WEBVTT - France: Where the bedbugs bite

0:00:01.200 --> 0:00:03.520
<v Speaker 1>My name is Lily Maddon, and I'm a proud Arunda

0:00:03.760 --> 0:00:08.520
<v Speaker 1>Bungelung Calcoton woman from Gadighl country. The Daily oz acknowledges

0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:10.760
<v Speaker 1>that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the

0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:14.360
<v Speaker 1>Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres

0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:17.279
<v Speaker 1>Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the

0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:20.079
<v Speaker 1>first peoples of these countries, both past and present.

0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:28.520
<v Speaker 2>Good morning, and welcome to the Daily Os. It's Friday,

0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:29.680
<v Speaker 2>the sixth of October.

0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:32.960
<v Speaker 3>I'm Zara and I'm Emma Gillespie. I'm the deputy editor

0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:33.800
<v Speaker 3>here at the Daily.

0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:36.720
<v Speaker 2>Os and today we've got something a little different for

0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:39.800
<v Speaker 2>you because it is Friday after all, right.

0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:43.240
<v Speaker 3>M yep, the rumors are true. There is a crisis

0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:47.320
<v Speaker 3>unfolding in France and I am literally itching to talk

0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:49.400
<v Speaker 3>about bed bugs.

0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:53.239
<v Speaker 2>Is Paris a city of love or a city of bugs?

0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:55.720
<v Speaker 2>I'd be a bit reluctant to be sitting on seats

0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:56.360
<v Speaker 2>where I don't.

0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:56.640
<v Speaker 3>Need to be sitting.

0:00:56.680 --> 0:00:58.680
<v Speaker 1>In Paris Olympics less than a year away.

0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:03.120
<v Speaker 2>Authorities have declared war on the parasites. That's right. If

0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:05.520
<v Speaker 2>you are still with us and not feeling too itchy,

0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:10.360
<v Speaker 2>France is dealing with a huge bedbug infestation. It sparked

0:01:10.400 --> 0:01:14.720
<v Speaker 2>widespread public health concerns, forced schools to close, and raised

0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:18.560
<v Speaker 2>concerns ahead of the twenty twenty four Paris Olympics. We'll

0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:21.160
<v Speaker 2>tell you everything you need to know soon. That first

0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:23.199
<v Speaker 2>m What is making headlines today.

0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:26.759
<v Speaker 3>Australia's new one dollar coins featuring King Charles the Third

0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:29.880
<v Speaker 3>will begin circulating before the end of the year. It

0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:33.440
<v Speaker 3>follows an announcement by the Royal Australian Mint on Thursday

0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.000
<v Speaker 3>with our first look at the new coin. Following the

0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:39.919
<v Speaker 3>death of Queen Elizabeth, Other coins, as well as banknotes

0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:42.920
<v Speaker 3>with the new monarch, will be progressively rolled out next year,

0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:46.560
<v Speaker 3>but older currency with the queen's image can still continue

0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:47.279
<v Speaker 3>to be used.

0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:50.760
<v Speaker 2>FIFA has given Australia less than a month to challenge

0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:53.400
<v Speaker 2>a bid from Saudi Arabia for the twenty thirty four

0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:57.279
<v Speaker 2>Men's World Cup. It comes after football's global governing body

0:01:57.280 --> 0:02:00.360
<v Speaker 2>announced the hosts for the twenty thirty World Cup. The

0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:04.080
<v Speaker 2>tournament will be hosted by six host nations spanning Europe,

0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:09.440
<v Speaker 2>Africa and South America, coinciding with the events one hundredth anniversary.

0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:14.320
<v Speaker 3>September twenty twenty three was the world's hottest month on record.

0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:18.280
<v Speaker 3>That's according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service.

0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:22.680
<v Speaker 3>Average temperatures around the world reached close to sixteen point

0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:26.720
<v Speaker 3>five degrees celsius last month. That's half a degree above

0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:29.400
<v Speaker 3>the previous warmest September temperature.

0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:33.800
<v Speaker 2>And the good news, the Men's Quicker World Cup is

0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:38.760
<v Speaker 2>officially underway. Defending champions England faced off against New Zealand

0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:41.400
<v Speaker 2>in the opening match of the tournament, with Australia to

0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:45.560
<v Speaker 2>play hosts India on Sunday night. Australia is the most

0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:48.840
<v Speaker 2>successful nation at the World Cup, having won five tournaments

0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:49.560
<v Speaker 2>in the past.

0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:57.679
<v Speaker 3>France's government is holding crisis talks as the country grapples

0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:01.000
<v Speaker 3>to take control of a bedbug infestation.

0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:05.960
<v Speaker 2>We are seeing unfortunate for us and hearing a lot

0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:10.200
<v Speaker 2>of reports about bedbugs literally everywhere, on trains, in movie

0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:14.280
<v Speaker 2>theaters and at airports. What on earth is going on?

0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:18.480
<v Speaker 3>So, as you mentioned, social media has been inundated in

0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:21.120
<v Speaker 3>the last few weeks with images and videos of people

0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:24.160
<v Speaker 3>from all over France, but especially in Paris, where the

0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:29.760
<v Speaker 3>outbreak is particularly bad, sharing their bedbug discoveries. There are

0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:33.400
<v Speaker 3>some truly horrifying fines. And if you're feeling brave enough

0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:36.560
<v Speaker 3>to search the pune de l hashtag that's the French

0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:39.480
<v Speaker 3>word for bedbugs, you can see them yourself. But we're

0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:44.040
<v Speaker 3>talking bedbugs in cities, rural areas, in schools, on transport.

0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:46.080
<v Speaker 3>To give you a sense of the scale of this,

0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:49.320
<v Speaker 3>a recent study found more than one in ten French

0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:52.760
<v Speaker 3>households have a bedbug problem. Now that study was based

0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:56.040
<v Speaker 3>on data between twenty seventeen and twenty twenty two, so

0:03:56.080 --> 0:04:00.560
<v Speaker 3>that number could be even higher. Now given this outbreak.

0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:02.920
<v Speaker 2>I'm very lucky to have never had to deal with

0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:06.520
<v Speaker 2>bedbugs firsthand. So can you tell me a bit about

0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:09.680
<v Speaker 2>these bugs themselves? Like what is the major issue here?

0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:13.600
<v Speaker 3>So first of all, I'll tell you what bedbugs actually are.

0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:18.440
<v Speaker 3>So we're talking about tiny parasites. They're around five millimeters long,

0:04:18.560 --> 0:04:21.320
<v Speaker 3>so like you know, smaller than an apple seed, and

0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:24.240
<v Speaker 3>they live in places like mattresses, you know, hence the

0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:29.400
<v Speaker 3>name bedbugs couches. They like dark, quiet places, and they

0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:33.400
<v Speaker 3>feed on human blood, it has to be said, mainly

0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:36.960
<v Speaker 3>at night. And at that point they become larger in size,

0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:40.400
<v Speaker 3>dark in color. They lay lots of tiny eggs in

0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:42.840
<v Speaker 3>our mattresses and couches, and they hatch and then the

0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:46.640
<v Speaker 3>cycle continues. But they also move around a lot, usually

0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:50.280
<v Speaker 3>on us humans as their transport, and that's part of

0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:53.720
<v Speaker 3>the problem. And when it comes to these infestations, the

0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:58.520
<v Speaker 3>newborn bedbugs are barely visible to humans. So France's health

0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:01.279
<v Speaker 3>department has actually flagged that this week and it said

0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:04.400
<v Speaker 3>by the time and infestation is detected, the outbreak may

0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:06.599
<v Speaker 3>already be quite significant.

0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:09.960
<v Speaker 2>That is a visual that I didn't think I needed,

0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:13.440
<v Speaker 2>but there you go. So how do people usually discover

0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:16.640
<v Speaker 2>they've got a bedbug outbreak? So some people.

0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:20.000
<v Speaker 3>Might notice bedbug bites on their skin, itchy red bumps,

0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:23.160
<v Speaker 3>kind of like small mosquito bites, or you might see

0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:26.200
<v Speaker 3>signs of them in your bedding. And speaking of images

0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:29.960
<v Speaker 3>that are disturbing, this image is of rusty or reddish

0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:34.360
<v Speaker 3>stains on bedsheets or mattresses caused by the bugs being squished.

0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:36.880
<v Speaker 3>And then there are those people who find actual live

0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:39.599
<v Speaker 3>bedbugs in their homes, in which case you know, there's

0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:41.839
<v Speaker 3>no mistaking it. You are in bedbug trouble.

0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:45.279
<v Speaker 2>You are okay. So let's take this back to France,

0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:47.720
<v Speaker 2>because that's the reason we're talking about it today. So

0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:52.359
<v Speaker 2>how have things escalated in France this week? How does

0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:56.520
<v Speaker 2>there become you know, this major nationwide issue.

0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:59.760
<v Speaker 3>So we've really seen this evolve in Frants not just

0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:02.880
<v Speaker 3>into a public health issue, but also into a political

0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:06.039
<v Speaker 3>one with plenty of leaders, you know, kind of trying

0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:10.040
<v Speaker 3>to get the government's attention to take this seriously. So

0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:13.359
<v Speaker 3>the Deputy mayor of Paris, his name is Emmanuel Gregoire,

0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:17.040
<v Speaker 3>he wants a government task force to be established to

0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:21.560
<v Speaker 3>manage this outbreak, which he says is significantly widespread. He

0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:25.479
<v Speaker 3>told local TV no one is safe from catching bedbugs

0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:29.080
<v Speaker 3>or from bringing them home. And in Francis federal government,

0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:33.520
<v Speaker 3>an opposition MP even brought a small plastic vial of

0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:37.400
<v Speaker 3>bedbugs to a sitting to raise awareness of the issue.

0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:39.320
<v Speaker 2>I would love to know how he saurce that, like

0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:42.000
<v Speaker 2>it just went home quart a bug brought it into

0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:42.760
<v Speaker 2>work the next day.

0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:43.680
<v Speaker 3>Can you imagine.

0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:49.320
<v Speaker 2>Okay, so someone is bringing in a vial of bugs, right,

0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:53.160
<v Speaker 2>and you know there's this political pressure that's mounting. How

0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:55.719
<v Speaker 2>has the government actually responded to those calls?

0:06:56.600 --> 0:07:00.200
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, So this week the French government said it would

0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:04.239
<v Speaker 3>meeting with multiple cabinet ministers to discuss the best ways

0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:06.920
<v Speaker 3>to take action, and at the same time we've got

0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:10.960
<v Speaker 3>Franci's transport minister who has met with transport and airport operators.

0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:15.360
<v Speaker 3>He announced sniffer dogs from that meeting to help inspect

0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:19.200
<v Speaker 3>trains on the Paris Metro and also across the country

0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:23.240
<v Speaker 3>for bedbugs, but he denies that any bed bugs are

0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:27.480
<v Speaker 3>on trains, despite videos on social media telling us maybe

0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:30.960
<v Speaker 3>a bit of a different story there. Transport operators will

0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:34.120
<v Speaker 3>also boost health procedures to try and tackle the issue,

0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:36.800
<v Speaker 3>but there really is no quick fix when it comes

0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:39.040
<v Speaker 3>to getting rid of bedbugs, so it could be quite

0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:41.800
<v Speaker 3>a while before they're able to get this under control.

0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:44.880
<v Speaker 2>I've seen a lot of talk about the Paris Olympics,

0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:48.640
<v Speaker 2>and I want to understand what the concern there is,

0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:52.800
<v Speaker 2>mostly because I'm taking my honeymoon at the time that

0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:55.360
<v Speaker 2>that was hapening. I just really want to know if

0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:57.080
<v Speaker 2>it's going to be under control by then.

0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:00.440
<v Speaker 3>I knew we'd find a way to give you reason

0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:02.320
<v Speaker 3>to care about the bed buds exactly.

0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:04.680
<v Speaker 2>It is selfish and self indulgent.

0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:09.840
<v Speaker 3>So Paris is hosting the Olympics, the Summer Olympics next

0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:14.160
<v Speaker 3>June and with so many visitors coming to Paris for that,

0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:17.960
<v Speaker 3>you know, from tourists to athletes. The city is expecting

0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:21.280
<v Speaker 3>a mass of people, and the Deputy mayor is sort

0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:23.440
<v Speaker 3>of saying that this is going to become a health

0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:25.880
<v Speaker 3>and safety issue for the Games, and he wrote an

0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:29.520
<v Speaker 3>open letter to Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, urging

0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:33.400
<v Speaker 3>the government to put in an action plan specifically ahead

0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:35.760
<v Speaker 3>of the Olympics. But you know, that is still a

0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:38.720
<v Speaker 3>while off. In the meantime, we've got things like the

0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:42.680
<v Speaker 3>Rugby World Cup underway in France right now. Paris Fashion

0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:46.240
<v Speaker 3>Week is happening too, so the fallout from that will

0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:48.679
<v Speaker 3>give a decent indication of, you know, what they're up

0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:52.000
<v Speaker 3>against when it comes to hosting thousands of international visitors

0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:55.040
<v Speaker 3>at a time. For now, though, you know, there are

0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:58.680
<v Speaker 3>potentially millions of French residents dealing with this problem in

0:08:58.720 --> 0:08:59.360
<v Speaker 3>their homes.

0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:03.319
<v Speaker 2>Okay, so speaking of the World Cup and Fashion Week,

0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:08.120
<v Speaker 2>has the problem spread internationally because presumably if you're walking

0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:11.319
<v Speaker 2>around and you have these bed bugs and they're transporting themselves,

0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:15.200
<v Speaker 2>you know, via humans or via public transport, this could

0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:17.960
<v Speaker 2>potentially go on a plane or a boat or any

0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:19.920
<v Speaker 2>other mode of transport.

0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:22.280
<v Speaker 3>Exactly, and you know any global city where there are

0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:26.240
<v Speaker 3>people coming in and out from overseas. Internationally, there are

0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:30.280
<v Speaker 3>bedbugs all over the world, but it's not looking great

0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:33.280
<v Speaker 3>on the containment front. In France, it has to be said.

0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:36.920
<v Speaker 3>Local media in Morocco have reported bed bugs that were

0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:39.640
<v Speaker 3>found on a passenger ship that came in from Marseilles.

0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:43.360
<v Speaker 3>A passenger on board the Eurostar train, a service from

0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:47.000
<v Speaker 3>London to Paris, posted images of what looked like bedbugs

0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:50.040
<v Speaker 3>to social media. Last week. Eurostar said they were doing

0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:52.960
<v Speaker 3>a deep clean on their trains, and the UK actually

0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:56.240
<v Speaker 3>reported a sixty five percent increase in year on year

0:09:56.280 --> 0:10:00.880
<v Speaker 3>bedbugs infestations only in August, so they've got their own outbreak.

0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:04.400
<v Speaker 3>Bedbugs in Australia, I know we're all thinking it. They're

0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:08.160
<v Speaker 3>relatively common, but there hasn't been any news yet on

0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:11.400
<v Speaker 3>a spike. It will definitely be interesting though, to see

0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:14.040
<v Speaker 3>how things play out after everyone you know, goes back

0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:16.600
<v Speaker 3>home from the World carp and Fashion Week. I also

0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:18.720
<v Speaker 3>do want a flag. I think it's important to sort

0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:21.720
<v Speaker 3>of mythbust this idea that bedbugs are a problem for

0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:25.800
<v Speaker 3>dirty people. You could be the cleanest person in the

0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:28.280
<v Speaker 3>world and still get them. And that's what experts are

0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:31.800
<v Speaker 3>telling us. These things really don't care who you are.

0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:33.280
<v Speaker 3>They just want your blood.

0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:37.040
<v Speaker 2>My goodness. What a note to end of Friday podcast

0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:39.640
<v Speaker 2>on and thanks for joining me today. And if you

0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:42.560
<v Speaker 2>learn something from this episode or you're terrified like I am,

0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:45.600
<v Speaker 2>let us know. Next week we're gonna have a bit

0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.480
<v Speaker 2>of a different sounding podcast and that is because it

0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:51.720
<v Speaker 2>is the week leading up to the referendum, so we

0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:55.640
<v Speaker 2>are going to dedicate all five days to understanding the

0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:58.240
<v Speaker 2>road to the referendum, how we got here and what

0:10:58.280 --> 0:10:58.840
<v Speaker 2>you need to know.

0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:01.600
<v Speaker 3>And if you are in Sydney and you happen to

0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:04.840
<v Speaker 3>be free on Monday, that's the ninth of October, we're

0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:07.840
<v Speaker 3>actually putting on a little event in Paddington at the

0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:12.240
<v Speaker 3>Imperial Hotel Politics in the Pub. Zara is going to

0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:15.960
<v Speaker 3>be joined by First Nations ABC journalists Carli Williams and

0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:19.679
<v Speaker 3>Isabella Higgins for a free event to answer your questions

0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:23.080
<v Speaker 3>all about the Voice referendum. For more information and to RSVP,

0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:24.760
<v Speaker 3>there is a link in the show notes.

0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:26.360
<v Speaker 2>Have a fabulous weekend,