Giant freezer may be a solution to Montreal’s intractable bed bugs infestation

National Post ^

[ameribbean expat]

MONTREAL — In the basement of a public housing complex on the outskirts of downtown Montreal is a large walk-in freezer used solely to kill bed bugs.

The freezer is a local solution to a problem that has been haunting the city for years and is not improving, says Melanie Sanche, head of sanitation for the public housing authority.

As in many large North American cities, cases of bed bugs have exploded here in the past 10 to 15 years, and the problem is particularly acute in areas with transient populations such as students, as well as in districts with high poverty rates and vulnerable residents, say exterminators.

The freezer, which is four metres deep, five metres tall and kept at -22 C, is exclusively for residents of the roughly 20,000 units managed by the housing authority.

Inside, bins hold carpets and plastic bags filled with bed bug-ridden clothing for four days, which Sanche says is the minimum time needed to make sure the insects are dead.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Cool

[Cowboy Bob]

and the problem is particularly acute in areas with transient populations such as students, as well as in districts with high poverty rates and vulnerable residents, say exterminators.

Shhh! Don't mention illegals!

[goldstategop]

You can do the same thing with apartment buildings but they have to be fumigated at sub-zero temperature for several hours to kill all the pests.

[Vigilanteman]

Or they could just turn off all the heat for three days or so in another three months or so . . .

[2banana]

Great solution for a city that never sees winter...

[al baby]

BBLM Bed Bug lives matter

[the OlLine Rebel]

How many Mex illegals have they been importing?

[mosaicwolf]

...vulnerable residents"?

Now that is a new one. I'll have to remember that description.

[DoughtyOne]

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...this is a general all-purpose message, and should not be seen as targeting any individual I am responding to...

[capt. norm]

Bed bugs were nearly driven to extinction by DDT years ago. If they are really serious about it, they need to allow DDT in some workable arrangement or invent something better.

If you become the main course at a bed bug banquet you can thank Rachael Carson. It puts you in the same category as the thousands of people suffering and dying from malaria and yellow fever...maybe even zika.

Her book has been disproved but for liberals, facts can't be allowed to get in the way.

[TigersEye]

Montreal is a giant freezer in the winter isn’t it?

[UB355]

Hotel Impossible, Travel Channel uses heating method, whole room treatment @ 160 degrees if I remember right

[Lumper20]

What is ironic is the apple pickers that picked apples all of 60 miles South of Montreal for my uncle were French Canadians. In the summer my grandfather had to first go to our family’s summer home on Lake Champlain to ensure the Canadians were not sleeping/staying in the buildings.

[Talisker]

Bed bugs were nearly driven to extinction by DDT years ago. If they are really serious about it, they need to allow DDT in some workable arrangement or invent something better.

If you become the main course at a bed bug banquet you can thank Rachael Carson. It puts you in the same category as the thousands of people suffering and dying from malaria and yellow fever...maybe even zika.

Her book has been disproved but for liberals, facts can't be allowed to get in the way.

This is so true - DDT is a gift from God that has been deliberately withdrawn and killed millions as a result, solely by liberals.

But then, one of the defining characteristics of liberals is that they are not touched by mass death.

[dhs12345]

One of the reasons why I live in Colorado; no bugs!

The colder winters and dry temps prevent the nasty little buggers.

[Right-wing Librarian]

The leaves of the kidney bean plant, spread around a room, will eliminate bed bugs. Soooooooo simple, yet sooooo elusive:

Bedbugs No Match For Kidney Bean Leaves; Eastern European Folk Remedy Proves Effective

http://www.ibtimes.com/bedbugs-no-match-kidney-bean-leaves-eastern-european-folk-remedy-proves-effective-1184019

A New Solution For Bedbugs: Kidney Bean Leaves

https://www.fastcoexist.com/1681875/a-new-solution-for-bedbugs-kidney-bean-leaves

Bean leaves can trap bedbugs, researchers find

https://news.uci.edu/press-releases/bean-leaves-can-trap-bedbugs-researchers-find/

[Reily]

Since Rachel Carson & her pseudo-science book were key in stampeding Luddite environmentalists to get DDT banned, I tell people she is the greatest mass murderer that ever lived.

[SpaceBar]

This was the original purpose of the broad spectrum pest funimant Zyclon-B. The nazis of course used it in a manner inconsistent with its labeling.

[SpaceBar]

fumigant