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Bed Bugs

Page history last edited by Bestow 10 years, 8 months ago

 

Bed bug infestations have become a growing problem in many large cities in North America, even Toronto. Some people think that DDT, a pesticide that is currently banned, should be permitted as a weapon in the fight against bed bugs. What do you think?

 

Research posts may include:

  • information on the benefits and risks of DDT
  • information on the current bedbug infestation and possible methods of eradicating bedbugs

Response posts should include your opinion on this issue. State your position clearly and defend it with real data.

 

 


MIKAELA CARSON

 

Bed bugs used to be a world wide problem which as stated has declined greatly in the past 30 years. Recently they have re appeared due to the use of the pesticide DDT. Bed bugs are easily transported from place to place, or body to body. They are most noticibly transported by bedding, clothing or a unfortunantly luggage. They are therefor a worldwide problem. In order to keep bed bug free here are the most prominant and visible symptoms;

- skin becomes irritated

-skin becomes inflamed

- hard, small, swollen white bump will appear at bite site

-severe itching will occur which lasts for hours if not days

Before being biten, bed bugs can be discovered by;

-blood stains for eggs that have been crushed

-eggshells may be found

-shells may be found

-musty, sweet odour may be detected

 

Bed bugs need to be killed IMMEDIATLY! Although chemicals and specific beg bug removal sprays have been created the most efficiant way to get rid of bed bugs is not rocket science. You must first find the bed bugs initial hiding spot, than begin killing them using any of these simple ideas; sooping them into boiling water, suck them into the vacum cleaner, e.t.c. Although this will not completely clear up the problem it will give you a good start.

* If insecticides are being used, they will have a long lasting residual effect and therefore should not be sprayed on bedding nor clothing. Anything less than using an insecticide will only give you temporary releif from the bed bugs.

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOcZQoaeOg4 - 0.42 seconds

 

www.pestcontrolcanada.com

borer treatment

 


  Farhat Hossain

Bed Bugs

Bed bugs have not caused such a huge problem the last 30 years but now they are. They were eradicated due to the use of the pesticide DDT but since it is highly toxic it has been banned. However, the pesticides they now use to treat bed bug infestations are no longer effective because a new breed of bed bugs have been created. Exterminators blame this problem on three factors ; increased human travel, improved treatment methods that specifically targert other insect pests and lack of public awareness.

 

Learn about getting rid of bed bugs.

Bed bugs suck human blood and leave behind large welts in the skin but it is not a considered a health hazard as they do not transmit diseases. Even though it does not cause severe physical damage it does cause alot of psychological damage. One woman whose house had been infested with bed bugs was not able to sleep properly and had socially isolated herself from everyone. Bed bugs are very hard to get rid of as they are able to hide anywhere in the house and are able to move very quickly from place to place. They are able to live about one year without feeding.

 (http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Specials/20071115/bedbug_spread_071117/

 

     DDT would not be an effective weapon against fighting bed bugs because even though it eliminated bedbugs in the 1940s and 1950s, bed bugs have also become resistant to DDT and organophophates. In Arkansas, they have been known to resist a DDT with LD50 of more than 100,000 PPM. DDT was also known to make bed bugs more active which was proved in studies done in Africa. There has also been an increased gene flow (more sharing of genes) in bed bugs populations so they are able to become resistent to insecticides more rapidly. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedbug)

     It does not seem like DDT or any other insecticide can cure the problem of bed bugs.  

Louise L. - 09/16/2010

Helpful video about bed bugs:

YouTube plugin error  

 


 

By: Alex Griffin

  

Bed bugs

  

DDT was used to eliminate bugs and mosquitoes that carried the west Nile virus But the negative affects of DDT out way the positive affects. The bugs die from the poison but the chemicals brakes down vary slowly. So what ever eats the bug will get the chemical from it. Then something will eat it and people will eat that. This will cause humans to get the chemicals in there system. The chemicals that brake down vary slowly are known as the ``dirty dozen''. More then a 100 countries have band DDT from being used. 

  

The chemicals were meant to be ingested by the bugs but it also affected people by going through the skin. The affects depend on how much you have in your system. There are many symptoms from these chemicals and some of them are skin irritation, eye irritation, mouth paresthesia, paresthesia in the extremities, anxiety, dizziness, confusion, tremor, malaise, Headache, weakness, fatigue, hand weakness, nausea, vomiting, tremors, lever damage, hypersensitivity, convulsions, etc 

  

    

  

-http://www.snowcrest.net/lassen/eiddt.htm

  

-http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/c/chemical_poisoning_ddt/symptoms.htm

  

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Q0RIUEKrwmI/STgLDLcEVkI/AAAAAAAAA4E/L4gvnObi-uA/s400/DDT1.jpg

 


Joanna Eisen

 

     In the last few years there has been a large increase in calls to the Toronto Public Health Center regarding bed bugs. Bed Bugs are small insects that used to live in caves. They would drink the blood of bats and our prehistoric ancestors. Now a days, these creepy crawlers sneak into our homes through cracks as small as an outlet plug.These tan-ish, red coloured bugs find humans because they can sense the carbon dioxide that we exhale. The bugs then use the heat censors on their antennas to find spots on our body with the best plasma and inject an anestetic and anticologuler and begin their meal. These bugs can drink up to three times their body weight! When a bed bugs bites a tiny, hard, swollen bump may occur at the site of each bite. Bites may be itchy for up to a few days after. To recognize that there has been a bug infestation there may be blood stains from crushed bugs or rusty spots of excrement on the sheets or walls. If the case of bed bugs is severe, a musty, sweet odor from their scent glands may be detected.

     The infestation of bed bugs can cause some health risks and disease. The most common symptoms are red bumps and spots, and infection from constant scratching. Some people may suffer from insomnia, anxiety and stress because of the fear of the infestation of bed bugs occurring or returning. There is no experimental evidence to support, but it has been suggested that bed bugs may contribute to the spread of hepatitis B.

     DDT a pesticide that is currently banned should not be used as a solution to bed bugs. DDT is a chemical that stays in our bodies and is stored in our fatty organs such as adrenals, testes and thyroid. Human milk is a place where concentrations of DDT is expecially high because milk production depends on the use of stored body fat. Since body fat is where the DDT is usually found the concentation in human milk will be great which can cause many problems for mothers that are breast feeding. New born babies that are very fragile should not have any concentration of DDT in their bodies as it could cause more severe, harmful effects. The effects of DDT depends on the concentration in ones body. A concentration of 6-10mg/kg would cause symptoms such as headache, nausea, vomiting, confusion and tremors. DDT has many risks and is a huge threat to our bodies and the bodies of young babies. Therefore DDT should not be used in the fight agaisnt bed bugs.     

 

http://www.toronto.ca/health/bedbugs/index.htm

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfKCcSPCOQo

 


Thursday,September 30th  Talitha Ongo 

 

 

 

This is a fairly new method for killing bed bugs without the use of harmful substances like DDT, instead you can kill the nastey critters with heat ! 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_Os63_DzO4

 


Rachel Daley

 

     Bed bugs have become an increasing problem in our society, and many reports of the extent of infestation has been seen in the news recently. Thousands of cities around the world have had an increase in the amount of bedbugs and the media has taken notice. There have been recent lists posted of the most infested cities in the U.S and Canada, with the top 10 being:

  1. Columbus, Ohio
  2. New York City, New York
  3. Toronto, Ontario
  4. Bloomington, Indiana
  5. Manchester, N.H
  6. San Francisco, California
  7. Durham, North Carolina
  8. Vancouver, British Columbia
  9. Chicago, Illinois
  10. Denver, Colorado

     Bedbugs can cause health problems, such as skin diseases like impetigo, ecthyma, and lymphanigitis, and have been shown to cause mental health issues like anxiety and insomnia. DDT is a proven way to rid areas of bedbugs, however it is also an extremely hazardous chemical. With all of the most infected cities being so large, with millions of people, the affects of DDT on humans should definitely be taken into account. DDT is a proven carcinogen, developmental toxin, as well as a reproductive toxin for males and females. These are just a few of the extremely dangerous affects DDT can cause on the human body, and when compared to the effects of bedbugs alone, the health risks of DDT outnumber and outweigh those that a bedbugs alone can cause. Therefore, I do not think it is advisable to use DDT to exterminate bedbugs, and other methods should be explored such as safer residual insecticides (usually pyrethroids), or by using extreme heat. 

 

http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Chemical.jsp?Rec_Id=PC33482#Toxicity

http://www.lostgirlsworld.com/2010/07/10-worst-cities-in-america-for-bedbugs/ 

http://pestcontrolcanada.com/INSECTS/get_rid_of_bed_bugs.htm


 

By: Alex Griffin

 

How to find bed bugs.

 

Some bed bug effects aren’t obvious to someone who doesn’t know how to look for them. So checking your house isn’t a bad idea. Some things to look for are dark pieces of bug leavings around the bed seams, the bug and the gaze underneath the box spring can be removed to look at the inside. Cracks and corners of the bed should be looked at and checked. If the bed is wood bed bugs are more likely to be there then if it was mettle or plastic. If the headboard is fastened to a wall it should be removed and checked. In hotels and motels most of the time the infestation starts behind the headboards. All the items under the bed should be taken and inspected to. Also checking nightstand is a vary good idea. First all the items in it should be removed then check all the corners because that is one of the more likely places they would be hiding. After flip the nightstand and check underneath and the wood work because this is also a place bedbugs normally hide. Some more places that could be checked is underneath the edge of carpets, in close in the closet and especially behind furniture, under loose wall paper, etc. when treating for bed bugs remember that although most bed bugs stick together there could be some eggs and bugs in different places. The hardest part of getting rid of bed begs is finding them.

 

 

 

http://www.why6percent.com/blog/wp-content/content/bedbugs.jpg

 

http://pestcontrolcanada.com/INSECTS/get_rid_of_bed_bugs.htm

Comments (6)

kmcintyre said

at 9:33 am on Oct 29, 2010

In my opinion, the use of the highly toxic chemical DDT, should not be used in the fight against bed bugs. There are enough hazardous chemicals in our world today that can cause us harm, we shouldn't use one that we know has negative effects on our bodies, just to get rid of these non-threatening insects. I will be the first one to tell you that I would never want to sleep in an infested bed, but risking the lives of people to get rid of bed bugs is not acceptable. If the worst thing a bed bug can do to you is bite you, and leave a similar mark as to what a mosquito would leave, than using a chemical that can give you a disease like cancer, or interfere with the development of newborns and young children, only to deter these harmless bugs, is clearly not worth it. Scientists should be able to outwit the changing genetics of bed bugs, and find some way of keeping them out of hotels, and people's homes, even if it is another, yet non-harmful, chemical. DDT is not the answer, for the risks it possesses to the all of the living organism's on this planet.

agriffin said

at 10:09 am on Nov 6, 2010

I agree with the previous answer given that DDT should not be used against bed bugs. They should not be used because the problems caused by DDT greatly out way the problems caused by bed bugs. Bed bugs can cause annoying symptoms like red spots and insomnia but DDT can cause dizziness, fatigue, vomiting and much grater health risks like cancer. It can also affect many animals. There are lots of different ways to fight bedbugs then using DDT. This is why I think DDT should stay illegal and not be used.

jdixon said

at 12:25 pm on Nov 7, 2010

I don't think bed bugs are a big enough issue to need to use very harmful chemicals. If they were a lot of them, like there are flies, it might be diferent. Sure they have very horrible effects on us, but what doesn't? And if you keep everything clean it wouldn't be such a problem. However, if a massive uncontrolable outbreak occured, and became viral. I could justify using chemicals to get rid of the bugs. To prevent outbreak though, you could just kill them using harmless methods such as boiling water, when they first appear. And since people are probably really disgusted by the bugs, it shouldn't be a problem to deal with them safely as soon as they are detected. No one wants to just keep them around for fun.

bblakey said

at 3:51 pm on Nov 12, 2010

I do not agree with the use of the chemical DDT in getting rid of bed bugs for a few reasons. The first being that this chemical is very harmful to humans, and would probably negatively effect us more than having bed bugs, and secondly because bed bugs can build an immunity to this chemical and therefore it will not work. However, I think bed bugs are discusting and something should be done to get rid of them before they enter our homes and bedrooms. It would be very beneficial if a new chemical was created that could be used to prevent bed bugs so the problem would not arise in the first place. Of course making this product may be difficult but if it causes no harm to humans and keeps bed bugs away I believe it is worth the time and effort.

jveitch said

at 9:55 am on Nov 15, 2010

It doesn't really make much sense to make DDT legal again just to fight Bed Bugs. Part of the reason Bed Bugs are becoming such a problem again is because they have built up immunitities to other pesticides making them not longer efective for killing the bugs. DDT is just another pesticide so why would it be different? It may work quickly an easily for now, but in a few years the bugs will probabgly just build up defenses against it too. The only differences will be that the because of all the harmful side effects it will cause a lot more harm to the humans exposed to it than it will to the bugs, especially since one of side effects of DDT is an increased risk of cancer. Hmmm... getting rid of the bed bugs in a longer more annoying process or getting cancer? Personally i think i'll get rid of the bed bugs using a different method.

efrancis said

at 7:14 pm on Nov 18, 2010

I do not agree with the use of DDT or other strong insecticides to treat bed bugs. Firstly, DDT is just as harmful to humans as it is to insects, especially because it can build up in our bodies causing health issues such as vomiting and confusion. Using DDT to kill bed bugs would require one to spray their bedroom with it which exposes the person directly to the pesticide. Also, there are many other ways to deal with bed bugs, such as vacuming them up or extreme heat. I think that one main reason bed bugs are so high in numbers could be that people simply do not know how to recognize an infestation in order to destroy it. More public knowledge on bed bugs would certainly lower their population as well.

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