[pct-l] insects!

[hiker at godlikebuthumble.com (Hiker)]

At 11:27 AM 3/31/04, Mike Saenz wrote:
>Though government reports relegate a low toxicity, I'll still avoid using 
>it at all costs (remember Agent Orange).
>BUT... I still pack it. It works if you need it to.

There are risk/benefit considerations for every action you take. Driving in 
a car is one of the most dangerous things you can do, but most of us think 
the benefit is greater than the rather large risk.

**** DEET
The risk of DEET is rather small, and when standing in a swarm of hungry 
mosquitos, I consider the benefits rather large.

Agent Orange is not even in the same category. It was used for a short 
period of time, and its toxicity was not understood at the time. It did not 
take long to discover that Dioxin was the problem, even with the pentagon 
saying it was safe, and to eliminate Dioxin as quickly as possible.

DEET has been around for a very long time (over 50 years) and lots of 
research has been done looking for problems. Very few have been found. I 
think there are fewer than a dozen reports, mostly in a few children 
slathered with DEET by their parents, and some park workers in Florida.

If you look at aspirin the same way you will find many more documented 
problems, but aspirin doesn't dissolve plastic.......so not as many people 
are afraid of it.

****permethrin

I've spent quite a bit of time flying around behind a hopper full of 
synthetic permethrin, and I had to take a bunch of classes about it. It is 
a quite potent neuro toxin, and will kill mammals the same way it kills 
insects, however you have to be exposed to quite a bit at one time, and I 
remember that inhaling it was the problem, since skin blocks it pretty 
well. Also your body breaks it down so it doesn't accumulate in your tissue 
the way lots of other poisons (like Dioxin) do. I have no idea of the risks 
of long term, low level exposure, but if enough leaches out of the fabric 
to stun a tick, you must be getting some on your skin.

With the choice between picking ticks out of my skin (and tick borne 
diseases) and the risks of permethrin treated clothing, I would gladly risk 
the permethrin.

Once again, HYOH, YMMV