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Arrow Exterminators Blog

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Day One at the EPA's Bed Bug Summit

Rick Bell

Today I am at the EPA Bed Bug Summit in Washington, D.C. I am here to represent Arrow and help address the growing bed bug problem in the U.S. and contribute ideas to help develop a solution.

The meeting has been very comprehensive and informative, with speakers from the EPA, New Mexico Dept. of Agriculture, the National Pest Management Association, as well as representatives from Congress and academia.
For the first half of the day, we’ve been discussing the factors for the resurgence of bed bugs after they essentially disappeared from the Western world over the past 30+ years. Most likely they have suddenly reappeared due to increased travel and trade.

As we know here at Arrow, bed bug work is time consuming and requires a multi-faceted and numerous steps approach – bed bugs cannot be eliminated with a “one and done” approach. Our industry has learned a great deal about bed bugs in just the last three years and we have a better idea about how to more effectively treat them…but we need to do more and share best practices to get a hold on this growing problem.

I am looking forward to this afternoon’s session where we’ll break into small groups and brainstorm options and solutions for the bed bug problem.

I look forward to sharing additional insights from this Summit and help educate our customers about this topic and share the latest industry information.