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Bed bugs are small but create big problems. (Wikimedia Commons)

By Debra Atlas

The idea of bed bugs in your home or hotel room strikes terror in the hearts and imaginations of many people. Yet it has become a reality in such diverse places as luxury hotels, well-known department stores, and in many homes.

Bed bugs were mentioned by such noted authors as Aristotle, Pliny, and others as far back as 400 BC in ancient Greece. Once thought to be a health scourge caused by lack of cleanliness, newer data shows a likely link to climate change, which along with the ban on the use of DDT, has created a direct increase in the volume of pests.

There is a proven natural remedy and prevention method. Greenbug All Natural Pest Control Products uses cedar as a natural pest deterrent. Made with 10 percent organic cedar oil and 90 percent silane (liquefied quartz), Greenbug is deadly to pests but safe for humans, animals—and the environment.

According to Greenbug’s Web site, a study shows the direct spray of Greenbug for People causes “immediate immobilization of the bed bug nymphs, followed by 100% mortality within 1 minute of the topical application.” As for bug eggs treated with Greenbug, the site says the study found that “[n]one of the 61 treated eggs hatched after 17 days compared to 75% egg hatch in a non-treated control group.”

Standard treatment for bed bugs and other equally obnoxious pests such as head lice uses serious pesticides, which are composed of poisons, neurotoxins, and carcinogens. The use of these harsh chemicals is linked to a variety of health issues, including asthma, autism, ADHD, and cancer.

The 2008 United Nations’ Stockholm conference identified the top ten most serious chemical offenders and devised a plan to eradicate their use. The following year, more chemicals were added to the list, including lindane, the key ingredient in head lice treatments. Interestingly, an exception granted to the pharmaceutical industry stated that lindane is allowable to treat head lice. And we’re slathering this toxic chemical on our kids’ heads?

Concerned for the environment, Louise and Dan Hodges, founders of Greenbug, became aware of the cumulative effects of pesticides affecting people, animals, honey bees, and butterflies—the latter of which are key pollinators for fruit trees, produce, and other important vegetation. Their discovery of cedar’s effectiveness for pest control provides a great natural alternative to synthetic chemical treatments.

But gaining recognition and acceptance from the pest control industry has been an uphill climb. “Pests professionals scoff at [Greenbug],” says Louise Hodges. She feels that their thinking is “if it’s natural, it doesn’t work.”

Current treatment for household bed bugs includes stripping the house of all its contents, placing them inside a sealed truck or container, then filling the container with serious chemicals, saturating everything for several hours. After airing the container out for hours, everything is then placed back inside the house.

Greenbug is chemical free and safe, Louise Hodges says. A pest control professional recently told her that people do not care if the treatment is safe. “They just want it to work!” she says.

Not only do Greenbug products proactively treat bed bugs, there is another distinct difference between Greenbug and standard pesticides. These environmentally friendly products also prevent them. Greenbug products can be used safely in newborn nurseries and directly on pets (even puppies). They leave no stain or residue behind and have a pleasant fragrance.

Greenbug products come in several varieties and sizes. The personal size, two-ounce spray bottle is perfect for travel and even accepted by TSA for carry-on. FDA approved to use around food, Greenbug for Indoors is a cinch for kitchen use. Spray and work Greenbug for Pets directly into your pet’s coat for protection and relief from crawling pests. Greenbug for Outdoors can be used directly on garden plants or your home’s foundation. It comes in ready-to-use or concentrated formulas.

Greenbug is effective in killing all kinds of pests, including:

• head lice
• bed bugs
• fleas
• mosquitoes
• fire ants
• horse flies
• roaches
• flies and black flies
• dust mites
• aphids
• ticks, and
• chiggers, no-see-ems, and sand gnats

It takes only one use for Greenbug to work, says Louise Hodges.

“If there’s a large infestation of head lice,” she suggests, “Greenbug for Indoors can be used with laundry loads [and] more cost effectively on large-scale items or areas that [cannot] be laundered.”

Consumers will need a professional fogger to apply Greenbug for bed bugs. The company sells foggers, but people also can purchase the natural pesticide, then have a professional apply it.

An environmental journalist and blogger, Debra Atlas is reachable through  Eco-hub.net/wp or debraatlas@gmail.com. Check out more articles by Debra Atlas.

© 2011 SCGH, LLC.

A smoke alarm can make the difference between life and death. Every home should have smoke alarms in good working condition; in fact, many cities and states require them. You should probably also have at least one alarm for carbon monoxide (CO)–a colorless, odorless gas emitted by fuel-burning devices that has been dubbed the “invisible killer.” When in good working order, a fuel-burning appliance such as a stove or oven, water heater, furnace, or boiler produces little CO. But if the device isn’t working properly, it could be emitting dangerous levels of fumes. A car left running in an attached garage is also a hazard.

At home

• Install smoke alarms in the right places. Put a smoke alarm on every level of the home, in every bedroom, and outside the bedroom areas. Err on the side of more alarms rather than fewer; they’ll provide better coverage of the whole house and give you earlier warning of a fire. But don’t put them in the garage, kitchen, or bathrooms, where false alarms can be triggered by car exhaust, cooking, and humidity.
• Install CO alarms in the right places. In smaller one-story homes, one CO sensor in a central location is sufficient. In larger homes, install one on each level in a central location. Don’t install CO alarms next to windows or exterior doors; fresh air flow can cause readings to be lower than in the rest of the house. And don’t put a CO alarm in the garage; starting a car may set the alarm off.
• Make sure your alarms work. The Consumer Products Safety Commission says millions of American homes have smoke alarms that don’t work, usually because of dead or missing batteries. If your alarms have batteries, test them monthly by pushing the test button. Replace the batteries annually.
• Replace old alarms. Replace smoke alarms every 10 years and CO alarms every 5 years. Check the back of the alarm for the date it was manufactured. Combination CO and Smoke alarms purchased after April 2007 should have a built-in end of life warning that will alert you to the need to purchas a new one after 5 years.

When shopping, look for

• UL listing. To ensure quality, buy smoke and CO alarms that are certified by Underwriters Laboratories (UL).
• Dual-sensor smoke alarms. Smoke alarms come with two types of sensors. Ionization sensors detect small particles produced by flaming fires. Photoelectric sensors detect larger particles from smoky, smoldering fires. The safest strategy is to install both types of sensors, or to buy a dual-sensor unit that uses both technologies.
• Power options. The most basic smoke and CO alarms run on batteries that need to be replaced every year. Plug-in models are convenient for CO alarms, but don’t make as much sense for smoke alarms, which work best when mounted near the ceiling. Hardwired alarms are also available, and some building codes require them in new homes. If you choose plug-in or hardwired alarms, make sure they have a battery backup in case the power goes out. For larger homes, interconnected alarms (either battery-powered or hardwired) are a good idea; if there’s a problem in one part of the home, all the alarms will sound throughout the home. Some home security systems include smoke alarms.
• Extra features. Some alarms have both a beeping alarm and a voice alert. If you think anyone in your household is likely to sleep through the beeping alarm, the voice alert might add another level of safety. For people with hearing impairments, there are smoke and CO alarms equipped with flashing lights.

Other Considerations

• Fuel-burning appliances should be installed according to local building codes by trained professionals. It’s a good idea to have your heating systems inspected annually by a heating professional or your utility company. Be wary of a stove with orange instead of blue flames. It isn’t burning the gas completely and is producing too much CO.
• Ionization smoke alarms contain a very small amount of a radioactive material called americium-241. The U.S. EPA says these devices are safe and pose no radiation health risk as long as you don’t tamper with the alarm or try to remove the americium. When disposing of an alarm of this type, discuss your options with your local recycling department or household hazardous waste facility.

Benefits…

…to your health
Smoke and CO alarms save lives. About two-thirds of the people who die in home fires in the United States each year were in homes without working smoke alarms. About 140 people die every year from unintentional CO exposure.

Early signs of CO exposure are similar to cold or flu symptoms, and include fatigue, headache, dizziness, shortness of breath, and nausea. If you suspect you’re being sickened by CO, leave the building immediately and call the fire department. Symptoms of CO poisoning will usually go away if you leave the building, whereas if you have the flu or a cold, you’ll still feel sick.

…to your wallet
Smoke and CO alarms are one of the least expensive life-saving purchases you can make. Smoke alarms start at about $7. You’ll spend $25 and up for a dual-sensor (ionization and photoelectric) smoke alarm, a CO alarm, or a combined smoke/CO alarm.

Less expensive CO models beep when CO exceeds threshold levels for a certain period of time. In addition to beeping, the more expensive CO alarms have digital displays that show the CO levels in parts per million.

Common Mistakes

• Misusing appliances. Never use gas generators, camp stoves, or charcoal grills indoors, even if the windows are open. And never use them in an enclosed or semi-enclosed space like a garage, basement, or crawlspace. Never use a gas stove, oven, or clothes dryer to heat your home. Be extremely careful if using an unvented, portable kerosene heater for emergency or localized heat–unlike furnaces, kerosene heaters don’t have flues to vent exhaust gases. If using a kerosene heater, follow the manufacturer’s safety directions and always have a CO alarm in the room.
• Idling a car in the garage. CO fumes from a car that’s left running in an attached garage for an extended period of time can kill the occupants of the house–even if the garage door is open.

Getting Started

When moving into a new home, test the alarms to make sure they are working. Check the back for the manufacturing date and replace them if you have a CO alarm more than five years old or a smoke alarm more than ten years old. If there is no date, replace them unless you know they are new.

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Indoor Air Quality

Home Performance and Indoor Air Quality Experts

Radon kills about 20,000 Americans each year. It’s the nation’s second leading cause of lung cancer, and the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers.

A colorless and odorless radioactive gas, radon is produced from the decay of uranium, which occurs naturally in most soil. The gas is almost always present at low levels in the outside air; it only becomes a health concern if it gets trapped inside a building. Radon can enter a house from well water and sometimes from building materials like granite and other stone. But the main source of radon pollution is from the soil beneath the home.

The only way to tell if radon is present in your home is to test for it. The U.S. EPA and surgeon general recommend testing all homes below the third floor. Here’s what you need to know:

Top Tips

• Do it yourself. You can test your home using an inexpensive kit available online and from many hardware stores. For the first test, buy a short-term test kit. It will typically consist of a small charcoal canister that you keep in your home for two days or longer. You’ll need to keep your windows and outside doors closed as much as possible during the testing period. Then mail the kit to the address indicated on the package. A laboratory will mail the results back to you, along with an explanation of what the results mean.
• If the test results are high, test again. Levels in a given home vary from day to day and season to season. If the short-term test results show more than 4 picoCuries of radon per liter of air (pCi/L), it’s a good idea to do a long-term test. Long-term tests are more accurate because they average the levels over 90 days or more. You can buy a long-term test kit at a hardware store or online, or you can hire a qualified tester. If the long-term test confirms levels above 4 pCi/L, it’s a smart idea to fix your home.
• Fix your home. Retrofitting most homes to reduce gas levels isn’t complicated, but you’ll probably want to hire a state-certified radon mitigation contractor. A basic mitigation system consists of a pipe and a fan that pulls the gas from below your house and vents it to the outside, typically through the roof. The cost of reducing this deadly gas in a home ranges from about $800 to $2,500, according to the EPA. Contact your state’s radon office to find a certified mitigation contractor.

Other Considerations

These days, many new homes are built to be “radon resistant.” In such homes, builders have put plastic sheeting under the slab or over the crawl space floor, sealed and caulked all cracks and openings in the foundation, and installed a vent pipe. Before buying a house (whether or not it has radon-resistant features), ask for its test results or request that a test be conducted.

Benefits…

…to your health
When you breathe air that’s contaminated with this gas, radioactive particles can damage your lungs. Smokers exposed to high levels have a particularly high risk of getting lung cancer, but it can cause cancer in non-smokers too.

Not everyone exposed to elevated levels will get lung cancer, but why take the chance? It’s easy and inexpensive to test for. And it’s not complicated to have your home fixed if it is a problem.

…to your wallet
You can buy test kits online and from hardware stores. The National Safety Council, a nonprofit organization, sells short-term test kits for $9.95 and long-term test kits for $20; the price includes laboratory analysis. Prices for tests by professional testers vary depending on the type of testing device used, travel distances, and other factors, but expect to pay $100 to $150.

Common Mistakes

Procrastination. Avoid the potential long-term effects of indoor air pollution by testing your home now. If you find your levels are in the danger zone, fix the problem as promptly as possible.

Getting Started

• If a home is being tested as part of a real estate transaction, hire a qualified professional to conduct the test so that the seller and potential buyers have confidence in the test results. Contact your state’s radon office to locate nearby testing contractors.
• For more information about testing for radon and fixing a radon problem, visit the EPA’s radon website or call 1-800-SOS-RADON.