Passengers using railway transportation in France have raised concerns regarding bedbug infestations in the seats of the train.
A number of people have taken to sharing videos and pictures of bedbugs being visible in the seats where they are supposed to sit, saying that transport of this kind is highly unsafe for people.
The transport minister
Soon after news reports of the bedbugs began circulating all over social media, Celemnt Beune, the transport minister, took to urging travelers to remain calm.
He went on to say that there was no need for fear or psychosis, claiming that there has been no outbreak of the bugs in different modes of public transportation.
On the other hand, social media users disagree and state that they have noticed an outbreak on the trains in Paris as well.
As a result, Paris City Halls have been urging the relevant authorities to take appropriate action and take the right measures to address the problem.
Several city halls in the capital city got together to write a letter to Elisabeth Borne, the Prime Minister of France.
As per Emmanuel Gregoire, the Deputy Mayor, bedbugs are a serious hazard and should be dealt with as soon as possible.
He went on to urge the State to gather all the relevant stakeholders and come up with an actionable plan to address the issue.
Moreover, the mayor emphasized how crucial it is to get rid of the infestation at the earliest as France makes the necessary preparations to host the Paralympic and Olympic Games in the upcoming year.
SNCF
To effectively deal with the issue at hand, SNCF suggested that the authorities in France should carry out a deep cleaning regularly, as well as anti-pest procedures.
It stated that the country would widely benefit from setting up traps and insecticides in a number of locations to deal with the infestation quickly.
Typically, preventive treatments for bedbug infestations are conducted after every 60 days.
However, in lieu of the rising number of reports of bedbugs, the authorities have taken to recommend that checkups be carried out every 15 days, at least for the next couple of months.
Bedbugs
Despite the fact that bedbugs are not severely dangerous and do not spread diseases, their bites are known to be itchy and uncomfortable.
Another concern that people have with these insects is that they spread at a quick rate. Consequently, it is difficult and expensive to deal with them.
Furthermore, the French National Agency for Food, Environmental, and Occupational Health Safety or Anses has pointed out that the issue has an impact on households of all kinds.
When talking about figures, the organization said that it takes more than €800 to deal with an infestation of bedbugs.
Meanwhile, the go-to non-chemical treatment for a bedbug problem is the disinfection of locations using extreme freezing or heat.
Anses has further said that between the years 2017 and 2022, over one in ten households in France reported a bedbug infestation.
This indicated that bedbugs are quickly becoming resistant to insecticides and multiplying faster than ever.
