An interministerial meeting will be held this Friday on the subject of bedbugs. “The State cannot do everything, we must work closely with the communities, with the companies that intervene,” specifies Bruno Studer, Renaissance deputy for Bas-Rhin.
“No psychosis, I’m not sure there are more bedbugs than in 2019”declared Wednesday October 4 on franceinfo Bruno Studer, Renaissance deputy for Bas-Rhin and author of a proposed law on bedbugs in 2022. Élisabeth Borne announced an interministerial meeting on bedbugs Friday October 6 and the creation of an observatory, given the resurgence of cases.
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franceinfo: Several political figures, including Mathilde Panot (LFI), accuse the government of having done nothing. Are they right?
Bruno Studer: She is fundamentally wrong. We can say that things did not go far enough and fast enough, but to say that nothing was done or that we laughed in his face is shameful. In 2019, I created the first working group in the National Assembly on the subject. I have a colleague who was commissioned at the time by Julien Denormandie, who was very concerned about the subject. At the time, Marseille was very affected by the phenomenon, there were schools and libraries which were closed. You need to know the phenomenon we are talking about. I’m not sure today if there are more bedbugs than in 2019. The videos on social networks, we don’t know when they were filmed and I saw the same ones at the time in the Crous de Strasbourg. The RATP denied the infestation after examination.
The number of disinfection interventions increased by 65% over the period June, July, August 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. How do you explain this?
There was a communication campaign, certified companies. In 2019, there was everything and anything in the companies that intervened. Today, they are certified. You find their list on a government site, you have a toll-free number, you have a platform that allows you to increase efficiency. This inventory of interventions is based on reporting which is now voluntary. In my opinion, this is one of the main areas that must be cultivated in the coming weeks, the census by making business declaration compulsory.
Should insurers be asked to add it to the list of things covered by home insurance?
This is one of the very serious avenues considered. We see that there are different models emerging. In the city of Paris, there was a sort of mutuality in the management of bedbugs. Insurance coverage begins. This is one of the big questions that must be asked. There is a liability regime which is very clear, it is the owner who is supposed to provide decent accommodation to the tenant, in the event of an infestation, it is up to him to take care of the disinfection.
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Élisabeth Borne announced an interministerial meeting on bedbugs this Friday and the creation of an observatory. Are we heading towards a response from the State?
The State cannot do everything, we must work closely with the communities, with the companies that intervene. The only way to be certain of an infestation in a home is through canine detection. You also have the transport companies and we saw that the RATP denied the infestation after examination. You have to know your reason, no panic, no psychosis. There were cinemas in Paris which did dog detection once a month, but which were careful not to say so. In the United States, in New York, in establishments open to the public, you have notices that say: ‘here we have made a detection’.