An article lists the pros – but not the cons – of a bed bug pesticide.
The Columbus Dispatch article did not include the unintended human health consequences of indoor exposure to the toxic pesticides meant to kill bed bugs.
In Ohio, it is getting harder to sleep tight and not let the bed bugs bite. Exterminating the resilient pest is tricky, as an article by The Columbus Dispatch reporter Doug Caruso describes. Once established, these tiny insects can spread quickly. It can take months of washing, cleaning, spraying and meticulous watching to rid them from a home or building.
What is missing from Caruso's otherwise well-written article is the potential downside of the proposed solution to authorize the use of the pesticide propoxur inside infested homes.
Propoxur, introduced in 1959 and sold under numerous trade names, is mostly used outside to control cockroaches and other pests. The chemical inhibits the enzyme cholinesterase (ChE). This enzyme is essential for transmission of nerve impulses in animals, including insects and people.
Pesticides like propoxur disable this enzyme, causing nerve disruption and death in insects. In people, exposure to them can result in acute symptoms of neurotoxicity, including tremors, nausea, muscle weakness, paralysis and death at higher doses. Low dose exposure can induce nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, severe headache, fatigue, pulmonary edema, diarrhea and dizziness.
A range of human health effects have been linked to ChE-inhibiting pesticide exposure. These include impaired neurological development fetuses and infants, low birth weight, chronic fatigue syndrome and Parkinson's disease. Propoxur is also considered to be a carcinogen under Proposition 65 in the state of California and is classified as “Highly Toxic” on the Material Safety Data Sheet.
This class of pesticides is also highly toxic to birds and aquatic species. Propoxure breaks down slowly and remains bioactive for long periods of time. This is one of the reasons that it is such an effective weapon against resilient pests like bedbugs but also a potential hazard to people, most notably children.
Human exposure is most common through the oral route but can also occur by inhaling the compound directly or with household dust. Propoxur can also be absorbed through the skin.
There is no question that bed bugs are re-emerging as a serious pest around the globe and that action needs to be taken to reduce infestation. Use of such a highly toxic chemical, however, may not be the best or only option and consumers need to be aware of the potential dangers. Providing the reader with this information would have added balance to Caruso’s otherwise well written article.
