Philadelphia's Bed Bug Task Force Brainstorming Ways To Stop Pests
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia's Bed Bug Task Force held their quarterly meeting Wednesday morning at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
The task force met before folks interested in brainstorming policies to help curb bed bugs. Cole Holmes, from The Association For The Development Of Human Potential, was among those in the audience. "This is a plague, a modern-day plague! And we need help from our city," said Holmes.
Michelle Niedermeier, Bed Bug Task Force member and Community Outreach Educator for the Pennsylvania Pest Management Program estimates bed bugs affect about 11% of the city but said, "There are no real good estimates of bed bug problems because no one's in charge of them currently."
She says they are hoping to implement bed bug regulations, but aren't yet sure if that means fines, inspections or something else.
"We had this meeting to let Philadelphians know that the city is interested in doing something about the bed bug problem and to take a look at what other municipalities are doing," Niedermeier said.
Meanwhile, Holmes expressed concern about the cost of eradicating the pests. "I think the city's gonna have to devote some resources to educating folks in the community about what to do to stop bringing these bed bugs out," he said.
