A New Weapon Hunts Bedbugs

Source:  The Toronto Sun

OTTAWA – In the war on bedbugs, pesticides aren’t always the answer.

As the population of the tiny creepy crawlers grows, not every hotel and home can stay vacated, sometimes for days, while chemicals to the job.

Lawrence Chadnik thinks he has the answer. The owner of Rest Assured MC says Cryonite kills the pests effectively without the use of harmful chemicals. Cryonite is carbon dioxide snow that is pressurized. When it’s applied it kills bedbugs by freezing them to death instantly.

It took Chadnik two long years to get Health Canada approval, but all systems are go — and not a moment too soon.

“Bedbugs are such a huge problem,” he said. “They were a problem two years ago and they’re twice the problem now.”

He said no one is immune because bedbugs can be picked up anywhere and brought home. Their eggs are extremely sticky and can survive in all sorts of conditions.

“There are a lot of different reasons people have them. One of them is travelling and picking up bedbugs in hotels. You can get them in movie theatres and anywhere. They’re hitchhikers, so if somebody has bedbug eggs on their pants and they go to a movie theatre the next one in picks them up and brings them home. You don’t know you have them for a month, but then you do.”

Once he convinced the government that a strong, green counterattack could be mounted, he set his sights on marketing the system.

“The product is going to be marketed to pest-control companies, hotels, hospitals, anywhere there are beds. They can use this green treatment to get rid of them and someone can go into the room right after without fear of toxins,” he said. “A hotel can go and treat a room and somebody can sleep in this room without sleeping with chemicals to breathe in.”

New Jersey-based Stern Environmental Group owner Douglas Stern said the need for a more environmentally friendly method has multiplied as the pests have. He said that while no one has seen them yet, it’s believed bedbugs are now in mass transit.

“We know they’re there, even if we haven’t seen them, and that means everyone can pick them up.”

But the Cryonite works, he said, because of the sudden change in temperature.

“You can’t do it slowly. Put them in a freezer and take them out in six months and they’ll still be alive.”

Traveling and Catching Bed Bugs

June 18th – Friday – Day 26 – Travel Blog by Travel Diva

This morning has started slow. We all went to breakfast where i discovered that Jen’s hotel room is infested with bed bugs, she looks like she is 5 and has the chicken pox! they looked up bed bugs online and hopped over to the pharmacists for conformation. so she is getting a whole new room and has to get a new luggage and everything!

I cant believe i only have 2 days left on this trip! it went by so fast, and it was mostly amazing! i just wish my husband has been there with me all they way. I know that someday he and i will get the chance to travel Europe, at least i hope so. we are getting ready to meet together for one last group discussion on the history of photo and a crit before we go to a photo gallery.
well the gallery was neat. its was sort of a life’s work of Sally Mann. very interesting stuff, then we went to a showing off liver pool street. it was an exhibition of a local art schools, basically a mass aBFA show called Raw 9, it all was very interesting. i bought the exhibition book that had artist’s statements in it, which i have very much enjoyed reading. after the showing i walked solo to the hotel ran in to armon on the subway, kind crazy lol. anyway i got back to earl’s court and decided to go to the gourmet burger company for my dinner and man it was yummy! now time for me to pack a bit and get to bed tomorrow is the last day and i want to walk around some more

Bed Bugs in the United Kingdom and London, UK Bed Bugs

I can’t decide where, in our battle with the bedbugs, we reached the nadir. Was it when my son’s reception class teacher called my wife to express her concern about the number of bites on his arms, body and face? “He says they’re … bedbug bites,” she said, disbelievingly. “That’s right,” my wife replied. “We’ve got an infestation that we’re being treated for.” “Oh, I understand – I’ve come across bedbugs, when I’ve been travelling in Africa.” The words “but not when I’ve been teaching in north London” went unspoken.

Was it when, for four nights running, our eight-year-old daughter kept us awake with her star-shaped sleeping position, because she was too afraid to sleep in her own bed after having awoken to see a pair of bedbugs lazing on her pillow?

Or was it when, a fortnight after we’d had the house chemically treated, I laboriously took apart the wooden frame of her bunk bed? I had spread white sheets across the floor, so I could see what fell out of the nooks and crannies of the frame, and by the end of the process the sheets were streaked red with blood from the 40 or so live and well-fed bugs I had squashed. My daughter marvelled at how much blood came out of each bug. I didn’t have the heart to tell her where the blood had come from.

At this point, you’re probably thinking that our house must be a vile hovel. You’re probably right. It has all seemed a bit 14th century this past month, what with the bedbugs, the mice and the clothes moths. But be warned: we are not unusual. Bedbugs are on their way back, despite having been all but eradicated in the developed world by the 1980s.

In the US, in the postwar years, DDT was used to kill them off. In this country – what an English solution – the authorities shamed the population into seeking their own treatment, by drawing a link between infestation and slovenliness, thus establishing a stigma that survives today. In fact, your cleanliness or otherwise makes no difference to whether bedbugs set up home with you. All they’re interested in is your blood. If you encounter them, there’s a decent chance they’re coming home with you. And you stand a decent chance of encountering them.

Stuart Hine, an entomologist at the Natural History Museum in London, estimates that there has been a threefold increase in London’s bedbug population this decade. That figure is backed by the research of Bedbugs Limited, an extermination company founded by microbiologist David Cain after he became obsessed with the creatures.

No one is exactly sure how prevalent bedbugs are, though. There is no requirement to report infestations, and though many people do call their council’s pest control department when they find them, different councils record reports in different ways. Cain used the Freedom of Information Act to request London borough council records of bedbugs. At the broadest level – borough by borough – the data offers little help. It’s only when broken down almost street by street that patterns emerge: a corridor of bedbug infestation running from Elephant and Castle to Lewisham in south London, or corridors running from Gatwick and Heathrow to central London.

So why are the bedbugs biting? What brought them back to Britain? The simplest explanation is globalisation. Bedbugs are hugely effective hitchhikers: if you sleep in an infested room, they may climb into your luggage, or into your clothes. When you get home, they disembark and set up home in the darkest nooks of your bedroom, coming out in the hours before dawn to suck blood from your slumbering body. With more and more of us travelling abroad to regions where bedbugs were never eradicated, more and more of us are likely to bring them back. They thrive in homes inhabited by large numbers of people, where they are able to feed and breed freely.

We realised we had a bedbug problem just after Christmas. My wife came downstairs with a small insect – rust coloured, with a flat, oval body, a few millimetres in length – in a bowl. “This bug was crawling about on the bunk beds,” she said. “What do you think it is?” Within 20 seconds, Google Images had supplied the answer.

In fact, the warning signs had been apparent for a while, we just hadn’t seen them. Before Christmas our son had a perplexing rash on his leg that wouldn’t clear up and the doctor had suggested it was an allergy. His room turned out to have relatively few bugs, while our daughter’s had a much more severe infestation – yet we never saw a mark on her skin. Many people, it transpires, don’t react to bites and so don’t realise they have a problem until they find a live bug. The real eye-opener, though, was what the exterminator pointed out when he came round. At virtually all the joins in the wooden frame of the bunk beds were little black dots, as if the tips ballpoint pens had been tapped against the wood. Those black marks turned out to be bedbug faeces.

Where did we get our bugs? The exterminator estimated our house had been occupied for five months, which – to my mind – suggested we’d picked them up from a holiday house in France in the summer. Certainly, I remembered being bitten one night there, when I had been certain there was no mosquito in the room. But the exterminator reckoned we’d got them from public transport. That, he told us, is where most people pick up bedbugs. It’s simple logic really: a vast number of people, including plenty who have returned from abroad (think about those corridors of infestation from the London airports into the city), offering bedbugs an array of hosts. But the transport companies are hardly at fault. Do we expect them to frisk every traveller for bedbugs? Could they check every bus and every train every night for bedbugs? That is what it would take to get the transport system clear. In the meantime, David Cain has a piece of advice for commuters: “Don’t sit down on public transport.”

When the exterminator had treated our kids’ rooms, he left us with a lengthy manual of instructions. The kids needed to stay in their rooms because if the bugs’ food source was removed, they would just infest new rooms. We were to examine the beds every day for living and dead bugs, and after two weeks we were to “deep clean” their rooms in the hope of eradicating the last stragglers. That fortnight seemed to last for ever. It was during that time that our son’s teacher made the call that shamed us. It was on the last day of the fortnight that I took apart the bunk beds to find them crawling with living bugs. Even after the deep clean – performed by a woman who advised us that, in addition to never sitting down on public transport, we should always remove our clothes before entering a bedroom – we still needed another chemical treatment. That took place last week. We are praying that by next week we are clear – so we can get back to killing the mice.

So does no one have a good word for the bedbug? Even Stuart Hine, who – being an entomologist – says he can appreciate the beauty of every insect, can find nothing to admire. David Cain expresses grudging respect for their ability to thrive alongside humans for thousands of years, despite our best efforts. But I will stick up for these banes of my life. Among the things I have discovered is that the bedbug has a unique style of mating, known as traumatic insemination, in which the male simply stabs his sperm into the female’s body cavity, bypassing her genitals. Professor Mike Siva-Jothy of Sheffield University has discovered that there is a “25% reduction in female lifespan” as a result – a surprisingly low figure. Siva-Jothy believes a unique organ, the spermalege, which protects the females, could in future help scientists produce a drug that reduces the transmission of diseases. There’s more: what does a well-fed bedbug contain? Human blood. Some criminologists believe that scouring crime scenes for live bedbugs could provide investigators with a source of DNA. I’m not saying I won’t be glad when ours are gone. But I have a little more sympathy for them than I did a month ago.
How to spot an infestation

• Look for unexplained rashes, although one in 10 people doesn’t respond to bites. If you react badly, use antihistamines.

• Check your bedframe, or the joints of furniture, for black dots of between 0.5mm and 1mm – bedbug faeces. Contrary to myth, bedbugs do not live in your mattress, although they may be found in the seams.

• Check your sheets for bloodstains: you may have rolled over and crushed a bug after it has fed on you.

• If you have a severe infestation, you might notice a sweet, musty smell around your bedframe.
What to do if you’re infested

• Call a professional extermination firm, and check its credentials. Many pest-control companies have diversified into bedbug control without any expertise. Following the advice of one company’s website, we put grease-lined tins around our bed legs (to prevent bugs crawling up them). The exterminator guffawed at our stupidity. Don’t try to kill the bugs yourself: last year an American woman blew up her home by lighting several insecticide “foggers” simultaneously: the propellant caused her gas supply to ignite. Don’t use an aerosol-based insecticide, either: you’ll kill some, but the fit ones will simply flee to another room.

• Don’t throw away your furniture. The chances are that you will spread the bugs through your home.

• Don’t flee the infested room. The bedbugs want food and warmth: if you go, they’ll follow.

• Talk to your neighbours. It’s possible your bugs have come from them, or that you have given them yours. One of David Cain’s customers reported a recurring infestation. He was being reinfested by a neighbour, whose property was home to an estimated 150,000 bedbugs (the average infestation is around 100).

• Don’t panic. Bedbugs don’t carry diseases, and their presence does not make you unclean.

Steps to Use Bed Bugs Products Effectively

Steps to Use Bed Bugs Products Effectively

But even though those solutions are generally effective, that does not mean that a mere application of them will get bed bugs annihilated. You basically can’t just leave all the work to the product as it sure will need your aide to effectively work. Your effective fulfillment of your part is a major element of getting the method’s success. That part that you have to get done generally refers to how you will use the product. Sure, it is easy to use formula or pesticides as you can just apply them directly to the damaged surface, cracks or crevices. Usually, you can just spray them. Nevertheless, apart from spraying there are still other steps that must be implemented before they can be effective. Here are the effective ways of how you should use pesticides to really kill bed bugs. Read the instructions, before you go and start using the solution, you should read first the instructions. Going over it will give you clear idea of how you will use. If you don’t understand any of the instructions, you can search or ask someone to make the application proper. More than that, reading the instructions will also help you prepare all the materials you will need. Use just the right amount, if you are using an organic pesticide, you don’t have to worry about over treatment. However, if you are utilizing a chemical-based solution more than the recommended amount, over treatment will most likely happen. And that can negatively affect the items or surfaces where you are trying to get bed bugs off. Nonetheless, even if you are opting for organic solutions, you should use just the right amount. Doing so will make your product last longer which means you don’t have to buy another so soon. Make sure that bed bugs are targeted, this means that you should confirm bed bugs infestation first before you start spraying. In a general sense, this prevents the waste of solution and also money.

But even though those solutions are generally effective, that does not mean that a mere application of them will get bed bugs annihilated. You basically can’t just leave all the work to the product as it sure will need your aide to effectively work. Your effective fulfillment of your part is a major element of getting the method’s success.

That part that you have to get done generally refers to how you will use the product. Sure, it is easy to use formula or pesticides as you can just apply them directly to the damaged surface, cracks or crevices. Usually, you can just spray them. Nevertheless, apart from spraying there are still other steps that must be implemented before they can be effective.

Here are the effective ways of how you should use pesticides to really kill bed bugs.

Read the instructions, before you go and start using the solution, you should read first the instructions. Going over it will give you clear idea of how you will use. If you don’t understand any of the instructions, you can search or ask someone to make the application proper. More than that, reading the instructions will also help you prepare all the materials you will need.

Use just the right amount, if you are using an organic pesticide, you don’t have to worry about over treatment. However, if you are utilizing a chemical-based solution more than the recommended amount, over treatment will most likely happen. And that can negatively affect the items or surfaces where you are trying to get bed bugs off. Nonetheless, even if you are opting for organic solutions, you should use just the right amount. Doing so will make your product last longer which means you don’t have to buy another so soon.

Make sure that bed bugs are targeted, this means that you should confirm bed bugs infestation first before you start spraying. In a general sense, this prevents the waste of solution and also money. Read more about our Bed Bug Products.

Generic Bed Bug Recommendations

I would recommend:

* Natural remedies don’t’ work. Don’t even bother researching neem or lavender. If there were a natural remedy that really worked, it would be easy to get and well advertised.
* Steaming is a lot of work and doesn’t get bugs that hide in the walls, so steaming the mattress once a week will help but it won’t take care of the whole problem. If you get bugs, you WILL need to use chemicals.
* Don’t hire a pco who wants to spray your entire floor boards. It doesn’t work anyway, and you and your pets will be exposed to unnecessary chemicals.
* Phantom is the chemical of choice these days. The PCO should spray it around the baseboards and maybe on the walls where they meet the ceiling.
* Your animals will need to be boarded during the treatment for usually about 5 hours, but ask your PCO what they think.
* I was instructed to mop up any excess before bringing the animals back in.
* My cat, upon returning from the catsitter’s, immediately ran and hid—right on top of a poison-treated area. For hours. And he was fine. No illness whatsoever. Not even any skin or eye irritation.
* I used UMG Pest Control and they were very good. I didn’t let them spray my mattress. I steamed it myself once a week and the chemicals did the rest.
* Go to bedbugger.com for more information about preparation, washing, bagging, etc.

Bed Bugs New York State: Law Landlords must disclose bed bug infestations

Two bills under consideration would provide renters protection and compensation

“Don’t let the bedbugs bite” is easier said than done for many New Yorkers.

One state Assembly member is pushing legislation that would require landlords to divulge any history of bedbug infestation to potential renters and another that would offer compensation for expenses accrued from dealing with infestations.

Linda B. Rosenthal, who represents the Upper West Side and parts of Hell’s Kitchen, introduced the two-bill legislation in mid-March as an effort to combat New York’s growing bedbug problem.

“As the scourge of bedbugs continues in New York, I am committed to giving my constituents the tools to protect themselves both epidemiologically and financially from this plague,” Rosenthal said in a statement.

The first bill would require the disclosure of any instance of bedbug infestation dating back five years. A memo in the bill states that the justification for the legislation is that “prospective tenants have a right to access relevant documentation regarding the history of bedbugs within their new living spaces” because the information is essential to making an informed decision.

“People who have gone through the plague of bedbugs are happy that I’m trying to address some the issues they’ve had to deal with — people who are long-time tenets who somehow get bedbugs or new tenets who move in to discover an infestation and have to deal with it,” Rosenthal told NBCNewYork.

After the bill was referred to the housing committee, it was amended and recommitted on April 20. The bill originally included the more complicated issue of apartment sales as well, so was amended to make the bill easier to pass. Rosenthal does support the protection of homebuyers and seeks to advance it in the future.

“Bedbugs are an enormous expense, and there is no mechanism right now to get that money back,” Rosenthal said. “I thought the state has responsibility to try and deal with it in some way.”

The second bill provides a tax credit of up to $750 to help with the cost of replacing property lost due to bedbug infestations. This property includes furniture, bedding, clothing, and any other belonging discarded during the extermination process. Since most renters or homeowners insurance does not cover bedbug infestation, the bill seeks to assist affected New Yorkers by offering a “modest tax credit.”

“If the state were in better economic condition perhaps the tax credit could be higher,” said Rosenthal. “But we’re in a precarious economic state, so offering high tax credit was impossible. We think what we came up with is more feasible.”

However, it is not clear when the two bills will be voted on in Albany.

Bedbug weapon can’t be deployed in Ohio

Bedbug weapon can’t be deployed
Risk to children trumps infestation crisis, EPA says
Tuesday, June 15, 2010 02:50 AM
By Doug Caruso
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Bedbugs are back in force in Ohio. From almost no reports a few years ago, the Franklin County Board of Health recorded more than 4,000 in 2009. The insects are wingless blood-suckers that can grow to about a quarter-inch and live up to a year.
NATIONAL PEST MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION
Bedbugs are back in force in Ohio. From almost no reports a few years ago, the Franklin County Board of Health recorded more than 4,000 in 2009. The insects are wingless blood-suckers that can grow to about a quarter-inch and live up to a year.

The U.S. EPA has rejected Ohio’s request to use an industrial and agricultural pesticide to fight bedbugs in homes.

The risk of exposing children to the pesticide, called Propoxur, outweighs the potential good it could do by quickly wiping out an infestation, Lisa Jackson, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, told Gov. Ted Strickland in a letter this month.

“The agency’s health review for its use on bedbugs suggests that children entering and using rooms that have been treated may be at risk of experiencing nervous system effects,” she wrote.

The federal agency could reconsider the state’s request after reviewing more information, said Kaleigh Frasier, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
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“We’re disappointed with the outcome, but we’ll stay in contact with the EPA,” Frasier said.

The Agriculture Department asked the EPA for permission to use the insecticide inside homes after declaring that the growing number of bedbug infestations in the state had become an emergency.

Bedbugs have made a real comeback in Ohio. From almost no reports a few years ago, the Franklin County Board of Health recorded more than 4,000 in 2009. Treatment can be expensive and take many applications of the pesticides currently approved for use in homes.

Not being able to bring Propoxur to the fight is a setback, said Susan Jones, an Ohio State University entomologist and a member of the Central Ohio Bedbug Task Force.

“It is very much a blow, because we don’t really have products that are knocking down the bedbugs very well,” Jones said.

“I guess we’re not surprised, because EPA tends to be reticent once something’s been taken off the market and they don’t tend to be responsive.”

Propoxur was introduced in 1959, but it was removed from home use in the 1990s under a law that sought to reduce people’s exposure to insecticides.

The EPA likely overestimated the exposure to children, Jones said.

She said a group representing pest-control businesses is working with the University of Florida to provide more information to federal officials about how much of the pesticide would become airborne.

In tests at the University of Kentucky, Propoxur killed all of the bedbugs exposed to it within 24 hours and kept on killing after eggs hatched. That’s compared with a 16 percent kill rate after 72 hours for a commonly used household insecticide against a strain found in Cincinnati, and a 40 percent rate against another strain.

Bed Bug Detection Dogs are Better than High Technology

Bed bugs, those blood sucking insects, are also known as Cimex lectularius. Some experts think bed bugs have been living on the planet since ancient times. After all these years humans have not been able to completely eliminate these horrible insects.

Even in our technologically advanced society no piece of equipment can come close to the amazing bed bud detection abilities of highly trained bed bud detection dogs. With their outstanding sense of smell they can detect bed bugs wherever they are hiding. Bed bug sniffing dogs can even smell the difference between live bed bugs and dead bed bugs. They can also detect their eggs with their astonishing sense of smell. It is important to find the eggs. They become bed bugs in about 10 days. The babies need approximately 5 blood meals to become full grown adults.

Bed bug detection dogs are becoming increasingly popular in all major cities and with residents and people living in other parts of the nation. These knights in shiny fur are experts at finding the odious critters.

DIY Bed Bug Monitors – Are They Safe?

Itching for a good after-school science experiment? Researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey have created a homemade bedbug trap using a plastic cat-food dish, an insulated jug and some dry-ice pellets. According to Wan-Tien Tsai, who reported her findings in December at the annual meeting of the Entomological Society of America, the dry-ice-and-thermos combo captured the bloodsucking critters in an infested apartment just as effectively as, if not more so than, equipment used by professional exterminators. (See the fascinating, frightening world of insects.)

The most important part of this MacGyverized contraption is an insulated one-third-gallon jug — like the kind sold in camping-supply stores — filled with 2½ lb. of frozen carbon dioxide, which costs about $1 per lb. (and should be handled only with gloves). As the dry-ice pellets slowly evaporate, the open thermos spout lets the CO2 — which falsely signals bedbugs that a breathing, blood-filled meal is nearby — seep out overnight. That’s usually enough time to entice the nocturnal insects into the other key component of the trap: the overturned food-and-water dish on which the thermos sits. The bugs climb the outer surface of the dish, which can be scuffed with sandpaper for better traction, and get stuck in its moat, made slippery-smooth with a dusting of talcum powder.

This trap was designed to give consumers a cheap way to determine if they have — or, in many cases, still have — a bedbug problem that requires a proper extermination. Bedbugs have made a serious comeback in North America over the past few years, especially in big cities like Toronto and San Francisco. And they are notoriously hard to get rid of. As evidence, amid the enthusiastic talk on Bedbugger.com about the Rutgers invention, one commenter noted, “Dude, I am so going to try this once a month or so.”

If you do bed bug treatments, you may have heard or will hear about an article published in Time Magazine recently, How to Build Your Own Bed Bug Detector at Home. The article references a Rutgers University study to see if heat, pheromone cues from the host, or carbon dioxide is the best attractant for bed bugs. The study concluded that dry ice was the best attractant. Dry ice produces carbon dioxide as it melts. Bed bugs are attracted to carbon dioxide, which humans exhale, and that is believed to be the method bed bugs use to find humans to feed on.  So it makes sense, but are these safe?

A customer called us who believed her 18-month-old son was getting bed bug bites. She read the Time Magazine article and wanted to place a dry ice pitfall trap under her sons crib. My first question with new products is always-how safe are they? So, I checked the MSDS for dry ice. Below are some of the statements from the MSDS that caused me to be concerned:

Signal Word: Danger!
Acute Health Hazard-Severe: X

Special Hazard Precautions: Concentration in excess of 1.5% carbon dioxide may cause death. At higher concentrations, displaces oxygen in air below levels necessary to support life.
Target organs: Respiratory system, skin

Carcinogen: Formaldehyde

In my opinion, the use of homemade dry ice traps by consumers may be dangerous, as indicated by the signal word “Danger.” According to the New York State Health Department Website, “Dry ice can be a very serious hazard in a small space that isn’t well-ventilated. As dry ice melts, it turns into carbon dioxide gas. In a small space, this gas can build up. If enough carbon dioxide gas is present, a person can become unconscious, and in some cases, die.” “Symptoms of overexposure to carbon dioxide include headache and difficulty breathing, and with greater exposure, nausea and vomiting.”

As pest control professionals, customers depend on us to provide information regarding responsible control of pests in their homes and businesses. In my opinion, everyone who may discuss bed bugs with customers need to aware of the dangers of dry ice.  I have e-mailed Time Magazine regarding their article, I have not heard back as of this time.

Ontario Proposes New Legislation – Bill 94 2010

In short, it has been proposed (and carried past stage 1) that Ontario Residential Landlord Tenancies Act be ammended to read:

Bill 94 2010

An Act to amend the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 with respect to reporting bed bug information

Note: This Act amends the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006. For the legislative history of the Act, see the Table of Consolidated Public Statutes – Detailed Legislative History at www.e-Laws.gov.on.ca.

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

1. The Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 is amended by adding the following section:

Bed bug information report

10.1 (1) Before entering into a tenancy agreement, the landlord shall provide to the prospective tenant a report stating,

(a) whether any information has come to the landlord’s attention during the previous five-year period with respect to bed bugs in the rental unit or in any other rental unit in the residential complex; and

(b) if any information has come to the landlord’s attention, details with respect to the information.

Form

(2) The bed bug information report referred to in subsection (1) shall be in a form provided by the Board.

2. Section 234 of the Act is amended by adding the following clause:

(0.a) fails to provide a prospective tenant with a report required under section 10.1 or gives false information in the report;

Commencement

3. This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.

Short title

4. The short title of this Act is the Renters’ Right to Know Act, 2010.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The Bill amends the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 to require landlords, before a tenancy agreement is entered into, to disclose information that has come to the landlord’s attention during the previous five-year period with respect to bed bugs in a rental unit or any other rental unit in a residential complex.

Read More Here

DIY Treatment Results In Death

Bed bugs are the scourge of most major North American cities and the cost of having a professional service rid them can be cost prohibitive to some.  In many of these cases people resort to a Do It Yourself (DIY) approach.  Professionals time and again reiterate the importance of reading a pesticide label and following the directions (and safety precautions) precisely.  And here is why …

Evaluation of Pesticide Incident Report 2010-1615

Background

Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) collects incident reporting data under the authority of the Pest Control Products Act. If a pesticide manufacturer receives information about an incident involving one of their products, they are required by law to submit that information to the PMRA. All submitted incident reports are made publicly available on the Health Canada website, specifically, on the PMRA Public Registry. It is important to note that the information presented in incident reports reflects the observations and opinion of the person reporting it, and does not include any assessment by Health Canada, nor does it confirm an association between the pesticide and the effects reported.

Health Canada considers the reported information to determine if there are potential health or environmental risks associated with a pesticide and, if necessary, takes corrective action. Such action could range from minor label changes to discontinuation of the product.

Incident Report 2010-1615

Wellmark International received information about an incident related to one of their products, which they submitted to the PMRA on April 29, 2010. The information contained in the incident report indicated that a product containing the active ingredients permethrin and S-methoprene was sprayed between the mattresses and on the perimeter of the floor in a person’s bedroom. The individual slept on the bed the night the product was sprayed and was hospitalized approximately two days later with symptoms including vomiting, chemical taste in the mouth, pneumonia, paralysis, and scarring of the lung tissue. The individual passed away after 18 days of hospitalization. The report indicated that the individual had a history of diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In accordance with the Incident Reporting Regulations classification system, this incident was classified as Human Death. It was also reported that the individual’s daughter, who applied the product, experienced bronchitis, which is considered to be moderate in severity.

As required by the Pest Control Products Incident Reporting Regulations, Wellmark International submitted the incident report to the PMRA and it is posted on the PMRA electronic Public Registry on the Health Canada website.

Health Canada Evaluation

The person who reported this information to Wellmark International was not certain as to the specific product used in this incident. However, it is likely that the product used was one of three domestic-class products registered by Wellmark International for use in Canada: Vet-Kem Siphotrol Forte (PCP Reg. No. 22213), Vet-Kem Siphotrol 1000 Double Action Premise Treatment (PCP Reg. No. 25739) and Vet-Kem Siphotrol 2000 Double Action Premise Treatment (PCP Reg. No. 25582) all containing permethrin and S-methoprene at low concentrations (0.01-0.80%).

Permethrin belongs to the class of insecticides known as pyrethroids. Symptoms of overexposure to pyrethroids in general may include vomiting and irritation of the respiratory tract. S-methoprene is an insect growth regulator that mimics a natural hormone of insects and prevents the maturation and reproduction of young insect pests. S-methoprene has relatively low toxicity and is not associated with adverse reactions in humans.

In this incident, there was no physical evidence, such as laboratory results, available to confirm that exposure to permethrin or S-methoprene had occurred. There may be several other causes of the reported effects that cannot be ruled out. A review of Canadian and U.S. incident reporting information indicated that there is no clear trend for any of the symptoms reported. None of the symptoms reported are expected to result from exposure to S-methoprene. The symptoms of vomiting and chemical taste in the mouth that the individual experienced, as well as the bronchitis experienced by the individual’s daughter, are not inconsistent with the known symptoms of over-exposure to permethrin. However, the more serious symptoms of paralysis, pneumonia and scarring of the lung tissue as well as death are not expected to result from short-term exposure to permethrin.

Health Canada Conclusion

Based on the available information, it is concluded that it is unlikely (where the effect reported is not typical for the suspected pesticide but the possibility that exposure to the pesticide caused the effect cannot be ruled out) that the symptoms of paralysis, pneumonia and scarring of lung tissue, as well as the reported death, are related to exposure to the pesticide product. The health of the individual may have been compromised from other medical issues at the time that the incident occurred; therefore, it is uncertain if the subject’s medical conditions may have been exacerbated by exposure to the pesticide.

It is possible (where there is some correlation between the exposure, the pesticide and the effect) that the vomiting and chemical taste in the mouth reported in the individual that died, and the bronchitis reported in the individual that sprayed the product, were related to exposure to permethrin.

It should be noted that it is not clear what specific product was used in this case. It is also important to note that this incident involved application to a mattress, which is not an approved use for either permethrin or S-methoprene.

The information as noted in the incident will remain in the database and will be routinely re-examined in conjunction with any new data that is received. It is important to note that a product is only registered for use if there is reasonable certainty that no harm will result from exposure to or use of the product as directed on the label.

More information about the Incident Reporting Program is available on Health Canada’s website. Should you require further information please contact the Pesticide Incident Reporting Program.

Trust The Media???

Ever wonder why more people are increasingly distrusting the media?  Perhaps it is because we live in a world where information is at our fingertips?  But shouldn’t this ensure better fact checking on the part of the media?  I mean afterall if you do a Google image search for “bed bugs” it pops up 1,980,000+ images … So why can’t a major media giant like ABC’s Nightline get it right?

Here is the first screenshot of their story on bed bugs in which they posted on their website.

After countless readers clued them into the image they used not being bed bugs, but rather dust mites, they promptly changed it to this picture of a cockroach:

Perhaps if the media would spend more time fact checking and less time sensationalizing we would all have more respect for what they have to say …

Propane Heaters – Dangerous !!!

Recently there has been many articles about the use of propane heaters to solve bed bug infestations.  While it is certainly true that some professionals do in fact use propane heaters as part of their overall approach to treat bed bugs it is VERY important to note that these are NOT the same type of heaters that are used while camping etc.

The heaters used for camping or cooking are typically meant for outdoor use.  Using these types of devices indoors produces carbon monoxide and can be fatal.  PLEASE DO NOT USE THESE DEVICES INDOORS.

Bed Bug Symposium – Ottawa (Mar.5)

Bed Bug Symposium

Bed bug infestations are on the rise and increasingly showing up in virtually any concentrated public area, including hotels, homes, apartments, shelters, and public transportation—to name a few. In response to this public health threat, CPMA and the Canadian Federation of Apartment Associations have put together the Bed Bug Symposium, Friday, March 5. This one-day meeting is geared toward anyone working in the hotel/motel industry, campus facility maintenance, hospitals, nursing homes, furniture rental companies, federal and provincial governments, etc. From identifying bed bugs to public affairs issues and the legal ramifications, we have gathered internationally recognized experts on the bed bug issue to provide management tips, both preventative and corrective, to help you make informed decisions and stay out of the newspaper – and the courtroom.

The Bed Bug Symposium is taking place in conjunction with Pest Management Canada, but is a separate program. It is not necessary to register for the full convention to attend the Bed Bug Symposium. However, if you are registered as a full attendee, you can attend the Bed Bug Symposium without paying an additional fee. Please refer to the registration form for the registration rates or visit www.pestworldcanada.net for online registration.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Keynote Presentation:

The Reality of Bed Bugs

Dr. Dini Miller, Virginia Polytechnic

Institute State University, Blacksburg, Va.

Bed bugs are back and in recent years, property managers and the hospitality industry went from never having seen a bed bug to now being a common occurrence. Keynote speaker, Dini Miller, will discuss reasons for resurgence, current status of infestations, legal and psychological effects, public health aspects, and the role of the pest management professional. Identification, inspection and prevention tips will be provided, along with suggestions for dealing with incidents and staying out of the media.

10:45 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Industry Challenges
Representatives from the Canadian Pest Management Association (CPMA) and the Canadian Federation of Apartment Associations (CFAA)

Bed bugs are one of the most challenging pests to control and they cannot be viewed as just another bug – the control strategy is a process rather than just a single task. This session will cover specific issues related to bed bug management, including the legal, regulatory and public health consequences of a bed bug infestation. At the conclusion of this session, you will be provided with guidance on how to select an experienced pest professional.

2 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.

Developing an Action Plan

Sean Rollo

There is an overwhelming need for a bed bug action plan, yet there is no national formula available. Sean will walk you through inspection techniques, what to do when an incident arises, communicating with customers, develop and implement an action plan, ongoing monitoring and prevention, and resources available. This session will give you the guidance you need to maximize your efficiency while minimizing your time spent on research.

3 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Ask the Experts

Panel discussion with representatives from the Canadian Pest Management Association, the Canadian Federation of Apartment Associations and other pest management professionals

Our panel of experts is available to answer your questions in a forum designed for an open discussion. Want your question to be anonymous? No problem. Throughout the day, you will have the option of discretely submitting written questions. Of course, there will be opportunity for those who wish to ask questions directly. This is where you will be able to get tips from the experts and have them expand on the day’s educational program, as well as share your specific story.

City Clears the Way to Battle Insect Pests – Winnipeg

Source:  Winnipeg Free Press

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

Bed Bugs Transcend Video Games

It seems bed bugs have followed me to my favourite video game; Lord of the Rings Online.

Here are some screenshots of the quest to rid bed bugs from the bed of one of the characters in the game.

Free Bed Bug Webinar With Dini Miller

PCT Magazine is hosting a FREE bed bug webinar with Dini Miller on Thursday January 7th, 2010 at 2pm (EST). You will need to register in order to participate (again this is free).

Here is the info from the PCT Article:

Pest management professionals, property managers, facility managers and others throughout the country will join bed bug researcher Dr. Dini Miller, associate professor at Virginia Tech University, for a free interactive Webinar entitled “A Whole-House Approach to Bed Bug Treatments.” Hosted by the PCT Media Group and sponsored by Dow AgroSciences, the event will take place on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time).The Webinar is a unique opportunity for participants to familiarize themselves with a comprehensive and efficacious treatment strategy. They will learn more about the need to communicate effectively with residents, which Miller describes as one of the major bed bug treatment challenges she’s observed. Topics to be covered include:

• Fumigation and heat treatments for successful bed bug management.
• Communicating with customers.
• Inspecting for bed bugs.
• How to treat hard-to-reach locations.
• Conducting container fumigations using fumigation chambers for treating household items.
• Breaking the language barrier (including tips for working with Spanish-speaking clientele).
• Case studies: Reviewing successful comprehensive bed bug treatments.
• Looking ahead: the future of comprehensive bed bug control.

CLICK HERE to register.

PCT Media Group is hosting a series of one-hour Webinars – live multimedia events designed to assist its readers in building their businesses. A broad range of industry experts will be featured in these monthly learning sessions.

Dr. Oz Show Talks Bed Bugs With Rick Cooper & Dini Miller

We are extremely excited to announce that Richard Cooper will be appearing on the Dr. Oz Show along side Dini Miller, Ph.D. as bed bug experts on Friday Nov. 20^th!

You can check out a preview of the segment here: http://www.doctoroz.com/. Just click the “Friday” tab on the right-hand side of the screen. We will send out a link to the full video when it becomes available.

Previously, Dr. Oz was a featured health expert on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” for over five seasons, spanning 55 episodes. He is also Vice-Chair and Professor of Surgery at Columbia University and directs the Cardiovascular Institute and Complementary Medicine Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital.

As always, thank you for visiting our site and be sure to check out the episode on Friday Nov. 20^th. Show times in your area can be found on the Dr. Oz homepage: http://www.doctoroz.com/.

iPhone / iTouch App – Bed Bug Identifier

I suppose it was only a matter of time before someone developed an iPhone/iTouch app involving bed bugs …

Bed Bug Identifier by Nuvenco LLC

Available via iTunes in the App Store under the Travel section.

Ewww! Bed Bugs Making A Comeback In Seattle

Source:  Komo News

SEATTLE — Bed bugs are making a nasty little comeback, so say officials at the “Bed Bug Summit” held Thursday in Seattle.

“They’re elusive, we just don’t typically see them,” said Greg Baumann with the National Pest Management Association. “They’re nocturnal; they only come out at night.”

And the painful pests are on the rise. Extermination companies say bed bug calls are up 70 percent in the last 2 years.

“Some people believe it might be tied to international travel, but to tell you the truth sometimes it’s just a cyclical nature of the pest,” Baumann said.

To fight back, the pest control industry held a bed bug summit Thursday. Most of those who attended own hotels and apartments, but wanted to remain anonymous — lest you think they have bugs in their buildings.

They’re here to see the latest technology to find and kill the insects.

Why are they so hard to kill? Bed bugs can live a year without eating. They reproduce rapidly and survive temperatures from freezing to over 110 degrees.

One way to fight the bugs: Specially-trained dogs. Believe it or not, they can come to your house and let you know right away if you’ve got a problem.

For Eckhard Mueller, it’s a busy time.

“It started out slowly with about one or 2 jobs per month, now we go on 2 to 3 jobs a week,” he said.

The best way to protect yourself is to realize bed bugs are hitchhikers, so carefully inspect your luggage while unpacking.

“They are real, they are out there and they travel on us,” Mueller said. “They are coming back big time.”

Fore more information:

pestworld.org

Florida Catch 22 Bedbug Law Fixed

Source:  UPI.com

ORLANDO, Fla., Aug. 30 (UPI) — Florida hotels are changing their inspection policies to actually let inspectors into rooms to search for bedbugs, hotel inspection officials said.

The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel reported a new policy by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s Division of Hotels and Restaurants

, which provides for inspection, formal warnings and a prohibition on renting bedbug-infested rooms, is being instituted.

The state department created its new policy after consulting with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies nationwide, the newspaper said.

The old state law held that inspectors were not permitted to enter rooms with alleged infestation because of worries about spreading the bedbugs. Simultaneously, the policy said inspectors must witness an infestation before they may cite a hotel for health violations, the newspaper reported.

Thus, when inspectors got bedbug complaints, they could only tell the hotel to remedy the problem, because they had no authority to do more under the old policy, the newspaper said.

Ohio State University Entomologist and bedbug expert Susan Jones said the policy was “pure insanity.”

The state department had received 94 bedbug complaints in central Florida in the last three years, but department spokeswoman Jenn Meale said the agency was not aware of any citations for bedbugs during that time in central Florida.

Bedbugs A Nightmare For Richmond Public Housing Complex

Source: InsideBayArea.com

RICHMOND — Slats of saffron light creep up the wall as afternoon inches toward dusk at Billy Nichols’ apartment. Warm air and sound pour through his open security gate from the fifth-floor breezeway beyond.

Discomfort prevents him from zipping up his pants, but the 68-year-old diabetic maintains a clear-eyed composure, despite a galaxy of pustular bedbug bites on his back and buttocks.

This Richmond resident knows what scores of others learned during an itchy, unsanitary summer at this city-maintained complex.

It gets worse. Just wait until the light dies.

“They come out of the walls, the ceiling, when it’s dark. I just sit here in my chair and I hear ‘em,” Nichols said. “I feel them on me, crawling on my arms.”

A plague of the bloodsucking pests continues to torment scores of tenants in the 150-unit Hacienda high-rise in central Richmond, where the city Housing Authority houses the poor, elderly and disabled. Tenant leaders estimate that a bedbug infestation first noticed in March has spread to at least half the apartments.

They wonder why they’re still waiting for relief, six months later.

“I was homeless for four years. I slept in fields, under freeway overpasses,” said Denise Cordoba, who lives on the fourth floor. “But it wasn’t until I moved here that I got bedbugs.”

City officials say they plan to treat infested units. Residents suggest the city empty every unit by moving tenants into temporary housing and fumigating the entire complex, an option Housing Authority Director Tim Jones said he will consider.

“We will inspect and treat as many units as necessary to fully eradicate the problem,” Jones said.

Jones said he knew of 11 affected apartments, though the tenants council sent the Housing Authority a petition for relief in mid-April that 63 tenants signed.

Cockroaches and rats make their appearances, always have. But bedbugs bite. Their saliva makes skin itch, raises bumps that stand out on exposed arms and legs throughout the complex on a warm weekday afternoon. The pests burrow maddeningly into the building, literally and figuratively. They have come to dominate the thoughts and conversations of most who live here.

“I’m up all night long,” Cordoba said. “I wonder what’s going up in my hair, my ear.”

Cordoba knows the bugs will come for her when she starts to drift. So instead of resting, she lies awake all night on blankets on her bedroom floor, despite her arthritis. She used to have a mattress, but it was so infested that she had to get rid of it.

Exterminators visited a handful of units in May, told the tenants to call back if they started seeing more bugs in 20 days or so, said Dolores Johnson, president of the tenants council. Cordoba called after 10, but nobody came out to spray again. A number of residents received letters in mid-August telling them the city would exterminate but needs them to vacate for at least eight days. The Housing Authority and members of the resident council met Thursday ?to discuss how to tackle the problem.

Bug bites now mark residents and frequent visitors to the Hacienda like an exotic leprosy. Tenants poke speckled arms out their doors for inspection, talk about how their grandchildren no longer visit.

“It’s an ungodly feeling,” Cordoba said, “like the hair standing up on the back of your neck.”

Some collect great jars and bags of the flat, red-brown insects. Itch medicine doesn’t always help. Nor does getting down on hands and knees to scrub walls and floors with bleach, which Nichols does daily, despite his paraplegia.

The bugs just keep coming back, no matter how many times you wash your sheets and clothes.

“They like to hang on in the seams of mattresses,” Nichols said. “I used to brush mine every day. But I could see these tiny little pink things coming up through the fabric. Those are the babies. The adults are about the size of an apple seed, look just like them.”

The wingless bugs grow to about one-quarter inch in length, and all drink the blood of people and warm-blooded animals. When a bedbug feeds, its body swells and turns bright red, according to Contra Costa Health Services. They crawl or are carried from one place to another and, like roaches, spread gregariously.

Spraying in one unit will not eliminate the pests if they remain in the immediate area; for this reason, tenants advocate a building-wide extermination.

It can’t come soon enough for Shirley Malbrough, whose grandchildren won’t visit because they’re afraid.

Malbrough lives in a stark room, mattress pulled away from the wall. Not that it helps.

“They’ve been biting on me since April, and they’re still biting on me,” Malbrough said. “It’s no way to live.”

Woman Files Lawsuit Against Motel Owner Over Bedbugs

Source:  Virginian Pilot

A woman is suing an Oceanfront motel owner, contending that he knew bedbugs were in the room he leased to her and her infant son this year.

Michelle A. Scott is seeking $100,000 in compensation from Dan Perrella, owner of La Coquille Motel on 16th Street, for the medical treatment of her son. The boy was “significantly and permanently injured” by bedbug bites, “suffered itching, rashes, pock marks, scarring, humiliation and embarrassment and remains injured permanently from the insect infestation,” she said in her complaint filed in Virginia Beach Circuit Court.

Perrella, meanwhile, said the woman’s son was covered with scabs when they checked in. When he asked whether the child was all right, Scott told him the boy had chickenpox.

After Perrella learned bedbugs were in the room, he said, he moved mother and child to one of his other properties, the Flagship Resort Inn. He suspects they brought the bugs to La Coquille.

The city health department has received two complaints of bedbugs at La Coquille this year.

One – the subject of this lawsuit – occurred in February. It was a “complete infestation” confined to a single room, said Erin Sutton, environmental health manager for the city’s public health department.

The second complaint involved a few of the pests in another room in May, she said.

Through Labor Day weekend, city officials found bedbugs in 10 Beach hotels this year. Six had just a few bugs in a single room, Sutton said.

“Any hotel can be a victim of bedbugs being brought in, from five stars to no stars,” she said. “With travelers being a transient population, they can bring them in.”

She described the critters as a nationwide problem for the hotel industry and insisted “a bedbug complaint is not a reflection of the type of hotel it is.”

Four hotels, including La Coquille, had more serious problems with the bugs.

The Oceanfront Super 8 and the Cerca del Mar motel had some bugs in multiple rooms, but not on the level of an infestation, Sutton said.

At the Castle Motel on Pacific Avenue, officials found infestations in some rooms and a few bugs in others, Sutton said.

That motel is also owned by Perrella. Two years ago, officials shut it down because of a bedbug infestation.

Perrella said then, and again this year, that he rid the 47-room property of the pests by fumigating and replacing mattresses. The work in 2007, he said, cost close to $40,000, and he estimated he lost an additional $20,000 in revenue.

Last week, he spent $1,400 to have a contractor spray for pests as a precaution before the Labor Day weekend, he said.

He said homeless guests who check in are often the source of the bugs, and he had begun to turn them away. “I don’t need any more incidents.”

The current lawsuit isn’t the first that Perrella has faced over bedbugs.

A guest who stayed at the Castle Motel around the time of its 2007 infestation sued Perrella and eventually received a $10,000 settlement, he said.

Apartment Fire Displaces 14 – Caused by Bed Bug Do It Yourself Approach

Source:  cincinnati.com

COLERAIN TWP. – Fourteen people were temporarily displaced overnight in a fire at an apartment building in the 3100 block of Regal Lane, according to Hamilton County emergency communication reports.

One minor injury was reported in the 3:23 a.m. blaze, a dispatcher said. The victim was treated at the scene for a minor burn and released.

Flames and heavy smoke were visible from the apartment building when fire crews arrived, reports state.

Colerain Township police officers got to the building just before the fire department and began evacuating residents, said Colerain Township Police Sgt. Mike Owens. They carried out a few people, including an elderly man who was treated by paramedics and released.

Colerain Township firefighters woke a sleeping couple on the third floor, but by then it was too late to take them into the smoke-filled hallway to leave the building, Owens said. They were eventually rescued off their balcony.

The fire was contained to its origin, a bedroom in a second floor apartment, and reported knocked down by 3:38 a.m.

Fire investigators have determined the blaze was started by a resident spraying for bed bugs while smoking, said Capt. Steve Conn, spokesman for the Colerain Township Fire Department.

“They were spraying for bed bugs, and it had alcohol in it,” Conn said. “One of the residents lit up a cigarette, and it basically flashed and started the room on fire.”

By 6 a.m., all but three or four of the residents had returned to their units, Conn said. The American Red Cross is assisting the displaced family.

Damage is estimated at $20,000, according to Conn.