Don’t let the bedbug sprays bite, either

As Consumers Digest reported in its July/August 2011 issue, more manufacturers are pushing bedbug sprays despite the fact that they don’t solve the problem to counteract rising infestation levels throughout the United States. Now the word is out that the sprays actually are bad for consumers.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last September published a “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report” that said bedbug sprays and consumers’ misuse of them caused 111 illnesses—most of which occurred between 2008 and 2010—throughout California, Florida, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Texas and Washington. One case resulted in death.

The report blamed illnesses on overuse of the insecticides, failure to wash bedding that had been treated with the bedbug sprays and failure to warn people that bedbug sprays were used. Pyrethroids and pyrethrins, which are two compounds that are found in most sprays, were implicated in 99 of the illnesses.

Because do-it-yourself jobs typically kill only bedbugs and not the eggs that the bugs lay—thus continuing the problem—we suggest that consumers contact a professional to tackle infestations.