[pct-l] is DEET really a big problem?

[Brick Robbins <brick@fastpack.com>]

At 11:22 AM 11/1/99 -0500, Montedodge@aol.com wrote:
>I read that Deet really does a number on a persons liver. ( goes through the 
>skin where it finally makes your liver work overtime)

Alcohol makes your liver work overtime too. I'm not gonna give up my Beer.

>   Remember= Deet Kills

Support your statement. 

Extra ordinary statements require extra ordinary proof. Deet is used by over 50,000,000 Americans a year. I haven't heard of many deet-deaths. Peanuts kill lots of kids every year: Should you take them out of your GORP?

I would guess that occasional applications of DEET don't do any damage. Most problems with DEET have been reported in children, or after very long term repeated exposure. The body is pretty good at taking care occasional exposure to toxic substances. Some of the DEET problems have been traced to a rare enzyme abnormality. 

If any smokers get on the anti DEET bandwagon, I suggest that your cigarettes pose a much greater health risk than the occasional application of DEET.

On my PCT hike, I had mosquito problems about 10 days total, and I used DEET. In camp I wore my gortex and a head net, but I just couldn't stand hiking in all that nylon. A thru-hiker is not going to bathe in DEET every day of a thru-hike. A thru-hiker will probably have fewer problems than a weekender, because we are less likely to hang out near a soggy green meadow.

Here are some DEET articles:

http://www.healthcentral.com/news/newsfulltext.cfm?id=5472
"DEET best defense against mosquitoes"
Bug zappers, citronella candles, bats and ultrasonic devices
don't work against mosquitoes...
Dr. Mark S. Fradin,  June 1st issue of the Annals of Internal
Medicine.

http://ace.orst.edu/info/extoxnet/newsletters/n94_89.htm
"Seizures Temporally Associated with Use of DEET Insect Repellent"
[note the term "temporally." This means that some one had a seizure after using DEET, not that DEET caused the seizure. Many folks have seizures after eating carrots too...-Brick]

DEET has been marketed in the United States since 1956 
and is used by an estimated 50-100 million persons each
year. Since 1961, at least six cases of toxic systemic 
reactions from repeated cutaneous exposure to DEET have been reported.

[6 since 1961, with 50-100 million folks a year using it?. Better record than asperin... -Brick]
===========

Interesting tidbit:
http://www.healthcentral.com/drdean/deanfulltexttopics.cfm?id=15004
"Sunscreen And Mosquito Repellent Don't Mix"
if you put on mosquito repellent and a sunscreen, the sunscreen 
won't work as well. In fact, the repellent will reduce the SPF factor of
your sunscreen by almost a third."

================
Brick Robbins
posting as list member, not list admin.


* From the Pacific Crest Trail Email List |  http://www.backcountry.net   *

==============================================================================