Does your insect repellant work?

Your skin is the largest organ of your body. Some medicines are applied by absorption through the skin because anything that is on your skin is absorbed. Some health experts suggest that you shouldn't put anything on your skin that you are unwilling to swallow.

Something to think about in my opinion.

West Nile is becoming a real problem here in the Dallas-FT worth area now. More and more cases each year and earlier in the year as well.

workhardplayharder wrote:
....and who sponsored this article?

Sponsored? Slate is a left leaning news and opinion site. I doubt that the article was sponsored by anyone except the author who was looking for something to write an article on.

There are these:

MD

New England Journal of Medicine

And this government lab that tested 16000 different compounds

USDA ARS lab

BK

Mosquitoes cause about 1 million deaths per year worldwide. One of those deaths was my wive's cousin who died of mosquito-born encephalitis.

DEET use has been responsible for 14 to 46 cases of seizures and 4 deaths since its introduction.

I'll take my chances with DEET.

Where we are currently at, the mosquito's are big enough to carry you away. All the spring flooding has contributed to an excess size and concentration of them along with ticks. One of our campgrounds is in dense woods and you cannot step 1 foot into the park with 25 mosquitos being on you. We use deet every time we go or we would be drained of our blood by both of the rampant things. After we are done working there however, we come back to our rv and take showers and wash the deet off our skin. We couldn't do our job without deet.

....and who sponsored this article?

I guess that's why it's been used over 10,000,000,000 times and no one has noticed an epidemic of neurological problems. I doubt is any other chemical has been used as much except for the over the counter analgesics like aspirin and Tylenol.

Neurotic problems are a whole different thing of course.

rockhillmanor wrote:

agesilaus wrote:
Here's an article on what works and what doesn't:

Text

As expected DEET works and most "natural products" don't. There are a couple of newer synthetics that also work. And Lemon Eucalyptus oil is the one natural product that may be effective, but don't use it on young kids.
DEET has been used billions of times with not one confirmed bad event with the exception of a couple of people that drank it.
BK

I think these companies have done a wonderful job of deceiving the public about the safety of deet.

When a product can cause neurological problems as serious as seizure and death when used on children can one honestly say it is a safe product for an adult solely based on the fact that the adult is bigger? Neurological = brain not body mass.

You don't have to swallow it to be of a concern, breathing and absorption thru the largest organ of a human body is where the problem lies.

Deet has a classified poisonous ingredient.

"Most bug repellents contain DEET (N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide) as their active ingredient."

"DEET is especially dangerous for small children. Seizures may occur in small children who are consistently

exposed to DEET on their skin for long periods of time

. Care should be taken to only apply lower concentrations of DEET to children for short periods of time. Products containing DEET probably should not be used on infants."

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002763.htm

I've sat and watched parents at a CG spray and spray and spray their kids all day long and again at night with Deet. :(

X-2!!! The EPA says that if used as directed, bug sprays containing DEET are not harmful to us, although long-term exposure is. When you spray it on your skin, it gets absorbed and eventually enters the bloodstream. It pumps through your nervous system and has been proven to kill brain cells, causing neurological damage. If you have heavy exposure to DEET, you may experience memory loss, headache, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, and shortness of breath. Gee, that sounds like the problems of many posted in the RVing with Disabilities and General Health Issues discussion area!

It would be helpful if a "long period of time" along with a "short period of time" could be more defined.

Eastern Equine Encephalitis is a very real threat in our area - the CDC and State recommend Deet be used to combat the infectious disease in children and those with compromised immune systems. Sorry but I'm not keeping my family locked in the house until August so Deet it is; I apply the "family" version which has 15% of Deet.