Any health concerns on clothing treated with Permethrin to repel insects? I know nothing on this.
shouldn’t be… permethrin has a low toxicity towards humans
it is widely used by the military for treatment of uniforms prior to FTX and deployments.
The mil version where we soak our uniforms in it lasts for a few months thru washes.
Not sure of the civi versions
I was able to find off-the-shelf stuff at an outdoors store to re-coat my cammies in (this stuff, specifically: http://www.sawyer.com/bugs.html). Like anything else, follow the directions and you should be good to go (outdoor area protected from wind, don’t spray it on clothes you’re wearing, etc.). I used the spray (instead of the aerosol) because I figured less would float off. And I always used gloves and took a shower afterwards.
The only concern I would raise is not to RELY on permethrin. I saw a dramatic reduction in ticks and other nasties after re-coating my cammies and gear, but some made it through all the same. Check yourself for ticks whenever you get the opportunity. Lyme disease is no joke.
According to the label on my uniform*, 0.5% of the weight of my uniform is permethrin. It comes from the factory with permethrin, but it only lasts about 25 washes before it loses its insect repellent abilities.
And the label also says not to re-treat with permethrin, so I’m not really sure what’s going on.
- Issued OCPs
I’ve used the spray on Sawyer stuff many times, works great. I do a bit of Geocaching in the NC woods, its amazing stuff. As stated above, a couple always make it through no matter how well I treat my clothes.
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I’ve never found it to be a truly great replacement for some spray-on deet.
As far as deet-based stuff goes, even those 30% wipes work well for uncovered skin, although I try and find higher concentrations when I can.
Ticks around here couldn’t care less if you bathed in Deet. Pemethrin seems to stop them nicely.
I love Pemethrin. My land is covered in ticks & chiggers. Once after spending a day clearing brush, I found my clothing covered in hundreds of ticks. I stripped down naked at the campsite & started checking my crouch right as my uncles drove up. They didn’t believe me until they saw my pants covered in ticks.
Ticks don’t seem to mind deet. They just find a spot not covered & start dining. Deet works on the chiggers until I sweat it off. Which is very frequent while working in the summer heat.
Since using Pemethrin, I rarely find any ticks or chigger bites. However, since using it, I have gone bald & my guts sticks out, but not sure if that is due to the Pemethrin.
Now that’s some funny $… Yer killin us!
Good one cqbdriver!
The military issues a re-treatment kit you can pick up here and there, works a treat. Be careful where you store the kit though, it stinks right through the plastic bag!
I’ll second the effectiveness–ticks are heavy around here, especially this year, and permethrin is the only way to keep most of them away.
I will give Permethrin a thumbs up, hell we soaked out ghilles in the stuff to keep all the creepy crawlies out. Since Ft Bragg is pretty much a tick petting zoo.
Thanks guys, I have more peace of mind now.
FWIW, the Rail Riders line of clothing uses Permethrin and every article that I have bought from them is GTG. Glad to here Permethrin is good stuff.
I use the Sawyer stuff to treat my clothes for my work as a lineman. The routes around here are so thick with ticks that you can literally see them standing on the leaves waiting. The seed ticks are especially bad, and they clump on you by the hundreds. I’ve used Deet with minimal success, but the Permatherin is awesome. I use about twice as much to treat my clothes as they call for, and the ticks just fall off after about two steps. I suppose that I’ll take my chances with permatherin issues, rather than getting Lock Jaw. The skeeters already gave me West Nile two years ago, I don’t need Lime Disease if I can help it.
While in Iraq ther was quite a few of us who got bed bugs. Those are nasty critters if you have never experienced them. We had no clue as to where they came from but it was a full on epidemic. Some were blaming it on bad house keeping but they dropped that BS when they got them.
After sealing mattresses in plastic, bleaching everything, throwing things away, deet and other chemicals our Corpsman finally got ahold of some yellow powder Permethrin. We powdered our clothing and our entire CHU’s. It flat out worked. No more bugs.
I wouldn’t wish Bed Bugs on my worst enemy and it seems so frustrating when you have them at no fault of your own. I wish I would have had Permethrin treated clothes. I got bit by a tick and contracted something. Nauseousness, hurt gut, headache and all. I had to get an excruciating IV of a very strong antibiotic and take a round of antibiotic pills.
Get the Permethrin!
Some links to health info on Permethrin:
http://www.tickinfo.com/permethrin.htm
http://health.thefuntimesguide.com/2007/06/permethrin_for_ticks.php
"Permethrin has low mammalian toxicity, is poorly absorbed through the skin and is rapidly inactivated by the body. Skin reactions have been uncommon. In fact, Permethrin is virtually non-toxic to humans and no systemic effects have been reported. In EPA and FDA tests, it was uncommon to have any skin reddening, rash or other irritation.
Although Permethrin is approved for skin application under certain circumstances such as head lice formulas, it is not applied to skin as a repellent. Permethrin does not bond to skin (stick) and is quickly deactivated by skin’s esterase action into inactive compounds. Because of these attributes Permethrin offers no repellent benefit on skin. It is only effective when used as a clothing treatment."
http://www.travmed.com/health_guide/permethrin.htm#Is_there_any_toxicity_associated_with_permethrin_use_that_I_need_to_worry_about
“Is there any toxicity associated with Permethrin use that I need to worry about? Since Permethrin is not intended for direct use on the skin, there are very few concerns about toxicity. Any Permethrin that might inadvertently get on the skin, however, is very poorly absorbed (less than 2% of the applied dose). Permethrin is rapidly inactivated by skin and liver esterases, and its metabolites are then readily excreted by the kidneys. There is no evidence that Permethrin accumulates in human tissues. Although occupational exposure to large amounts of Permethrin has been associated with transient symptoms of itching, burning, or numbness, these symptoms have not been reported in consumers applying the products to clothing. Studies have not shown Permethrin to be a human teratogen, mutagen, or carcinogen.”
Whatever this chemical may do to me I’m fine with. I contracted Lyme & Rocky Mtn at the same time a few years back. The Rocky Mtn cleared up rather quickly, but the Lyme took MONTHS to get halfway back to normal from. Over 6 weeks of antibiotics, absolutely no energy or drive for over 6 months & still to this day I have trouble with circulation, especially limbs going numb. It sucks to be in the middle of a training class I have spend $1,000+ on to attend & to have my strong hand go completely numb. So trust me, the tick bite is worse than any possible effects of the repellent.
My hunting group has used Permanone/Permethrin for over 20 years in seed tick infested areas of Tennessee. I’ve tried the Sawyer but had trouble with inconsistent spray. I’ve used the Repel brand for years with good results.
After getting caught naked in the woods by my relatives, I found this handbook on tick management. It is what turned me on to Permethrin.
Now that paints a picture I could have done without:smile:
Embarassing I’m sure.