Duke
Mountain Carver
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2012
- Messages
- 382
I answered a question for a friend about what I had learned about repellents in C4 school and decided that as long as I am typing it I would share. I know that most people have their particular favorite, but the below is what I learned in the school and based on scientific criteria. Below is that answer:
Actually I do! When I went to Combat Casualty Care Course they had an excellent class by an entomologist on preventing arthropod bites. It was an eye opener. The military has to put members in areas of the world where insects try to lay their eggs on them or where arthropod bites cause serious disease so repellents are not just nuisance prevention. DEET was determined at the time to have the required efficacy but the problem is/was that it has such a high vapor pressure it does not last long. Have you ever noticed that your favorite DEET spray works great……for about 15 minutes? The Dept of Defense contracted 3M to solve the problem with the requirement that it work at 100 degrees, 100 % humidity, and for 12 hrs. The DOD thought it would take years and years, but it only took them about 18 months. What did they use?? DEET. What they did is to develop a lotion that slowly releases DEET over many hours. It is commercially available and called Ultrathon. However, keep in mind that the lotion is the key. Consumers don’t like lotion so I think 3M puts out a spray called Ultrathon and I don’t know anything about it but the lotion met the trial standards. Ultrathon lotion is the one to use. Do you remember back in the 80s when the Avon Skin So Soft oil was rumored to be a repellent? Well, turns out….sort of. That is a barrier not a repellent and plain old mineral oil works just as well. Mosquitoes don’t like getting on it….kind of like we don’t like walking in mud. But, repellent is better. And, yes, I have looked into the toxicity and am perfectly comfortable with the safety of DEET. The so called “natural” repellents just don’t work as well so why use them? Just use natural dirt if that is the criterion. I had to throw in my towel with the burning coils that I used to pack in. Plain old smoke works just as well for most but doesn’t work unless one stays in the smoke and I don’t want to do that.
Sorry about writing an entire epistle on it, but this is actually the synopsis. I know, too long for just asking what kind I prefer.
Duke
Actually I do! When I went to Combat Casualty Care Course they had an excellent class by an entomologist on preventing arthropod bites. It was an eye opener. The military has to put members in areas of the world where insects try to lay their eggs on them or where arthropod bites cause serious disease so repellents are not just nuisance prevention. DEET was determined at the time to have the required efficacy but the problem is/was that it has such a high vapor pressure it does not last long. Have you ever noticed that your favorite DEET spray works great……for about 15 minutes? The Dept of Defense contracted 3M to solve the problem with the requirement that it work at 100 degrees, 100 % humidity, and for 12 hrs. The DOD thought it would take years and years, but it only took them about 18 months. What did they use?? DEET. What they did is to develop a lotion that slowly releases DEET over many hours. It is commercially available and called Ultrathon. However, keep in mind that the lotion is the key. Consumers don’t like lotion so I think 3M puts out a spray called Ultrathon and I don’t know anything about it but the lotion met the trial standards. Ultrathon lotion is the one to use. Do you remember back in the 80s when the Avon Skin So Soft oil was rumored to be a repellent? Well, turns out….sort of. That is a barrier not a repellent and plain old mineral oil works just as well. Mosquitoes don’t like getting on it….kind of like we don’t like walking in mud. But, repellent is better. And, yes, I have looked into the toxicity and am perfectly comfortable with the safety of DEET. The so called “natural” repellents just don’t work as well so why use them? Just use natural dirt if that is the criterion. I had to throw in my towel with the burning coils that I used to pack in. Plain old smoke works just as well for most but doesn’t work unless one stays in the smoke and I don’t want to do that.
Sorry about writing an entire epistle on it, but this is actually the synopsis. I know, too long for just asking what kind I prefer.
Duke
