To fight against this worrying “scourge” and given the “significant resurgence” of bedbugs, the first deputy at Paris City Hall announced, Friday September 29 on Franceinfo, his desire to integrate “into the contract of home insurance” the risk of being infested by bedbugs.
Given the high cost of pest control treatments, many households simply refuse to be treated. “It’s too expensive, so people give up treating their apartment and once their apartment is infested, it contaminates neighboring apartments,” emphasizes Emmanuel Grégoire.
The deputy wants, more broadly, “the clarification of who has the responsibility between the tenant and the owner and to initiate a dialogue with the insurers because we really need to remove this financial constraint which means that many people do not deal and that it ends up contaminating the neighbors.”
Paris City Hall had already challenged the government on the subject, Thursday September 28, in a letter addressed directly to Elisabeth Borne. “Bed bugs are a public health problem and should be reported as such. The State must urgently bring together all the stakeholders concerned in order to deploy an action plan commensurate with this scourge as the whole of France prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024,” writes Emmanuel. Grégoire, first deputy to the mayor, Anne Hildago.
He also calls for “pest control conferences” to be organized and for the regional health agency to “implement a mandatory declaration mechanism and support individuals with financial support” or that “the risk psychological after such an infestation is taken care of”.
11% of French households affected, according to ANSES
In recent weeks, users of several public places in the Paris region, such as the waiting area at Roissy airport, have denounced the presence of these insects.
These small insects the size of an apple seed, which feed at night, mainly on human blood, most often hide in mattresses and box springs and are transported in clothing and luggage.
Disappeared from daily life in the 1950s, these insects have made a comeback over the past thirty years in many developed countries thanks to increasingly nomadic lifestyles and consumption favoring second-hand purchases. and increasing resistance to insecticides.
Bedbugs affect 11% of French households, regardless of their social background, according to a report from the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES), published in July.
Pests cost 230 million euros per year to households struggling to get rid of them, and 83 million in health expenses, notes ANSES.
If skin lesions are the most frequent manifestations following bedbug bites, the infestation can lead to various psychological or even psychiatric consequences (sleep disorders, anxiety, feeling of panic) for the people concerned, notes the report. .