New plan to knock blood suckers dead Article from here:
They’ve invaded our homes, schools and trendy clothing stores. Bed bugs are here to stay, city officials said yesterday, unveiling a $500,000 plan to battle the bloodsuckers to be anchored by a planned Web portal with information about prevention, detection and managing an infestation.
They’ve invaded our homes, schools and trendy clothing stores. Bed bugs are here to stay, city officials said yesterday, unveiling a $500,000 plan to battle the bloodsuckers to be anchored by a planned Web portal with information about prevention, detection and managing an infestation.
“We want to say to bed bugs from the City Council: ‘Drop dead,’” City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said. “We’re bringing some money to the table to outspend you and drive you from the five boroughs.”
While bed bugs don’t carry disease, they do wreck havoc emotionally and economically, officials said, which is why the city created a bed bug advisory panel last year to come up with recommendations. There had been confusion over which agencies had bed bug responsibilities — hence the suggestion to establish a “bed bug team” headed by a qualified entomologist and to create protocols for inspection, code enforcement and for the disposal of items.
“The problem is big. It’s growing. It’s going to be with us for a while,” Dan Kass, of the Health Department, said. But nobody knows why the little creatures — who can live in places other than beds and can survive more than six months without eating — have come back with a “vengeance” after disappearing decades ago, he noted. Theories include changes in pesticides and increase in international travel.
