We look forward to hearing more about what happened in Arlington, Virginia these last two days, at the EPA National Bed Bug Summit.

This video from the Associated Press has some nice snippets from Dini Miller, Harold Harlan, and others, speaking at the conference.

Pete Grasso of the PMP blog liveblogged the bed bug summit.

Here are some tidbits from Grasso’s blog:

Tom Neltner, from the National Center for Healthy Housing said (4th update, 10 am):

“People who are the least able to afford extermination are at the highest risk for poor health outcomes as a result,” Neltner said. “This is a good time for Federal agencies to take a leadership role on this issue.”

Of Michael Potter, University of Kentucky entomologist (6th update, 10:37 am), Grasso says:

He questioned why bed bugs are not considered a public health concern, because they once were.

You know a few years back, I started the first unofficial Dr. Michael Potter fan club, don’t you?

I know you’ll want to read the rest of Pete Grasso’s account, which begins here. He also talks about the breakout brainstorming sessions here. Perhaps most exciting, the list of recommendations the brainstorming produced, which is in part three, here.

Many thanks to Pete Grasso of PMP for blogging the summit!

The popular media was going crazy the last few days, but most articles were just reprints of one from the Associated Press. Here’s the Today Show, which showed footage of Connor’s Pest in Virginia doing a thermal treatment and searching with a bed bug sniffing dog.

I am so glad this event happened, and I so wish I could have been there. (My job kept me away.)

Were you there? Tell us all about it, please!Similar Posts:

• WNYC on the EPA National Bed Bug Summit, which starts tomorrow
• 18-story Dayton apartment building infested with bed bugs to be treated with Vikane gas
• Bed bugs bite in Edmonton sleep disorder clinic
• Bed bugs — and bed bug legislation — in the news
• Room for Debate on bed bugs: a must-read!

This article for bed bug pros from Pest Management Professional gives you some idea of what pros might consider the bed bug best practices.

Author Paul Bello interviewed PCOs in various cities about their current bed bug-fighting tactics, including Austin Frishman of AMF Pest Management Services in Boca Raton, Fla., who did many bed bug jobs forty or so years ago, and said of those times, “When I was a technician, we used cyanide egg gas pellets.” Do not try this at home, please.

“Bed bugs are not a simple problem to get rid of,” stresses Frishman. “They require knowledge and a willingness to work hard. As an industry, we are needed more now than ever.”

Ain’t that the truth.

The article offers these recommendations to professionals dealing with Sneaky Simes:

Bed Bug Management: Steps to Success

* Properly train your service technicians.
* Provide customers with written pre-treatment preparation instructions.
* Provide customers with a clearly written description of the scope of your services and reasonable expectations.
* Ensure your service agreement states what you intended.
* Provide your customers with viable prevention recommendations.
* Be thorough.
* Use all viable control means available.
* Use non-traditional control techniques, combined with insecticide treatments.
* Use suitable vacuums.
* Use suitable steamers.
* Use the best-available products at the appropriate label rates.
* Use mattress encasements.
* Follow up in a timely and adequate fashion.
* Consider getting additional help for problem bed bug accounts.

Part 2 is said to be “coming in April” but doesn’t seem to be available online yet.

Thanks to hopelessnomo for the tip!Similar Posts:

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