January 15th, 2009
Sniffing Out Bed Bugs
By now everyone in New York and New Jersey has heard of the rise in bed bug infestations. They have been found virtually everywhere and are causing pain in both their bites and the wallet. The great news is that there is a fairly new avenue to take to help you win the war against bed bugs.

A resent trend in bed bug detection has been to utilize canine detection. Dogs have a far greater sense of smell than we humans do. In fact, dogs can detect smells up to 10,000 times better than humans can. Bed bugs leave behind a specific scent that humans are only able to smell if the infestation is in advanced stages. Bed bug detection dogs help pinpoint exact locations where bed bugs are hiding by using their fantastic sense of smell.

Since bed bugs are masters at picking their hiding places, humans are not always able to see exactly where they are. As a result, locating bed bugs can take hours. Bed bugs have been known to hide not only in beds, but also in walls, picture frames, telephones, electrical outlets, video game consoles, computers and basically anywhere they so choose.

Bed bug detection dogs can spot a bed bug in as little as 20 seconds with 100 percent accuracy. On average, a single hotel room will take only 2 minutes to be examined by a dog. These trained dogs will help exterminators locate the pests so they can be completely eradicated once and for all.

Stay tuned to Stern Environmental so you can help welcome their new expert bed bug sniffing dogs which are expected at the end of January

January 27th, 2009

Barking Up A Storm For Bed Bugs

Working dogs have been helping mankind for many years. You can find sight assistance dogs, bomb sniffing dogs, criminal seeking dogs, rescue dogs, arson detection dogs, drug seeking dogs and search dogs. They all work for the simple joy of a treat, a new toy, a belly rub or a pat on the head. They all perform their “job” any time they are asked to with amazing accuracy.

Stern Environmental now has a new weapon to help battle bed bugs…bed bug detection dogs. These K-9 detectives are trained to sniff out bed bugs in homes, hotel rooms and apartments faster than a speeding bullet. Well not really that fast, but they can search an entire room in only a few minutes. Exterminators can take a couple of hours to search a home so the comparison is unbelievable. Bed bug detection dogs can detect bed bugs in any location in your home. Bed bugs will hide not only in beds, but in other furniture, computers, telephones, walls, and outlets to name a few. They are sneaky little pests, but they can’t hide from the powerful nose of these trained dogs.

Contact Stern Environmental Group right away so they can unleash their new bed bug detection dog arsenal upon your bed bugs!

February 5th, 2009
Are Foggers On The Way Out?
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced in October of 2008 that they were going to reclassify Total Release Foggers, a.k.a. bug bombs. The new classification would have bug bombs become a “restricted use” product. If bugs bombs were to be reclassified, than the general public would no longer be able to obtain them for personal use. These pesticides would still be available to licensed exterminators though.

New studies have shown that bug bombs are posing health risks and acute illnesses from pesticide exposure in people who have used them. Many of the medical issues that people have encountered are due to the fact that too many bug bombs were administered at one time or proper ventilation procedures were not followed after the bug bombs were used. Some health problems have also been noted in buildings where shared venting systems were in place, as the chemicals were transported through the air. Additionally, some people are just generally more susceptible to pesticide poisoning. Bug bombs have even been known to explode upon use.

Although bug bombs may work well for some insects, bug bombs are not a good way to treat for bed bug infestations. They are known to make bed bugs scatter and spread infestations into adjoining rooms. When you live in a multi-unit building and use a bug bomb, bed bugs will quickly spread and become a problem for your neighbor.

The Department of Environmental Conservation is currently reversing themselves on this issue. They have received requests from some groups asking that bug bombs not be removed from the hands of consumers. You have to wonder how many more people need to become sick or injured before they will take notice.

February 6th, 2009
Bed Bugs Resource Web Page for Everyone
The pest control experts at Stern Environmental not only eliminate pests they often write about them. Stern Environmental has created a bed bugs/pest control web page that includes articles that comprehensively examine a variety of issues regarding bed bugs, such as who is responsible to pay for bed bugs pest control services, college dorms and bed bugs, the hospitality industry and bed bugs, has there really been a bed bugs invasion, bed bugs and real estate and other issues.

Douglas Stern, the Managing Partner of Stern Environmental has actually been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal regarding bed bugs and the web page includes a link to the insightful article. The web page even has a link to bed bugs pictures and also bed bugs bite marks. Not pretty but informative.

I know, some of you are wondering, well what about those pests known as wolverines? Well, we don’t have any insight about those critters but our web page does include astute articles about scarier critters such as rodents, rats and mice. For those of you who want information on bees and wasps, yes we have it on the web page

[newyorkvsbedbugs.org]

I live in an apartment in Manhattan and I just discovered that I have bed bugs. I have informed my management company and the owner of the apt, they are both refusing to help me get rid of the bugs as they are saying that I brought them in. I want to make a complaint on 311, but I am nervous as the manager said that I brought them in and they could file a complaint against me. I do not want to become blacklisted from future apartments, but I can't afford to pay a lot to have my place exterminated. What are my rights as a tenant in this situation?

March 30th, 2009
Do NYC Bed Bugs Prefer England?
Some bored NYC bed bugs decided to hitch a ride on some visitors from Britain and enjoy life in England. A London lawyer woke up in her Manhattan hotel room and discovered she had itchy bite marks all over her body. When she got back home in the United Kingdom here house became infested with bed bugs and she had two treatments done to here residence.

Residents in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Manhattan complain about tourists bringing bed bugs to NYC but they also leave NYC and are probably scattered all over the world. Fortunately they don’t have “made in NYC” stamped on them. Bed bugs are lurking all over NYC which gives tourists plenty of chances to acquire a gang of bed bugs. Last year there were over 10,000 reported bed bugs infestations but most people think there were substantially more bed bugs cases.

One exterminator found a mattress in a Brooklyn apartment which he claims had about three to five hundred bed bugs living on it. How many other mattresses in NYC have a massive bed bug community living on them? If hotel owners claim they limit the bed bug population to 138 per mattress, tourists should not pleased!

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When Bed Bugs Check In, Guests Check Out!
What hoteliers can do to protect themselves from bed bug problems
By Douglas Stern, Managing Partner, Stern Environmental Group

Bed Bugs!!! Avoid this hotel! warns TripAdvisor.com. Hoteliers are finding that notices posted on popular travel review sites can be disastrous for business. One upscale hotel saw its five-star rating on Yahoo! Travel plummet to one star overnight when guests reported sharing their bed with bed bugs. Increasingly, distraught guests whose sleep has been disturbed by the tiny blood-sucking pests are outing hotels on internet sites and filing lawsuits. BedbugRegistry.com is devoted to traveler accounts of bed bug attacks at hotels, complete with addresses and maps. Concerned hoteliers feel unfairly trapped. While hotels have a responsibility to protect the health and welfare of their guests, it's usually guests who bring bed bugs into a hotel.

Adept hitchhikers, bed bugs travel into hotel rooms in guests' luggage and set up housekeeping. Bed bugs are nuisance pests that feed on human blood. Difficult to detect, adults are russet brown and about the size of an apple seed, but nymphs are microscopic and nearly translucent. While bed bugs do not transmit disease, their bites can cause itchy, red welts, psychosomatic stress and severe allergic reactions. When their original meal ticket checks out, bed bugs burrow into crevices in or near beds, behind wall plates, inside clocks and under carpets to await their next victim. They'll crawl along electrical and plumbing conduits and air ducts in search of new prey, infecting adjacent rooms. Maids may inadvertently spread bed bugs through an entire hotel wing on cleaning carts. It doesn't take long for a few bed bugs to become a major infestation.

Increasing bed bug infestations in all 50 states prompted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to declare a bed bug epidemic in April. Pest management companies have reported a 71% increase in bed bug complaints since 2001, according to a survey by the National Pest Management Association (NPMA). Hotel outbreaks have become so numerous that NPMA and the American Hotel & Lodging Association are cohosting a National Bed Bug Symposium August 25 in New Jersey and August 27 in Seattle.

You don't have to stay in a flophouse or hostel to encounter bed bugs. Bed bugs are just as prevalent in luxury hotels and respected national chains. "Just because a motel (appears) clean and is expensive... it does not mean that they don't have bedbugs," Derrick Bender, a faculty assistant at the University of Maryland's Cumberland Extension Office, told the Cumberland Times-News. While staying at an upscale $300-a-night Annapolis hotel this summer, Bender and his wife were attacked by bed bugs.

Juries and judges have been siding with bed bug victims when cases go to court. In the 2003 landmark case (Matthias v. Accor Economy Lodging), Toronto siblings received a jury award of $382,000 against Motel 6 after sharing a room with bed bugs. In 2006, a Chicago couple sued a Catskills resort for $20 million, claiming more than 500 bed bug bites left them physically and mentally scarred. "I was miserable," plaintiff Leslie Fox told the Associated Press. "My skin felt as if it was on fire and I wanted to tear it off." In 2007, New York opera star Allison Trainer sued the Hilton hotel chain for $6 million after suffering more than 100 bed bug bites at a Hilton Suites in Phoenix. "They were all over the bed and the comforter and the pillows, and I pulled the sheets off and they were just everywhere," she told ABC News. In 2008, a guest at San Francisco's Ramada Plaza Hotel received a $71,000 out-of-court settlement, the largest to date, after 400 bed bug bites left her with a disfiguring skin condition.

While some hoteliers have irresponsibly ignored guests' complaints, in most cases the hotel didn't realize the room was infested when guests checked in. A 2008 suit against the owners of the Milford Plaza hotel in Manhattan (Grogan v. Gamber Corp.) is expected to test the limits of hoteliers' liability to their guests when bed bugs are present. A 2008 New York Supreme Court ruling allowed two Maryland tourists bitten by bed bugs during a 2003 stay to proceed with a $2 million negligence suit against the hotel and its pest control contractor. A request for punitive damages was denied, the court ruling that the hotel's actions did not show "recklessness or a conscious disregard of the rights of others." Three weeks before the Grogans checked in, the hotel's pest control contractor was directed to exterminate bed bugs in rooms near the room later inhabited by the Grogans. At issue is whether the hotel and its pest control contractor should have considered the life span and migratory abilities of bed bugs when treating the infected rooms and treated a larger area. The case has the potential to significantly increase a hotel's responsibility and liability in providing guests with safe, bed bug-free rooms.

"Those in the lodging industry who still improvidently use their unlucky guests to monitor for the presence of bed bugs run the risk of being held liable for significant damages in civil suits," warns Timothy Wenk, an attorney with Shafer Glazer, LLP, a New York/New Jersey civil defense firm. Hotels must be proactive about discovering bed bugs on their premises, not merely react to guest complaints. The EPA now recommends that hotels institute regular preventive inspections to find and treat bed bug infestations in their early stages. "In addition to consulting with pest control managers," Wenk recommends, "hoteliers should consider using bed bug monitoring systems in their rooms. If hoteliers can show that they deployed a monitoring system, they can later argue that they took reasonable and prudent steps to safeguard their guests from these blood-thirsty pests. Evidence of this type should be given great weight by judges and juries."

Several effective bed bug monitoring devices have recently come on the market. Each has unique strengths and capabilities, so it's advisable to consult a pest control professional before making a selection. Hotels that use bed bug-sniffing dogs to identify bed bug activity should consider using bed bug monitors to protect against infestation between scheduled canine inspections.

NightWatch by BioSensory, Inc. is the just one of an effective new type of bed bug monitoring devices on the market. Extensively tested and vetted by Purdue University entomologists, it uses heat, CO2 and a pheromone lure to attract, trap and kill bed bugs. It has a small footprint and has a clock timer with an automatic "on" setting and a CO2 cartridge that lasts several days.


CDC 3000 by Cimex Science is a discrete, portable monitoring and trapping device housed in a briefcase. Mimicking a human body, it lures bugs within a six-foot radius, annihilating them with CO2, making it safe around children and pets. This monitor has a CO2 cartridge that lasts about eight hours.


Bug Dome by Silvandersson will soon be available from the Swedish company that developed eco-friendly bed bug eliminator Cryonite. Using an attractant to lure bed bugs into replaceable glue traps, it plugs into any wall outlet.


BB Alert Active by MIDMOS, available in Europe, should reach U.S. markets soon. The small monitor uses replaceable packets of chemical attractant to entice bugs into a glue trap.
Hoteliers who fail to monitor and quickly eliminate bed bugs pay a devastating price in negative media attention, legal fees and lost customer loyalty. It pays to be proactive about protecting your guests – and your hotel – from these annoying pests.

About the Writer Douglas Stern
Douglas Stern is the managing partner of Stern Environmental Group and a bed bug extermination expert. His firm serves commercial and residential clients in New Jersey, New York City, New York, and Connecticut. His firm is located at 100 Plaza Drive in Secaucus, New Jersey. You can reach him toll free at 1-888-887-8376 or by email at info@sternenvironmental.com. Please visit us on the Web at www.SternEnvironmental.com (http://www.sternenvironmental.com). You can follow Douglas Stern, the Bed Bug Expert on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/bedbugexpert.

Ask a New York bedbug expert

Can you tell me if you have ever heard of a case that dealt with bed bugs but in the sale of a home. I have bought a house that was infested and have been dealing with this for over a year. The old owner new about the problem treated once than sold to me with no disclosure. I know this has to deal with Canadian law but do you have an opinion as to whether we have a case. The previous owner has basically dared us to take them to court. I think I am going to take him up on it! I am already out of pocket about 60G dealing with it!

ichin' and scrackin' in Ottawa

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Bedbugs are everywere!! Theaters, Victoria Secrets, cabs......No!

Bed bugs progress through five nymphal stages and must feed at least once to develop to the next stage and to reproduce. Adults feed every 3 to 5 days throughout their estimated 6 to 12-month life span but can live up to a year without feeding. Adult bed bugs are about 1/4-inch long, oval, flat and reddish-brown. They give off a distinctive musty, sweet odor often likened to raspberries or coriander. They often void while feeding, leaving telltale rusty or tarry spots on sheets and in hiding places. Pea-sized pearly white clusters of 200 to 500 eggs may also be evident. Bed bugs prefer warm temperatures of 83 to 90°F but can survive in climates of 5° to 120°F. Bed bugs typically like high humidity environments and may not be very active during the winter months when the heat is on, but this lower level of activity does not mean that you may not need treatment! Visit our bed bug resources page to find out more information.