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CINCINNATI — The national bed bug resurgence has had far-reaching implications, impacting not only PCOs but other entities, including apartment managers. Generally speaking, apartment managers who have been educated about bed bugs are more cooperative and have a greater understanding of the value PCOs bring to the table.
It’s for this reason that Permakil, along with BASF and the Greater Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Apartment Association, held Bed Bug University April 24 in Sharonville, Ohio (Cincinnati area).
About 300 people, including 50 pest management professionals, attended the one-day seminar that featured presentations by University of Kentucky Entomology Professor Dr. Michael Potter, BASF Market Development Specialist Bob Hickman, and Kevin Brewer, an attorney from the law firm Katz, Greenberger & Norton.
Potter set the stage for the seminar by explaining just why he calls bed bugs “the perfect storm.” “You have a cryptic, blood-sucking parasite that bites people at night while they are sleeping. If that wasn’t enough they bite people in the most intimate of places — I don’t mean on their bodies — but places like bedrooms, where people go to get away from what life throws at them.
“Our arsenal of effective insecticides to control bed bugs is dangerously depleted. We’ve lost a number of highly effective products. To top it all off, when someone got bit by a bed bug in 1937 or 1942, it was another one of life’s little annoyances. Today when they get bit, they want to sue. This is not sub-Saharan Africa — people are not accustomed to being bit by a blood-sucking parasite.”
Potter then provided a history of bed bugs, explained popular control options and detailed some of his observations working with these pests in the lab and in the field. Potter encouraged apartment managers to hire pest management professionals because “detailed inspections require professionals” and because they also are equipped with the products and knowledge to do the job correctly.
One of Potter’s more interesting observations was that bed bug-related lawsuits are being filed not because of physical harm caused by bed bugs (bed bugs haven't been shown to transmit diseases) but because of the emotional trauma they cause.
BASF’s Hickman spoke more in-depth about products used to control bed bugs. Hickman noted that bed bug treatments require a combination of non-chemical solutions (including exclusion, vacuuming, steaming and thermal eradication) as well as chemical solutions. Hickman said that today’s pesticides are not a “silver bullet,” and that each has advantages and disadvantages, which is why he recommended using a variety of pesticides.
| Are Tenants Really at Fault? As part of his presentation during Bed Bug University, Kevin Brewer, an attorney from the law firm Katz, Greenberger & Norton, reviewed proactive and reactive approaches that landlords can take to minimize their exposure to bed bug litigation. One of the interesting discussions that occurred during his presentation revolved around whether the tenant (to whom the source of the infestation was traced) is really at fault. After all, unlike pests such as cockroaches and ants, bed bugs spread because they are hitchhikers — not because of sanitation issues. “The previous talks stressed that these pests are hitchhikers — they can occur in busses, in movie theaters and even in this room,” said Susan Jones, Ohio State University Entomology Professor. “All this emphasis on finding the source and this accusatory tone that this person is responsible for the infestation, I take issue with.”
Brewer responded that, “As a landlord you have a piece of property that was not infested and somehow bed bugs were brought there. Why would the landlord have to pay the expenses for eradicating those bed bugs when they did nothing wrong?” To which Jones responded, “And the person that brought them in did something wrong?” |
