411: Bedbug Blight

Ugh, we like to live by the philosophy that if we ignore something, it'll go away. Unfortunately, the resurgence of bedbugs gets so much ink in the press we can't ignore it. At this point we've taken to sleeping with a flashlight, our body hermetically sealed in Hefty bags. According to BoingBoing (via the LA Times):

New York City apartment dwellers lodged 4,638 bedbug complaints in fiscal 2006, up from none three years earlier. Complaints ballooned 67% in the first half of this year from their pace a year earlier.

Bedbugs were virtually eradicated from the U.S. in the 1940s and 1950s, Miller said. The cause of their resurgence is not officially known, though theories include increased international travel in which the bugs hitch a ride on clothing or in luggage and decreased use of pesticides such as DDT.

Here's the thing, we need to bring back the DDT. We know that kills the fuckers. Listen, We're all up for a little extra toxicity if it ends this urban plague. What's a few more deadly chemicals in our already compromised bloodstream? We just want peace of mind.

Bedbug "Plague"Continues To Grow [BoingBoing]