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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

City clears the way to battle insect pests

Notice of potential pesticide application issued

By: Bartley Kives

22/01/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 1

**FOR USE WITH AP LIFESTYLES** **FILE** In this 2001 file photo released by the University of Florida, a common bedbug bed bug is engorged with blood after feeding on a human arm. It seems the little bloodsuckers have now made their way throughout the United States, spreading from the major cities where the infestations started a few years ago. (AP Photo/University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, File) ** NO SALES** close cut closecut (CP)

The City of Winnipeg is warning the public it may use chemicals to control "structural pests" such as bedbugs and cockroaches in public places this year.Under the terms of the city's environmental licence, Winnipeg's insect control branch must issue a public notice before it applies pesticides to public places.

So earlier this week, the city issued a notice it may use the insecticides bendiocarb, cypermethrin, permethrin and hydramethylnon to kill bugs if the insect control branch discovers any in city-owned properties.

The city issues the same warning every January, regardless of whether there are any actual infestations, said city entomologist Taz Stuart.

"I don't want to cause panic," said Stuart, who calls the warning a routine notice that would pave the way for any spraying or baiting of bedbugs, roaches, silverfish, ants, termites or wasps. "All of these fun little things full under the category of structural pest control."

Ants may be the most common "structural pest" in Winnipeg. Several species expand their colonies every June and make brief forays into buildings, Stuart said.

Wasps are also commonly found in city buildings, while the other pests are less common. The city had a termite infestation in at least one location in the mid-1990s, Stuart said.

There have been no reports of bedbugs in city properties, he said, despite the increasing frequency of bedbug infestations around the world.

All but eradicated from public places in developed countries by the mid-20th Century, bedbugs have re-emerged as a public nuisance of near-epidemic proportions because of a combination of factors that includes increased international travel and the more discriminate use of pesticides.

Bedbugs have infested Winnipeg care homes, university dorms and apartment buildings. In other cities, they've been found in subway systems, luxury hotel rooms and corporate boardrooms -- their presence is not necessarily connected to hygiene.

If you suspect bedbugs have come into contact with you but your home is not infested, there's an easy way to stop the insects from propagating without having to dispose of any clothes, Stuart said.

"Throw them in the dryer. The heat will kill all stages of the bedbug life cycle, including the eggs," Stuart said. "Put them in dry and they won't shrink."

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 22, 2010 A9

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1 Comments

Posted by: Jeff

January 23, 2010 at 5:17 PM

All cities should be as proactive as Winnepeg. As mentioned in the Bed Bugs Handbook cities need to take a proactive approach to fight this growing problem.