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Last Updated: Jul 2nd, 2008 - 21:15:22 |
(ARA) – If you’ll be spending any time outdoors during the summer months, there are two precautions you need to take -- put on sunscreen to protect yourself and your kids from the damaging rays of the sun, and bug spray to keep biting insects at bay.
Most bug sprays on the market today are safe when used as directed, but Allen Jones, spokesman for Bite Blocker, an all-natural bug spray, points out serious problems with insect repellants that contain DEET, a chemical bug repellent developed 50 years ago by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for the Army. “The federal EPA claims it’s safe when used as directed, yet most people are unaware of the problems sprays containing DEET can cause and simply use it as needed any way. They don’t take the time to read the warnings in small print on the label, and the label doesn’t explain the problems over exposure can cause. That should send up a red flag. I’d much rather use a repellent that is safe to apply as needed rather than as directed.”
Allen points to a study funded by the Department of Defense and published in the Jan. 10, 2003 issue of “The Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health.” It blames stress and a combination of chemicals given to Gulf War soldiers to protect them (DEET, the insecticide permethrin and the anti-nerve gas agent pyridostigmine bromide), for causing everything from fertility problems to Gulf War Syndrome.
“The Vets may not have been aware of the dangers to allow themselves to be sprayed with DEET, so parents should be better informed to make a healthy choice for their children,” says Allen. “There’s a warning on the label that says sprays containing the chemical should not be over-used along with several other restrictions, and that it can be flammable, yet because our government says it’s safe but does not indicate the risks associated with the product when misused, people ignore the warnings and use it anyway.”
He says parents should pay attention to a case reported to the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s National Burn Center Reporting System in 2004. “It’s a prime example of what can go wrong when DEET is put on a child. A young girl playing near an outdoor fire in North Carolina suffered severe burns when the bug spray her mother had just put on her ignited,” he says. “That would never have happened if she had on a spray made with non-flammable ingredients. As a parent, I am a lot more comfortable using an all-natural, non-flammable insect repellent that is proven to work like Bite Blocker.”
The spray (Bite Blocker) is formulated from a Swiss base of soy, coconut and geranium oils. In testing by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), this formula kept biting insects at bay for between four and eight-and-a-half hours. The report indicates that Bite Blocker was the most effective repellent tested based on a natural formula.
It was also named as the best performing DEET alternative in a July 2002 study done by the New England Journal of Medicine, and has been cited by the CDC as a viable alternative to DEET.
Bite Blocker is available in spray form, in a lotion either with or without sunscreen and on wipes for humans. Sprays for dogs, cats and horses are also available; and soon the patented soybean-based formula won’t be the only all-natural repellent offered by HOMS. The company has just secured the rights to a tomato-based repellent developed at North Carolina State University (NCSU).
Adding the NCSU compound in its own proprietary formulation, BioUD is the next generation of Bite Blocker. In addition to repelling mosquitoes and biting flies, it has proven effective against ticks, which can carry Lyme Disease. “BioUD has already proven more effective than DEET in studies submitted to the EPA where it has been classified as a BioPesticide,” says Allen. “It will be sold as an organic repellent as a safe replacement to DEET in the fight against insect-borne diseases.”
EPA registration in the U.S. is scheduled for 2006. For more information about Bite Blocker and BioUD, or to find a local retailer, log on to www.homs.com.
Courtesy of ARA Content
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