"Feds Waking Up To Nightmare Of Bedbugs"

When I first saw this story, I thought I had to link to it simply because the headline was so funny.

Faced with rising numbers of complaints to city information lines and increasingly frustrated landlords, hotel chains and housing authorities, the Environmental Protection Agency is hosting its first-ever bed bug summit on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Then when I read the above paragraph, I figured as a bonus I could talk about the intrusive nanny state. What on earth does the federal government have to do with keeping bugs out of my bed?

At this point, I considered and passed on numerous bad jokes about NSA and warrantless wiretapping.

Finally, I realized I had a true FatCratz trifecta. It seems that one of the leading causes of the bedbug resurgence is... government regulation:

The EPA, out of concern for the environment and the effects on public health, has pulled many of the chemicals that were most effective in eradicating the bugs from the U.S. over the last 50 years - such as DDT - off of shelves.

... Because the registration of new pesticides takes so long, one thing the EPA could do is to approve some pesticides for emergency use, Miller said. The pesticide industry will be pushing for federal funding for research into alternative solutions, such as heating, freezing or steaming the bugs out of bedrooms.

So, bedbugs are making a comeback because DDT and other effective treatments were regulated by the government, and the government takes too long to approve new pesticides, and we have an industry pressing for even more federal funding for exotic (and more expensive) solutions such as "heating, freezing, or steaming" the bugs. 

Meanwhile, DDT's non-agricultural use for pest control has been shown to be both safe and cost-effective, and all-or-nothing bans on the pesticide are blamed for the deaths of hundreds of thousands, even millions, in the developing world from malaria.

Hat tip to Best of the Web Today.