was scheduled to be led by Elise Shin and Henny Calle. We understand Calle has done previous presentations on lead and other building safety issues.)

This is New York, home to many bed bug experts–people I’ve found to be very helpful and approachable. Why were none of them involved in these proceedings? From what I can gather, they weren’t asked.

It sounds like there could have been more scientific data in evidence, particularly in regard to what was said about pesticides.

Apparently they also showed slides of bites and tried to advise people on identifying them–something that is not possible. Was this made clear? Perhaps someone can report on that.

Rather than lasting the scheduled two hours from 6-8pm, our source said it started at 6:40 and ended by 7:30–thus using 50 out of a scheduled 120 minutes. Perhaps if some experts with more bed bug knowledge were involved, the program would be richer. People expected to come for two hours, so why not use the time well?

A second report came via crawledon, a Bedbugger on the forums. crawledon reports:

I was extremely disappointed with the meeting last night. During the first part, the “educator” basically read information that had been handed out and added a tiny bit of commentary making it quite clear that she never lived through an infestation and also didn’t really know much about the subject. I think I remember her stating that bb’s can live for almost a year without a blood meal. Someone called out, “18 months!” Our educator quipped, “let’s be optimistic.” First she was inaccurate, then joked about it without correcting herself. The Q&A portion was even more ridiculous because she couldn’t really answer the questions. It was frustrating because I recognized many experts in the audience and frankly, they should have been running the show. At the very least, I wished they would have answered the questions.

The main focus was on being able to identify a [bed bug] and where to look for them. Then she talked about integrated pest management where she went on to read that tenants need to declutter, should use a stiff brush to scrape eggs off of mattresses, etc., and how we can caulk holes in walls and floors. The literature that had been passed out said the tenants can find these supplies in the hardware store. This made me very, very angry because quite frankly, it is not our job to go and buy supplies so that we, the tenants can seal up harborages, although we often wind up doing it so it gets done.

crawledon reports that at its close, the event became commercial: “like a convention hall:”

There were many businesses represented, PCOs, PCOs with dogs, salespeople from PCO companies, people wanting to come and ozone your home. . . they all descended upon the tenants, handing out business cards trying to sell their wares. We need these people and appreciate their presence but I wish more [landlords] had been present. They’re the ones that should buy these wares, not the tenants.

Finally, Channel 4 covered the seminar. They stated on their newscast that although it’s not recommended, one can do their own pest control, and listed some of the things our “educator” listed in the “integrated pest control” portion of her talk. If NBC came away thinking we can do this, what did the public come away with?

Finally, crawledon suggests that

The only good this seminar provided was now tenants can better identify a [bed bug]. But ultimately, this seminar and the newscast that followed it might have done more harm than good.

You can read the rest of crawledon’s comments here.

Thanks to our anonymous witness and crawledon for their reports. This is, unfortunately, kind of what I expected, knowing that local experts were not involved in the presentation.

The city needs to smarten up before their next bed bug seminar. Many of the people attending are people with bed bugs, or with neighbors who have them. Others are landlords or social workers or others whose jobs involve getting rid of bed bugs. They may (in many cases) know more about bed bugs than the presenters, and they need more than an introduction to the problem, they need help.

The city needs to do much more than offer a few 50-minute beginner’s bed bug identification classes. We should recall the words of Michael Potter, one of the foremost bed bug experts, at a Pest Control Technology event last August, a true “bed bug seminar”:

“If there is a classic example of why you don’t eliminate entire classes of pesticides,” Potter said, “bed bugs are it. We’re in a heap of trouble in terms of the products we have available to fight this pest,” citing several classes of chemistry that are no longer available (e.g., organophosphates, carbamates, etc.) and the growing threat of pyrethroid resistance. As a result, he said, “I don’t see how this problem is going to get better. I think it’s going to get chaotic. This is the most challenging pest I’ve encountered in my career. We’re in big trouble.”

If this pest has presented the biggest challenge of his career, to a leading entomologist, then perhaps the City of New York needs to consider going further than the albeit important step of showing a few New Yorkers what bed bugs look like.

Bed bug experts have told us that some of those classes of pesticides might be used, cautiously and with restrictions, to more efficiently eradicate a bed bug infestation, and city officials should be lobbying for this.

The city does need an education campaign, but it should be designed with the assistance of the best bed bug experts available to us. And it should be disseminated through television specials, newspaper ads, and bus shelter and subway ads. Not through a 50-minute program you have to RSVP for.

And any education campaign is just the beginning.

If you attended the seminar, or have feedback on the above, please comment below!

• PCTOnline on its bed bug seminar last week
• “We have to have a bed bug state of mind,” says Michael Potter at Bed Bug Control Seminar yesterday
• Bed bugs in NYC: if we could just get Bill Murray on the case
• HPD expands bed bug seminars

ShareThis