Tuesday, September 21, 2010

"The Few, The Proud"

The U.S.A. may have one of the best army divisions in the world in their Marine Corps, but it seems they're no match for bedbugs. As reported by enctoday.com, "Camp Lejeune staff lay out bedbugs barracks treatment plan," (link) one set of barracks, and all of its contents, have been evacuated and set up to be treated.

Semper Fi indeed!

Bedbug Summit This Week In Chicago

The first of its kind (and probably the first of many), a bedbug summit opened in Chicago this week. Appearing were bedbug experts, entomologists and businesses, all looking to share information about bedbugs and how to deal with them. Phillip Cooper, president of BedBug Central, organized the event. CBC News reported Mr. Cooper as saying,"This summit will provide a sophisticated level of information to a variety of industries that can be lost in smaller or less specific seminars."

The following also came from the report:
At a trade show, participants can check out the latest in bedbug technology, such as sprayers and steamers. One company is offering a ring device that fastens around the leg of a bed to keep the bugs from climbing up.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2010/09/21/con-bed-bug-summit.html#ixzz10DGQAoih



Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Response to NY Times Bedbug article (9/7/10)

In response to the NY Times Bedbug article (9/7/10) titled "Bedbugs Bad for Business? Depends on the Business":

The Times has been closely following the bedbug story in NYC and nationally. This particular story though is unique because it represents a shift in the conventional wisdom.

Until now, hotels have refused to acknowledge that there's a bedbug problem - until a year or so ago, they pretended not to know what a bedbug is. More recently, hoteliers began to acknowledge that they may have heard some rumblings about this problem but ... "not in our hotel". What is unique about this article is that it features a general manager of a hotel who says flat out "we have had bedbugs". What he saying is, we have had them, and all other hotels have had them - it's a new reality and it's something we need to acknowledge and learn to live with.

This is a TREMENDOUS, MONUMENTAL shift in thinking. What it means is that this hotel has decided that people would be happier knowing that they are aware of the problem and are actively seeking to control it as opposed to sweeping the issue under the proverbial rug.

Our core product BBEDS™ (Bedbug Early Detection System) follows this mode of reasoning. Recognition that there are bedbugs and taking steps to seek them out BEFORE you have an out of control situation on your hands.

I have heard some people express the idea that "they'd rather not know" if they have bedbugs. This thinking is obviously backward - if you DO have them, you're a heck of a lot better off knowing about it today than in a month from now when there's 10 times as many in a hundred more hiding places.

I think that this "I'd rather not know" type of reasoning was an early "freak out" reaction to the new bedbug outbreak. Once people get over than initial shock, sensibility kicks in and they immediately recognize the intrinsic value and vital importance of early bedbug detection.
This article is, in my opinion, the first concrete sign that this shift is happening.