[pct-l] A replacement for DEET?

[brick@fastpack.com (Brick Robbins)]

At 04:51 PM 7/29/02, TOKTAADN@aol.com wrote:
>And equally important is the safety of the wearer of the chemical.  Until it
>is proven safe, it doesn't matter how well it repels insects.

A 1998 review in the Annals of Internal Medicine shows that of the
approximately eight billion applications of DEET in more than  four decades
of use, there have been fewer than 40 instances of toxicity recorded in the
medical literature.That is a pretty good safety record, probably better
than aspirin.

Regardless of the evidence, a certain percentage of the population will
consider DEET unsafe.

I think a much bigger hazard for thru-hikers is environmental exposure to
the Industrial Solvent DHMO. For  information on this very dangerous
substance, see http://www.dhmo.org/


--
Brick Robbins

  The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and
   the intelligent are full of doubt.
------- Bertrand Russell