[at-l] Boots, Bugs, Etc.---

[cleek@cleekhouse.com (Billie H. Cleek)]

Yeah, well, nice long post, Weary.  I was actually referring to
Propecia, which the drug companies claim is safe for me to ingest, but
warn pregnant women to not even touch because of its potential to cause
birth defects
On Tue, Jan 15, 2002 at 02:34:22PM -0500, Bob Cummings claimed:
> "...I, quite simply, do not believe that something which can cause birth defects
> simply by being handled by a pregnant woman is safe for me to ingest," reports
> Billie.
> 
>  And you are absolutely right. Both DEET and  Permethrin are harmful to ingest.
>  DEET containers specifically warn you to call a poison control Center or go to
>  an emergency Room if DEET is swallowed.
> 
>  I don't use  Permethrin, but I'm confident that it has a similar warning -- as
>  well as a warning against applying the chemical to the bare skin. It is sold
>  for use on clothing.
> 
>  I can't comment further on  Permethrin because I have no personal experience
>  with the chemical -- derived from a natural plant if I remember rightly, maybe
>  daisies (?) I forget.
> 
>  But DEET has been used directly on the skin by countless millions of people
>  world wide for at least a half century. There have been a handful of recorded
>  problems, mostly when used in large amounts on babies and young children.
> 
>   Few are more suspicious of chemicals used on the skin or ingested than I am.
>   But after years of use and years of looking for evidence of harm on adults
>   without special chemical allergy problems, I am convinced that DEET is
>   probably much safer than the alternative, which is staying inside or allowing
>   the bugs to bite.
> 
>   I once spent 10 days on the wild St. John River. My canoe partner believed as
>   you do. He let the black flies bite. After two days he had a temperature of
>   104 and was vomiting. We convinced him to wear a shirt until the swelling went
>   down and then to apply DEET. He did. And we were able to finish our trip.
> 
>   I don't use  Permethrin because DEET works and because I don't know how to
>   easily keep something in a pack that wouldn't eventually contaminate something
>   that gets on my skin, which the manufacturer says is harmful.
> 
>   AS OB points put Bugs that are repelled by DEET cause numerous serious
>   diseases, yellow fever, Lyme Disease, malaria, Nile disease ... and others
>   that I have never bothered to think about since I'm not going to stay inside
>   and I'm going to take every reasonable precaution against becoming infected.
> 
>   Weary
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
The opposite of paranoia: The absurd belief that one is NOT being persecuted.