Joe Fiorito of Toronto’s The Star spoke with Reg Ayre of Toronto Public Health about why that body can’t legally class bed bugs as a health “hazard”:

Ayre’s office is downtown. He is a good guy in a hard job. He got right to the point. “Can we talk about what a health hazard is?” Sure, why not?

“We’re talking about a legal definition, in terms of the Health Protection and Promotion Act. It has to be a condition that would affect everyone in the community.”

Like SARS?

He said, “Bedbugs aren’t, under the act, a hazard. But Public Health considers that they are a concern.”

I suspect the concept of concern offers little comfort to the woman in social housing whose arm swelled from bites and who had an epileptic seizure after treatment.

Nor is concern any help to the man who was so bothered by bites that he washed his body with gasoline – and do not even think that is a good thing to do.

Nor does concern ease the pain of the father who had to bring his young son to the emergency room one day last November, because the boy’s bites were so bad.

Ayre said, “All the definition does is allow us to serve orders. But bedbugs is an issue where we don’t go the legal route.”

I cannot count the people I know who wish we could go the legal route. Because I think Toronto is Vancouver waiting to happen.

At least beautiful, bedbugged Vancouver has the motivation of the coming Olympics to spark a cleanup. Our motivation?

Itch, scratch.

I think I understand TPH’s distinction between health hazards and health concerns. But is the assessment that bed bugs would not “affect everyone in the community” because they would never infest everyone at once? Or because some people will be bitten and show no reaction to bites (as many as 50%, some experts say)? Or because, unlike SARS, the effects would not be as dire in the vast majority of cases? (Some do die due to bed bug bites, but it appears to be a very rare to have such a serious allergic reaction.)

From where I sit in New York City, I’d love to have my own city’s officials even admit bed bugs were a health concern.

But Fiorito is correct that the problem needs to be classified in such a way that agencies take care of it. If public health agencies can’t “go the legal route” in fighting bed bugs, can housing departments? Some agency needs to have some muscle when it comes to eliminating this problem.

You can read the rest of the article from The Star here.

• bed bug news for 2007-11-16
• bed bug news for 2007-11-11: Lexington, KY and Toronto, ON
• Toronto Public Health now has a Bed Bug Action Committee. Action, people.
• After a fire, bed bugs “rain down from ceilings” into other apartments

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She wants the health department to investigate whether they’re a health hazard:

Toronto Councillor Paula Fletcher (Ward 30, Toronto-Danforth) has received so many calls from constituents she’s asked the health department to declare them a health hazard. Last month, Fletcher met with Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health. It was decided the Board of Health would issue a report in February on what should be done about bedbugs in the city and whether they should be declared a health hazard.

Here’s a hint, Toronto: stress, anxiety, loss of sleep, are all health issues. You need look no further. Something more sinister is clearly a possibility, but these other concerns are not to be taken lightly.

Next, Fletcher wants people to talk about how to get rid of bed bugs, and prevent their spread:

In the meantime, says Fletcher, “We will have a bedbug summit with all the people who are interested in and involved in this issue.” Fletcher is advocating the city address the problem with education, not enforcement.

“Some people said they were living beside a house and the bugs were travelling from the house or apartment next door,” she said. “I’d like to see a focus on what needs to change in terms of behaviours; what do you need to do to stop bringing them in and what do you need to do to get rid of the bedbugs.”

This is all familiar ground for us.

Fletcher seems a bit distracted by the idea that bed bugs primarily affect a certain region of Toronto:

The bedbug problem seems to be concentrated in areas south of Bloor Street, says Fletcher.

“They might be north of Bloor, but the infestations and pockets are definitely south of Bloor. Right now tracking them is not a requirement but that’s one thing we’re looking at is how are we going to track and where are we finding them?”

While they may be more common in certain neighborhoods (and certainly spread more easily to those next door than to those across town), they will spread anywhere, and are certainly moving in all directions. And not just from neighbor to neighbor, but to workplaces, co-workers, people who frequent the same gyms, doctors, schools, and shops. Public transportation is likely to be affected. (David Cain tells stories of encountering this situation in London.)
Fletcher mentions the concern of people bringing in used furniture, and getting them to not do so is a public education issue. But her ideas about eradication methods are quite progressive:

“Sometimes people are bringing bedbugs into a whole building inadvertently and they are travelling unit-to-unit. I’d like to see a model where there are teams of people who go into a building to assist and not simply spraying, but cleaning, washing, getting rid of them and then when the spraying happens, you have a better chance to eradicate them.”

The article also quotes PCO and bed bug dog handler Michael Goldman of Purity Pest Control, who claims that “most hotels” have bed bugs, at least in one room. This is a far cry from the claims made by other companies.

The article also concerns itself with the need for notification of other tenants when bed bugs are found in a building.

Unlike schools that send home letters when lice are found in a school, superintendents rarely post a notice saying bedbugs were a problem in a unit, says Fletcher.

Finally, there’s a nod to Vancouver, which has some of the more progressive bed bug-fighting protocols in place (though we rarely get details of them).

Vancouver has launched one of the best pilot projects in its downtown east side as the city prepares for the 2010 Winter Olympics. “They’re vigorously trying to figure out what to do with bedbugs and they have a program set up but it’s very labour-intensive.”

The Vancouver pilot included tenant and landlord education, public education workshops, pest control and development of a health and safety protocol.

I hope politicians in New York City and other US cities with bed bugs (from Boston to Cincinnati) will take note, and that they’ll trade notes with their counterparts in other cities, from San Francisco to Toronto and Vancouver.

The number one complaint I’ve heard now from professionals (entomologists and PCOs) in several cities is that their local politicians will not listen to those with bed bug experience. This is a grave mistake.

Though it is not explicitly mentioned here, it’s clear Paula Fletcher is listening.

However, there was one small problem. This:

“The chemical approach isn’t necessarily the only way or best way to go. It’s one piece of a bigger puzzle,” says Fletcher, who would like the city to help people control bedbugs. “What people have to learn is that to control bedbugs they must become good at cleaning their bedding. People have to be taught how to do that.”

People do not get bed bugs, nor do bed bugs persist, because people do not know how to clean their bedding.

Reminds me of  when the chief medical health officer in Vancouver, John Blatherwick, implied bed bugs were spreading in Vancouver due to hanky panky in downtown eastside hotels.  Doing or not doing “naughty things” had no bearing on the spread of bed bugs.  What is it with politicians and their weird ideas?

Read the rest of the article here.

• bed bug news for 2007-11-16
• Reg Ayre of Toronto Public Health: bed bugs a “health concern,” not a “health hazard”
• Toronto Board of Health gearing up to fight bed bugs
• Vancouver official blames hanky-panky for bed bugs in nice areas

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…although bedbugs may not be quite so widespread a problem in Toronto yet, they actually bite us and “when you have little children or babies with bedbugs on them, it’s just plain gross.”

David Hayes needs to read Star columnist Joe Fiorito more often. From his stories, you’d gather Toronto’s bed bugs were spreading quickly and widely.

• After a fire, bed bugs “rain down from ceilings” into other apartments
• bed bug news for 2007-11-11: Lexington, KY and Toronto, ON
• Reg Ayre of Toronto Public Health: bed bugs a “health concern,” not a “health hazard”
• “bed bugs,” the movie

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“… when bedbugs spread to her apartment, and when the Toronto Community Housing Corporation could not respond to her complaints…, she booked a fumigator on her own and paid… to take care of the problem. She has now been reimbursed by TCHC.” This public housing agency in Toronto seems to be taking bed bugs seriously.

Bed Bugs Force Orlando Family To Throw Out Furniture - Central Florida News 13

Tenants in Orlando “throw out mattresses and wash all of their clothes, but the bugs are still there.” This video reminds us that tenants, landlords, and journalists need to be better educated about bed bugs. Tossing furniture out is not the way to get rid of bed bugs.

And, finally, the first ever Bedbugger.com “Aim Higher” award goes to this shelter resident, who declares living in a shelter with bed bugs “beats sleeping outdoors:”

Billings Gazette (letter to the editor): Staying in Mission beats sleeping outdoors

“As a resident of the Montana Rescue Mission, I have experience with bedbugs. They aren’t fun, but no worse than a few mosquito bites at a barbecue. Anyone who says they prefer to sleep on the streets isn’t credible.”

Absolutely, sleeping on the streets is almost always worse than bed bugs. But I disagree that they are no worse than mosquitoes. For many of us, much worse. Bed bug bite reactions vary from not noticeable to extremely uncomfortable. Some are so allergic they end up in the hospital, while others on the “itchy” end of the spectrum lose sleep and experience discomfort.

In any case, I believe strongly that people living in shelters should be entitled to accommodation that’s a darn sight better than sleeping rough. Isn’t that the point?

• bed bugs in Toronto; Vancouver; Billings, MT,
• Toronto tenants camping in parking lot rather than sleep in bed bug-infested unit
• More on bed bugs at the Montana Rescue Mission in Billings
• More from Edmonton bed bug evictions case

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• bed bugs in Toronto; Vancouver; Billings, MT,
• bed bug news for 2007-11-09
• Bed bugs in homeless shelters, casinos, hotels, apartments: Waynesboro, Atlantic City, Greenpoint, Toronto
• bed bug news for 2007-11-16

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