Not exactly about bees but relevant & interesting, nonetheless

Essential Oils Fail at Killing Bed Bugs
BY GWEN PEARSON   10.13.14  

Consumers desperate to eradicate tiny domestic vampires have created a huge market for “natural” bed bug control. Sales are high, as are some of the claims; bogus bed bug products have prompted multiple Federal Trade Commission (FTC) actions for deceptive advertising.

New research put 11 over-the-counter bed bug sprays to the test to see if essential oils can do more than make your bedroom smell nice. The results were… underwhelming.

The products tested contained ingredients for an aromatherapy overdose: cedar, cinnamon, geraniol, clove oil, peppermint, rosemary, lemon grass oil, citronella, and others. Additional ingredients were soap (sodium lauryl sulfate, a foaming agent commonly found in shampoo); salts (potassium sorbate); and 2-Phenethyl propionate, which occurs naturally in peanuts.

Seven of the natural products tested did not manage to kill even ½ (50%) of the bed bugs sprayed, measured by dead bugs 10 days later.

Perhaps the most interesting — and confusing — conclusion from this research is that essential oils are probably not what killed the bed bugs.  The same active ingredients in EcoRaider and Bed Bug Patrol were also in other products (Bed Bug Fix, Green Rest Easy, and Essentria, for example) that weren’t effective killers.  What actually killed the bugs is likely something in the spray formulation.

Adjuvants, wetting agents, spreaders, stabilizers, defoamers, stickers, and solvents are all in these sprays, and might work in tandem with the essential oils by improving penetration into the insect, or slowing detoxification. Those formulations are generally proprietary and secret, so figuring out what works may take a while.

As someone who’s written about bogus insecticide products for years, the dismal performance of “green” pest sprays isn’t a shock. Bed bugs offer fertile ground for hucksters in the same way that serious medical conditions invite exploitation of the ill. Both topics involve a lot of anxiety and stress, don’t have easy solutions, and people are willing to pay lots of money to find a solution.

“Natural” pesticides qualify for exemption from the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). They don’t actually have to provide efficacy data for registration. With an over-loaded regulatory system and a low cost of development, manufacturers can roll out new products quickly, and rake in the profits.

Hopefully the FTC will follow up on this research with additional warnings to get some of these ineffective products off the market. Consumers using these sprays may just give their bed bugs a lovely peppermint scent.

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