Every year at Halloween, I try very hard to be clever and timely with my costume. Although I’ve done Angelina Jolie and Britney Spears with their infants in tote, I have also been known to be less than beautiful in the name of humor. This year has been particularly difficult to come up with something that is timely, in the news, and relatively obvious to everyone not living under a rock. But then it hit me – the perfect costume would be a bed bug!
Who hasn’t heard of bed bugs recently? They are everywhere and the control methods woefully inadequate. Well, it seems they are inadequate because the news of places that have treated for bed bugs seem to be closed again for further treatment. Not a very comforting thought to enter a business harboring parasites that attack when you are sound asleep and most vulnerable.
Schools, libraries, retail stores, theaters, hospitals, nursing homes, colleges plus all the private homes teeming with bed bugs proves how prevalent they are. The likelihood of coming into contact with bed bugs within the next five years is statistically 100% so if not now, perhaps tomorrow? Next Thursday? Will it be before or after Christmas when you realize you brought them home with you?
Is the threat of bed bugs as likely as the continuing economic downturn? Is this something the news outlets discuss only when there are no ripe political scandals to discuss? Is this a trick in which we are destined to spend our money aimlessly preventing a catastrophic Y2K that never materialized?
Yes – it is the end of the world and No – there is no need to panic. Since that clearly makes no sense, let me explain.
If we continue on the path of conventional pest control against bed bugs, we are slowly killing the Earth and ourselves with toxic, synthetic chemicals that accumulate and create disease – yet have less and less effect on pests. Not the right path and yes, panic is justified.
However, there ARE options that work on bed bugs that are natural, safe and harmless to humans, animals and the environment like Greenbug. Greenbug is the ‘green’ way to wipe out bugs. Less expensive, 100% effective and bed bugs become a non-issue.
The future belongs to those prepared to face it and in the realm of bed bugs, we can all be ready. No tricks, no costumes and no hype – just safe ingredients provided by Nature that kill and repel bed bugs. You won’t bring them home, you’ll sleep soundly, and all those toxic chemicals will stay out of the environment as well as your body.
So for Halloween, if you see an outfit that has a straw for a mouth for sucking blood; is a dark red color the same shade of a scab; and has the ability to withstand all types of poisons – well it just may be me dressed up for the occasion. But at the end of the night, I won’t be worried about real bed bugs because I am prepared. And that is a treat.