The government has been forced to step in to calm an increasingly anxious nation that will host the Olympic Games in just over nine months -- a prime venue for infestations of the crowd-loving insects.Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne called a meeting of ministers for Friday to tackle the bedbug crisis.
More than one household in 10 in France was infested with bedbugs between 2017 and 2022, according to a report by the National Agency for Health and Food Safety. The agency relied on a poll by Ipsos to query people on a topic that many prefer to avoid discussing because they fear going public with a bedbug problem will stigmatize them.
Kevin Le Mestre, director of Lutte Antinuisible, said his company is getting "dozens and dozens" of calls. In the past, he said, people often didn't react, even to bites. Bedbugs, an age-old curse on humans, seemingly disappeared with treatment by harsh, now-banned insecticides. They made a reappearance in the 1950s, especially in densely populated cities like New York. And they travel the world thanks to commerce and tourism."All human population movements are profitable for bedbugs because they go with us, to hotels, in transport," said Berenger.
Ottawa 'carefully' considering unsealing records after recognition of another Nazi veteran comes to light