Paris is battling an infestation of bloodsucking bedbugs on trains and in movie theaters as the city gets ready to host the 2024 Olympics
Paris is battling an infestation of bloodsucking bedbugs on trains and in movie theaters as the city gets ready to host the 2024 Olympics
You're viewing a single thread.
You know how in Plague Inc you can spread your disease via the Olympics?
I’m quite worried that will happen with bed bugs. We nearly eradicated them and have had decades of relative peace, but they’re having a hell of a resurgence. I genuinely fear a world where they become as widespread as they used to be.
Time to bring out the big gun (DDT) /s
Yeah I unironically hold this stance. My original comment is usually followed by a brief rant about how we (as a species) almost did it but banned DDT a little too early. Might be a dumb take but I feel very strongly about bed bugs.
I suspect part of it is cynicism about climate change now, where things are so bad that it feels like using DDT for a few more years wouldn’t have hurt that much. I’m not versed enough about the effects on human health, but there is truly a level of increased health risk I would accept to exterminate bed bugs. They are a blight upon humanity and a return en massé would probably cause ecological/health damage of its own.
Plus high density housing is much more appealing if you can’t get a neighbor’s bed bugs or German roaches. That’s a massive and unavoidable downside to shared buildings. I am thankful to have avoided them so far but the likelihood only grows.
DDT wreaked absolute havoc on bird of prey populations. A LOT of species were on the verge of extinction due to being at the top of the food pyramid, where the DDT levels of all their prey animals added up. Banning DDT when we did was one of the biggest wins ever in bird protection.
Hm yeah, that’s fair. I wonder if limiting it to indoors pests, specifically the big two invasive species, would have prevented that. To my (very limited) knowledge, bed bugs aren’t eaten by many things. Bats? German roaches eat them but we don’t want them either.
I’m not overly attached to DDT though, a public health program of Alpine spraying indoors would probably do the trick. I doubt anyone has the political capital to get it done, but the return of bed bugs will be disastrous