Progressive Party of Washington State

The Progressive Party of Washington has officially endorsed the following candidates for the upcoming 2010 election:

Cindy Ryu: State House of Representatives, 32nd Legislative District, Position 1

This was originally posted to the WA Prog member list.

I have been ”jokingly” telling folks that the bedbugs are headed this way since my daughter dealt with a bed bug infestation in her Brooklyn NY apartment last year.  Bed bugs have been a fact of life in NYC and other east coast cities for quite a while.  A couple of pieces of information I learned when my daughter was dealing with this are that bedbugs actually live in the joined spaces of wood, like where the baseboards are pressed up against the wall, the joints in wooden furniture, and the like.  Bedbugs can life over a year without food or water, bedbugs used to be killed when apartments were sprayed because of cockroaches (with DDT).  Now that DDT is banned, insecticide that are specific to the cockroach growing cycle are used.  These kinds of specific insecticides do NOT affect bedbugs.  There are specific insecticides for bedbugs, but the process to eradicate them is much more difficult because they can harbor so many ! places.  A “hard” Seattle winter will NOT kill them.  Also, the incidence of bedbug calls to insect eradication business has increased significantly in the last two years.  Here’s a recent article from Seattle Times:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009753326_bedbugs27m.html

Extreme heat kills them and freezing kills them.  One might not want to use extreme heat to kill the ones on clothing if it is an article of clothing one loves.  In addition, they can harbor in shoes.  It was recommended to my daughter that she put all her shoes (even cowboy boots) through a cycle or two in a hot dryer!!!

In England there are now DRIVE-IN freezers where people can bring all their furniture for freezing.  Since furniture over there can have historic and other value, this makes sense.  Bedbugs are epidemic in the larger cities in Europe and US East Coast.  I don’t know about other areas of the worlds.

Bedbugs also harbor in the spines of books and I actually have found dead bedbugs in second hand books over the years.

They can be from 1/4 to 1/2 inch round, have six legs because they are an insect, and are unbelievably flat, unless gorged on blood.  The bites are small dots, but often cause a mild allergic reaction that make them look bigger.  They like the belly and thighs, but will bite anywhere.  The biting pattern is often 3 in a short row (I’ve heard this described as breakfast, lunch, and dinner!).

My daughter simply got rid of just about everything she owned.  (Caveat, she has what she terms bug terror already and this incident kind of put her over the edge).  But, had the most difficult time with her books.  They were sprayed with the insecticide twice (the treatment must be twice because it only kills the actual hatched bugs and the second treatment is to kill any bugs that had hatched since the first treatment).  And, a year later, her books are still in sealed plastic bins that have duct tape around the edges.  Since bedbugs are so thin, they can work their way out of just about anything.  Simply putting clothing in a plastic bag with a twist tie on it will not prevent the bugs from getting out of the bag.

New York has a tenant hotline called 311.  Here’s an article about them:
http://newyorkvsbedbugs.org/2009/04/24/311-finally-has-bed-bug-category/

And, here is the NY 311 bedbug website.  It is full of very interesting information and an online bedbug management course:
http://www.nyc.gov/apps/311/allServices.htm?requestType=service&levelOneId=FEEEB7FE-078D-11DE-AC9C-EF5AFBC474DE&levelTwoId=FEEEB7FE-078D-11DE-AC9C-EF5AFBC474DE-2&serviceName=Bed+Bug+Information+or+Complaint&finalSubLevel=2&intentId=E9E66310-8137-11DE-8E9F-96DAE110FEB8

“Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite” has a bit more meaning now…