I have been using it on clothes and hammocks for close to ten years. Good stuff
I have been using it on clothes and hammocks for close to ten years. Good stuff
I am still 18 but with 52 years of experience !
I appreciate your concern.
I can't say if it harms synthetic fabrics, but even more importantly is if it could cause you harm .
Doing a search on this message board will show a strong bias for its use. There's almost a religious or political zeal for using chemicals like these (and others).
I think there are safer ways to use repellents than others.
I try to reduce my use of synthetic chemicals as much as possible. The body seems to have a harder time detoxifying from synthetics more than common food based substances. My concern is bioaccumulation in fat and organ tissues. What might not manifest immediately, sometimes will do so causing harm later on. This is why I hate it when companies manufacture and sell fabrics saturated in DWR and the like.
I'm guessing that you're concerned about mosquitos biting through. Understandable. Have you looked into essential oils? I've used them on all types of clothing, nylon and polyester, with no breakdown or melting. You might want to try whatever substance on an inconspicuous area first.
Some types and brands work better than others.
https://healthyliving.azcentral.com/...-12210561.html
Actually concerned about ticks - in Arkansas, in he warmer months, you could have a dozen ticks on you and your gear at any moment. I see what lime disease has done to folks like kris kristofferson and would really like to avoid it. Permethrin works very well on ticks.
Ok. I see your concern.
I've had the same concern working long days in the fields with deer tick populations, and managing a section of forest in my neck of the woods.
I've spent time working in environmental toxicology too, however not specific to this issue or permethrins.
The things I mentioned are simply trends from observations. My lab subjects developed tumors and had offspring with birth defects when exposed to a large variety of man made chemicals. When I visit someone who dies of cancer, it makes me ask, "what caused or contributed to this persons cancerous condition?
Can natural substances be harmful?. Some can, but I find that the liver, kidneys, etc. are designed by God to deal with many of those substances common in foods/herbs/spices.
Additionally, People don't have as much profit motive (love of $) to advertise and promote them (ie. essential oils) like the big chemical companies do. This is why so many grant$ go to promote "research" which promotes drugs and chemicals. The companies can't monopolize/patent a natural ingredient that God made to grow yourself.
These are a couple of reasons why I mix my own and apply/reapply as necessary.
Article for hobbyists:
http://anapsid.org/pyrethroids.html
Science publication:
http://pubs.sciepub.com/aees/1/3/2/
Hope these help
PS: I had an interesting consultation with a research physician who has had success with infected patients. Thats all I'll say for now since I already provided enough reading material for those interested.
Last edited by Equalizer; 12-13-2019 at 02:06.
Permethrin does work great for keeping mosquitoes off the hammock, but I've had bad luck with it vs. ticks unfortunately.....
Jellyfish, Tigglet and I were doing trail maintenance on the section of Mason Dixon Trail that I maintain and each of us ended up with HUNDREDS of nymph and adult Lone Star ticks all over us. I had my hiking boots, socks, gaiters, shorts, shirt, hat and H- harness treated with Sawyers Permethrin as well as Sawyers Picardin on my legs, arms & neck. The ladies both had all their clothing and packs treated w/ Permethrin as well. They were completely covering my boots, stuck in the velcro on the back of my gators, crawling up my legs, on and under my shorts, on my boxer briefs and had started to real up my lower back . Jelly and Tig were as equally covered and both had multiple bites under their clothing .
We must have walked through an area where they had recently hatched and were waiting for the first warm blooded animal to pass by. Despite the heavily treated clothing and gear we found very few dead ticks on us. The few dead that we did find were ones that got stuck under laces, in velcro, under boot tongues and other tight areas. You've never seen 3 people strip so fast in your life lol ! Luckily neither of us caught a disease but very well could have had we not noticed them sooner. After that I started using the strongest DEET I could find on my boots and gators.....
" The best pace is a suicide pace, and today looks like a good day to die." ~ Steve Prefontaine
Shirt answer: Permethrin is fine on nylon, but deet is not.
May I suggest an experiment Chesapeake?
Next time you're clearing the trail, take 2 spritzers. One with a concentrated recipe of essential oil A, the other with essential oil B. See how those compare to the permethrin that did not work. The next day move onto oils C and D.
Some batches of oil work and others don't depending on source and concentrations. I've been fortunate for the past decades that the bioweaponized disease was reported too.
Keep in mind that you might need to refresh treatments or cover an area that you may miss. Just check from time to time.
I've cleared trails and many acres in whitetail areas thick with ticks. There's a reason that I'm not getting that issue.
IF you have management responsibility for that section,you might want to check into guineas. After study, take a proposal to your boss. Maybe he will budget a few dollars for a flock. I'm told by one of my mentors that hers eat ALL of the ticks within the range that her dogs run. Her dogs don't get any treatments.
BTW, another friend had her dog treated with a drop of "safe and effective tick repellent." It was not very effective and it paralyzed the poor dog from the ribs down. For the rest of its life it drug itself around and had to be carried every time to urinate. Just a friendly warning.
http://pubs.sciepub.com/aees/1/3/2/
Last edited by Equalizer; 12-13-2019 at 16:57.
I've talked to several top doctors and one of America's finest veterinarians about this issue. I'm not going into details since there's not much interest on hammock forums.
However, I did a quick search and here's one veterinarian's recipes and view on a more natural treatment that he has been doing. I can't recommend his particular oil combination since I've no experience with it.
Check out this vet and his own tick spray:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=27evhHpbWgY
I put mine in a little hand sanitizer spritzer. Its the size of a pen.
I know of the paralysis and death to dogs exposed to the chemical compounds promoted on other threads here (hammock forums) in the past should be strongly cautioned. There seems to be propaganda that tries to convince us all that "If we don't use xyz chemicals, then we will get infected with some disease." As if the favoured chemical is THE panacea and anyone suggesting other options are going to cause people to die. This has been trained into us from birth as the doctor$ and nurse$ are now injecting 1 day old babies with dangerous substances so, (the propaganda says), they don't aquire a sexually transmitted disease or one transmitted through IV drug use. I didnt know that babies are sharing filthy needles with others using heroin injections or are involved in prostitution! This is the kind of crap that the chemical/pharmaceutical companies bribe greedy nurse$ & dr$ into pushing on stupid parents these days. If you plan to have children, watch this short video. It only mentioned Hepatitis B, but its given day 1 around the country.
https://www.brighteon.com/6046276307001
I'm not saying that its anyone's mindset on this thread. I'm saying that it's an American cultural norm now and we should all be aware of it lest Colosians 2:8.
I could give a dozen more examples and scientific reports, but you get the picture.
If i were convinced that pyrethroids were the only way to prevent me from getting bitten by ticks climbing onto my hammock while I slept, I'd choose to apply it to the cords/webbing rather than the hammock itself. That's so it would come in less contact with my skin. Much of what goes on our skin, gets into our body.
Likewise with clothing, I'd apply it to netted gators that go over the pants, but dont touch my skin.
Next, Perhaps light elastic (NOT sprayed)t on shirt openings and the hat band would help lower the risk.
You probably already know that certain colors are more attractive to blood suckers. A combination is sometimes a better solution than trusting a particular chemical solution. Multiple approaches. It sounds like you have a highly populated area of politicians....I mean ticks.
PS: Besides guineas, another harmless critter that comes to mind that might put a dent in your tick population are awesome opossums. They would be worth their weight in gold. Seriously. I took in a tick vacuum last week. As soon as there's a break in the weather, she's going back into the wild to eat 5,000 or more ticks in the area. Check out the short video on this tick vacuum page:
https://possumfacts.com/do-possums-eat-licks/
Hope this helps.
PS: Speaking of the subject reminded me of a a funny joke that a 11 year old once told at Thanksgiving dinner.
Do you know why some people get involved with "politics?"
Well, lets look at the definition. Politics....
Prefix, poly(i), meaning "many".
Ticks, meaning "blood sucking Parasites."
Poli-tics?
Many blood sucking Parasites!!!
You could here a pin drop for about half a minute.........
Because sitting at the table was a blood red faced judge who prided herself in her political activism and identified most certainly as a politician!
Then all of a sudden, I couldn't help it.............
I burst out laughing so hard that I teared up for over a minute!!!
Here's a REAL candidate......for Possum Queen
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsz-BDtbz8U
Last edited by Equalizer; 12-16-2019 at 00:49.
I've been using it for a long time, a good thing.
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