Legislation & Lobbying
EPA & Lawmakers Focus on New Environmental Issue: Bedbugs
Posted Apr 14, 2009 1:53 PM CST
By Martha Neil
In a summit today near the nation's capital, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is putting a new emphasis on a growing environmental issue: A proliferation of bedbugs.
The increasing plague of the tiny insects, which notoriously lurk in mattresses waiting to feed on humans as they sleep, apparently has been encouraged by relaxed vigilance and increased federal restrictions in recent decades on the chemicals that can be used to combat them, reports the Associated Press.
At least one federal lawmaker is planning to introduce legislation on the topic. The bill proposed by Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C) will be known as the Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite Act.
Additional coverage:
Houston Chronicle: "Bed bugs biting in bigger batches"
New York Times: "Keeping Those Bed Bugs From Biting "
Updated at 12:10 p.m. on April 15 to include link to subsequent Houston Chronicle article.
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Comments
J.D.
Apr 14, 2009 2:40 PM CST
The NY Times explains that immigration from the third-world is to blame for the resurgence of these bugs.
Just how low are our immigration standards these days?
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B. McLeod
Apr 14, 2009 6:03 PM CST
Actually, I don’t think we have ever been able to convince insects to observe national borders.
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P. Bryson
Apr 15, 2009 8:04 AM CST
J.D. - Maybe we’re just admitting tastier immigrants.
The Times article blamed a number of factors, including immigration, international travel, pesticide resistance, and changes in pest control practices. For some reason, I doubt that the folks living in the $3m house in Brooklyn mentioned in the article were a recently arrived huddled mass yearning to breathe free.
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J.D.
Apr 15, 2009 8:26 AM CST
There’s an earlier Times piece you should look at. And the wealthy liberals you mention very likely illegally employ illegal aliens to clean their estate; they’d be the possible carriers of the bugs. Remember, absolutely no health checks take place when people enter illegally. That’s why we’re seeing TB rates skyrocketing as well—we’re talking 500% increases in immigrant-heavy jurisdictions.
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