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Bedbug crisis sparks political row in Paris as insect ‘scourge’ continues

theguardian.com

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Re: Bedbug crisis sparks political row in Paris as insect ‘scourge’ continues

#111

Post by tamimio »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #103
bob1029 wrote: post #97

This is why I don't mind the spiders so much. They do a really good job of vacuuming up the smaller insects around my home. You can tell how well they're working by the density of crap in their webs. I go out of my way to not harm them if possible. I used to spray for everything but I think that just makes things worse in the long run.

I always let the spiders in the house alone. I know they kill mosquitoes and the like. But nonetheless around last september we had bedbugs in our main bedroom (France, but not Paris : rural south east of France). I couldn't find any but they were obviously sucking our blood at night: these weren't mosquitoes bites. Thankfully that bedroom is "zen": one huge bed and that's it. So we bought all the chemicals needed to…

No need for chemicals, like other said, use steam, and also use diatomaceous earth (1) to kill them naturally.

(1) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth

Re: Bedbug crisis sparks political row in Paris as insect ‘scourge’ continues

#112

Post by pleoxy »

thefounder wrote: post #40

Isn't this a sanitary/personal hygiene issue?

Living in a home without clutter helps you deal with them because there are fewer places for them to hide. But this will not prevent spread or occupation by them.

Steaming is an effective treatment but only reasonable if there is no clutter and minimal furniture.

Re: Bedbug crisis sparks political row in Paris as insect ‘scourge’ continues

#114

Post by littlestymaar »

thelastparadise wrote: post #43
wincy wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

That's rude. I see no such "dog whistle" in his post and he makes a rather reasonable argument.

He confirmed it in his follow-up response though: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37714981

Re: Bedbug crisis sparks political row in Paris as insect ‘scourge’ continues

#115

Post by zer0tonin »

littlestymaar wrote: post #81
lotsofpulp wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assumed it was cancer causing insecticides like DDT or something.

DDT ban is often cited, but it's an insufficient explanation: first of all there are still efficient insecticides available, and bedbugs infestations only reappeared many decades after DDT was banned. The most important causes is the massive increase in travel/tourism (airbnb is often pointed, but regular hotels are where it started) then come the increasing cost of labor (Baumol's costs disease) + higher safety stan…

> people have bigger apartments

I seriously doubt this is the case in Paris

Re: Bedbug crisis sparks political row in Paris as insect ‘scourge’ continues

#116

Post by beej71 »

tamimio wrote: post #111
TacticalCoder wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always let the spiders in the house alone. I know they kill mosquitoes and the like. But nonetheless around last september we had bedbugs in our main bedroom (France, but not Paris : rural south east of France). I couldn't find any but they were obviously sucking our blood at night: these weren't mosquitoes bites. Thankfully that bedroom is "zen": one huge bed and that's it. So we bought all the chemicals needed to…

No need for chemicals, like other said, use steam, and also use diatomaceous earth (1) to kill them naturally. (1) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth

And from my reading and experience, diatomaceous earth is completely effective, unlike many chemicals.

Re: Bedbug crisis sparks political row in Paris as insect ‘scourge’ continues

#117

Post by thebruce87m »

tamimio wrote: post #111
TacticalCoder wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always let the spiders in the house alone. I know they kill mosquitoes and the like. But nonetheless around last september we had bedbugs in our main bedroom (France, but not Paris : rural south east of France). I couldn't find any but they were obviously sucking our blood at night: these weren't mosquitoes bites. Thankfully that bedroom is "zen": one huge bed and that's it. So we bought all the chemicals needed to…

No need for chemicals, like other said, use steam, and also use diatomaceous earth (1) to kill them naturally. (1) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth

Bought this stuff for a flea infestation but couldn’t bring myself to use it. Reminded me too much of asbestos.

Re: Bedbug crisis sparks political row in Paris as insect ‘scourge’ continues

#118

Post by Teever »

donpott wrote: post #67
lotsofpulp wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assumed it was cancer causing insecticides like DDT or something.

Indeed, they were on the brink of extinction until the worldwide outlawing of DDT, and have had a huge boom since.

There is absolutely no way that bed bugs were actually on the brink of extinction. There were always going to be pockets of bedbugs that were avoiding pesticides that would come back whenever spraying stopped.

Re: Bedbug crisis sparks political row in Paris as insect ‘scourge’ continues

#119

Post by littlestymaar »

zer0tonin wrote: post #115
littlestymaar wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DDT ban is often cited, but it's an insufficient explanation: first of all there are still efficient insecticides available, and bedbugs infestations only reappeared many decades after DDT was banned. The most important causes is the massive increase in travel/tourism (airbnb is often pointed, but regular hotels are where it started) then come the increasing cost of labor (Baumol's costs disease) + higher safety stan…

> people have bigger apartments I seriously doubt this is the case in Paris

The population density has reduced a lot over the past 70 years, it has almost halved in some arrondissement (it's still among the highest density in the world though).

You can find quite a lot apartments that used to be two smaller ones that have been merged together, especially in the upper floors.

Re: Bedbug crisis sparks political row in Paris as insect ‘scourge’ continues

#120

Post by earthling8118 »

rayiner wrote: post #106

Paris could try being less filthy. New York has the same problem. After getting bed bugs from the Sofitel, the remediating of which involved plastic bagging literally everything and nuking the place with insect killer, I refuse to stay in Manhattan anymore. I stay in Westchester or sometimes Jersey.

This attitude is a contributor to the problem. Bed bugs have nothing to do with filth. They aren't cockroaches. They don't care how clean a space is. Only that they can find blood to consume.
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