France races to stamp out bedbug 'scourge' before Olympics
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[September 30, 2023]
By Antony Paone and Geert De Clercq
PARIS (Reuters) - With the Paris Olympics less than a year away, French
authorities want to make sure the bedbugs don't bite during the games
and have started a drive to exterminate the pests.
Social media users have been publishing footage of the insects crawling
around in high-speed trains and the Paris metro, alongside a rash of
online articles about bedbugs in cinemas and even Charles de Gaulle
airport.
The reports have reached the highest levels of government.
"The state urgently needs to put an action plan in place against this
scourge as France is preparing to welcome the Olympic and Paralympic
games in 2024," the capital's deputy mayor, Emmanuel Gregoire, said in a
letter to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne this week.
Transport Minister Clement Beaune said on Friday he will discuss the
issue with transport operators next week.
At the Paris Gare de Lyon train station, travelers said they doubted
whether authorities would be able to get on top of the problem.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Sep/30/images/ads/current/bennet_lda_010722.png)
"I'm worried about it. I'll keep my luggage closed to stop (bedbugs)
getting into my home. Once I get home, I'll have to wash all my
clothes," Laura Mmadi, a sales worker heading to the south of France
said.
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![](../images/093023PIX/health30.jpg)
Salim Dahou, biocide technician of the company Hygiene Premium,
sprays insecticide against bedbugs on a sofa bed in L'Hay-les-Roses,
near Paris, France, September 29, 2023. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Sep/30/images/ads/current/lincolnheating_lda_FHG_2023.png) Coming into Paris from Nice, Sophie
Ruscica said she had inspected her seat closely for any signs of the
insects that feed on human blood and can live in a wide range of
habitats as well as beds.
"It stressed me out. I had to take the train and I wondered whether
I would find bedbugs. But then again, one can find them in cinemas
and just about everywhere," she said.
In a report published in July, health agency Anses said that between
2017 and 2022, bedbugs had infested more than one in ten French
households.
"Everyone is panicking," pest control store manager Sacha Krief
said. "People can really get depressed, even paranoid over it."
Deputy mayor Gregoire called on insurers to include bedbug cover in
house insurance policies, as low-income people rarely had the means
to call in pest control firms.
(Reporting by Antony Paone and Geert De Clercq; Editing by Andrew
Heavens)
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