New Legislation Says Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite

They say one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. But in New York City, that treasure can be a whole lot more than you bargained for.

Though bedbugs were once a pest of the past, reports of infestations today are approaching the levels known in the 1950s, before they were largely wiped out by the powerful pesticide DDT. According to city officials, bedbug complaints reported to the 311 hotline doubled between 2006 and 2008, with 9,200 calls in 2008 alone. With these insects’ numbers on the rise, New York City Council officials are taking a firm stand, recently introducing various bills to fight back against the bites.

Within this legislative package are proposals that would require anyone who discards a mattress to display a sign that says, “Used Mattress—For Disposal Only,” to discourage people from bringing these street-finds home. The system is similar to one recently implemented in Boston to stave off the threat of bedbugs. Another proposal, which is being reintroduced after three years of inactivity, would ban the sale of used mattresses altogether.

According to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, a common way homes become infested with bedbugs is when a resident brings in a piece of furniture already hosting the insects.

Other parts of the legislation include the creation of a task force focusing on disseminating information, a training program for property owners, and a resolution calling upon the state to promulgate these new rules.

In an effort to push the bills through, the city-council committees on consumers affairs, hygiene and sanitation, and safety and health held a joint hearing Tuesday on the legislative package. The hearing earned support for the proposals, which have already garnered Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s backing.

A co-author of the legislation, Councilwoman Gale Brewer, has taken an active hand in pushing this legislation through. While Shula Warren, chief of staff for Brewer noted that it is “hard to say what the time line is [for the bills],” she also said that council members are “hoping that that support translates.”

While many wait for this legislative protection from infestation, others are in combat with the bugs on a daily basis. In a city where housing consists primarily of large, multiple dwelling buildings and where tourism thrives, an infestation left alone will likely continue to worsen. Warren noted that bedbugs are often found “in all places where people come together,” from five-star hotels to college dormitories.

In 2006, John Jay Hall had a bedbug problem on the 13th floor­ that forced three floors to be put into temporary housing in Hartley Hall.

“The thing we’ve been noticing is a pattern that bedbugs can be transported by individuals that travel,” Mike Morin, one of the owners of Bed Bug Finders, a pest-control company, said. “You might have the cleanest hotel, but sometimes it’s the people that come.”

Though the legislation is still pending, Morin expressed his belief that, in the meantime, people can still work to confront a pest problem. According to Morin, sometimes tackling an infestation can be as simple as getting rid of host items, such as phonebooks or clock radios. Or, in the case of mattresses, it often comes down to disposing of them. Morin recommends cutting the infested mattress in half so that nobody will attempt to reuse it, bagging it so that no bedbugs fall off, and placing a warning sign on the mattress.

Meanwhile, it seems that no neighborhood is safe. “We’ve been getting calls from people of all walks of life,” Warren said, adding that bedbugs “don’t discriminate.”

The Bed Bug Registry, online infestation tracker, shows that bedbug reports continue to be filed in buildings up and down the Upper West Side.

While infestations fall under the public health category, a bedbug problem can quickly escalate into more than a slight disturbance. “Bedbugs may not be a medical health issue, but their presence causes a mental health problem. Being bitten by bedbugs at night impact’s a person’s job performance by day, and is often a financial hardship,” Brewer said, adding that she will “stand ready to continue to fight these frightening pests.”