Bedbug Killers Hit Chicago to Aid Bloodsucker Fight
An Adult Bedbug
Bedbug Central via Bloomberg
An adult bedbug.
An adult bedbug. Source: Bedbug Central via Bloomberg
Scientists, pest control companies and amateur inventors are convening in suburban Chicago this week at the first-ever North American Bed Bug Summit to tackle the growing threat of the bloodsucking pests.
Almost everyone at the two-day conference is trying to build a better bedbug killer. The pesticide DDT kept bedbugs in check for decades, but the last residues of the banned substance are dwindling. That and increased international travel are helping the apple seed-sized insects, which feed on human blood, to resurge, said Gary Bennett, professor of urban pest management at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.
The bedbug invasion of New York and other cities across the U.S. is reminding creeped-out citizens that these insects are tougher to combat than cockroaches, ants and termites, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its Sept. 27 issue. Manhattan’s Niketown store closed its doors last weekend after a bedbug infestation.
“Everybody and their mother is racing to find the best bedbug cure,” said Phillip Cooper, president of BedBug Central, the event’s organizer. “Right now, there is no silver bullet.”
Dow AgroSciences, a unit of Midland, Michigan-based Dow Chemical Co., is at the summit to “support the industry,” said Garry Hamlin, a spokesman. Dow makes a $2,000 fumigation tent primarily used for dry-wood termite infestations that also would kill bedbugs, he said.
“We’re not there for bedbugs per se,” Hamlin said. “We’re there because there are lots of people associated with pest control there, and we need to be there.”
There’s an arsenal of weapons to take up arms against the bedroom menace:
-- Cryonite. On the market since 2004, the Cryonite unit, which looks like a cross between a fire extinguisher and a vacuum, shoots frozen carbon dioxide. The too-cold-to-touch snow flash-freezes the pests, killing them almost instantly. The nose of the gun can be bent and angled to shoot snow into hard-to- reach places like electrical outlets and under furniture. Because the patented gadget costs $6,500, its customers are mostly pest control companies, hospitals and hotels, said Lorne Chadnick, owner of Rest Assured MC of Ottawa, which makes the device.
-- Heat Assault 500X. The 6,000-pound Heat Assault is a towable heating unit. It warms propylene glycol, a colorless, odorless liquid, and pumps it inside infested buildings and houses. The 120-degree, sauna-like heat kills the bedbugs in about an hour, cracking their exoskeletons, said Bruce Klassen, the owner of Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Heat Assault. An eight- hour treatment costs about $1,500.
-- Protect-A-Bed Allerzip mattress protector. It snugly covers a bedbug-infested mattress, locking the bloodsuckers within its bite-proof membrane. The hardy creatures can lie dormant for as long as a year without a meal, happily making themselves at home inside the mattress. “Some people can’t stand the fact that they could be sleeping with those bugs in there,” said Michael Simpson, director of marketing at Northbrook, Illinois-based Protect-a-Bed. It’s $130 for a queen- sized cover.
-- The Bed Moat. Unveiled a few weeks ago in Canada, the moat sits beneath furniture legs and traps bugs as they try to climb up or down. The insects remain alive after being caught, so David Smorenburg, the device’s inventor, suggests coating the trap with corn starch, which dehydrates and immobilizes the pests. At $19 for a four-pack, the moat is one of the cheapest bedbug monitors on the market. Bed Moat Inc. is based in King City, Ontario.
-- Dry ice. The same substance used as witch’s brew at kindergarten Halloween parties emits carbon dioxide that lures bedbugs and is a cheap solution for households on a budget. A do-it-yourself trap, including a cooler that rests atop an upside-down, bug-trapping pet dish and about two pounds of dangerously cold dry ice, “can trap hundreds or even thousands of bugs in one night,” said Changlu Wang, an entomology professor at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
-- Sergeant Jack Bauer. Jack Bauer -- named after Kiefer Sutherland’s character on the TV show “24” -- is a Labrador- Australian Shepherd mix. When Jack, one of three dog sleuths at Detective Bed Bug LLC in Chicago, detects the right scent, he crouches down and wraps his paws around the offending furniture. As long as cat food and other odorous things are put away, canines can sniff down an apartment in as little as three minutes. A visit from Jack costs about $350, said David Bohannan, a handler at Chicago-based Detective Bed Bug.
To contact the reporter on this story: Leslie Patton in Chicago at lpatton5@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jim Aley at jaley@bloomberg.net
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