Bed Bugs - conservatives blame environmenatilists and want to bring back DDT (seriously)

[underpants]

The Politics of Bedbugs
Conservatives say that the ban on DDT is to blame for the recent resurgence in bedbugs.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/08/conservatives-blame-environmentalists-for-bedbugs.html


Some memes never die, as long as there are bloggers to keep them alive. Each summer, the first faint hum of a mosquito at the window screen reminds some right-wing think-tanker to blame the Environmental Protection Agency for banning DDT (and calls forth a response from the left, blaming global warming). In fact, DDT is still being used, mostly in Africa and Asia, to control malaria, something even some environmentalists have reluctantly endorsed. But it remains a touchstone in the never-ending struggle over government regulation—one of the first and most visible instances of a chemical banned over its long-term environmental effects. For environmentalists it is a symbol of success, and for industry apologists, a shameful example of shoddy sentimentalism influencing policy. A slick Web site called Rachel Was Wrong—run by the libertarian-oriented Competitive Enterprise Institute—exists entirely to dispute the founding document of modern environmentalism, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. So it was probably inevitable that the latest plague to be visited on innocent Americans’ hides—bedbugs—would be enlisted in the campaign to bring back DDT.

:eyes:

DDT? When was DDT banned????


It produced a large public outcry that led to a 1972 ban in the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT

[Greybnk48]

1. DDT quit working decades ago, so they're just being

obnoxious assholes and relying on the ignorance of the American public. It's a symbolic assault on the environment with no real benefit, just like opening up ANWAR for drilling (by BP!!).

[Blue_Tires]

2. i read about some other industry honks crying about brining it back

a couple of years back in National Geographic's story about the return of malaria in Africa...

Solution: Those who want it back should have their homes DDT-bombed first...

[GoCubsGo]

3. You took the words right out of my mouth.

You first, dummies. You want to sprinkle that shit in your bed or that of your children, go right ahead.

[TexasProgresive]

4. I grew up in the age of DDT and other persistant pesticides.

I do NOT want to see them return as they are extremely damaging to birds especially raptors and no telling what else.

That said it must also be noted that during my youth bed bugs and lice were nearly non existent. Bed bugs were relegated to the bed time wish of "sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!" we didn't have a clue as to what bed bugs were. Lice whether head, body or pubic were just absent.

Was it the use of pesticides like DDT that made these vermin disappear? I can't answer that question but it sure seems like it. And since these chemicals were very long life it would explain the slow reemergence of these critters.

BTW we had our bed infested by them some years ago. They came into our house on a wicker headboard that we picked up in a thrift shop. I burned the headboard and found the new nesting places on the mattress which I vacuumed (burned the bag afterwards) and sprayed with pyrethrum. I did this weekly until there was no more sign of the critters.

We were lucky that we caught it early and they hadn't spread to other places. The 2 fold action of mechanical removal with the vacuum cleaner and a pesticide was probably good as the vacuum cleaner got the ones who were resistant to the spray and the spray got the rest and vice versa.

[demosincebirth]

5. Its hard to eradicate a bug that can live without food for up to a year.