Buggin Hot Ain't CoolBy Gary Scott * Natural Health Tip - Buggin Hot Ain’t Cool * Ecuador Real Estate and Latin America * International Investments – July 2006 Major Market Value Analysis For the next article in this series, titled Summer Madness Is Not Cool, please click this link One great thing about joining us in Ashe County, is NO BITING BUGS! Here’s how our Vet put it. “There is always two mosquitoes in the country and one is comin, the other goin”. There are plenty of bees, butterflies and yellow jackets, but we sleep at night with windows open and do not need screens, except for the occasional moths from fluttering into the light. We sit on the porch all day long and never have bites. We have seen two ticks in seven years! (we suspect they were imported). I don’t know why but that’s happily the way it is up here in the High Country. When the weather gets hot, most people do not have this wonderful convenience. This leads to the risks of insect bites and insect repellent as well. Recently readers sent me ideas for two natural insect repellents. I wanted to first check and see if commercial insect protection (most contain DEET) had any risk. So I checked using the search phrase “DEET RISK”. All the hits with that phrase reviewed the risks of insect bites and had nothing about the safety of DEET. Wow what terrible things these biting insects are. The sites were scary telling about chicken virus, Lyme disease and such. Makes one wonder how mankind is still alive! So did I run out and soak myself in DEET? Au contraire. I am always suspicious. Industry often controls consumer data pretty tightly. Once in while they might even mislead. How can one get beyond the scare tactics and find the whole picture…the one that goes beyond what Madison Avenue wants you to read, see and hear. There is a trick learned while investigating "Softsoap Antibacterial Soap" manufactured by Colgate Palmolive. The label on this soap said “GENTLE ENOUGH FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY”. Yeah. See http://www.garyascott.com/archives/2003/03/03/774/index.html Manufacturers are often cozy with regulatory agencies that protect consumers. But this is not so with OSHA the agency that looks after workers. Don’t get me wrong, I have a pretty hard time with some aspect of most government agencies. There is however one thing that OSHA does that can help us at times. They require that every product shipped in the US has to have an OSHA regulated form called a "Materials Safety Data Sheet" called an “MSDS”. This form is meant to protect workers shipping and handling products so I looked up the " DEET MSDS.” The first hit with that phrase took me to the EXTOXNET site. Oh the differences that come when you know how to look. EXTOXNET is the Extension Toxicology Network, a pesticide information project of cooperative extension offices of Cornell University, Michigan State University, Oregon State University, and University of California at Davis. They are not trying to sell bug fighting skin cream. Here are some of the things they say about DEET. “Deet is the common name for N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide, a multipurpose insect repellent registered for direct application to human skin, clothing, household pets, tents and bedrolls and screens. “TOXICOLOGICAL EFFECTS - ACUTE TOXICITY “Different preparations of Deet with different proportions of the misomer produced oral LD50 (the amount of a chemical that is lethal to one-half (50%) of experimental animals fed the material is referred to as its acute oral lethal dose fifty, or LD50) values varying from 1,800 to 2,700 mg/kg in male rats and from 1,750 to 1,800 mg/kg in females. Rats killed by dosages in the LD50 range showed lacrimation, chromodacryorrhea, depression, prostration, tremors, and asphyxial convulsions. Respiratory failure usually preceded cardiac failure (1, 9). In rabbits, an intravenous dosage of 75 mg/kg was rapidly fatal, but 50 mg/kg was not. Five doses at the rate of 25 mg/kg/day produced no cumulative effect, except for injury of the intima of some veins used for injection. Single dermal applications to rabbits at rates of 2 or 4 ml/kg produced no systemic effect, but did produce mild to moderate erythema. Repeated dermal application of 50% solutions for 13 weeks at the rate of 2 ml/kg/day produced no evidence of systemic toxicity but did produce desquamation, coriaceousness, dryness, and fissuring in the same species. “Animals topically exposed to Deet have developed dermal and ocular reactions. Dermal effects including erythema, desquamation and scarring in rabbits (9) and profuse sweating, irritation and exfoliation in horses (Blume et al, 1971) (10) have been reported following repeated applications of Deet at concentrations of 50 percent or greater. Direct ocular application of either diluted (30 or 40 percent Deet) or undiluted Deet in rabbits has produced edema, tearing, conjunctivitis, pus and clouding in the eyes (3, 9). “Repeated dermal application to horses produced hypersteatosis, an overactivity of the selacious glands, when the solution of Deet was 15% or higher (10). “Dermal application in humans of insect repellents containing Deet can produce a variety of skin reactions in humans. Cases of localized skin irritation, large painful blisters and permanent scarring of skin at the crease of the elbow have been reported in soldiers who applied solutions of 50 or 75 percent Deet (11) (Reuveni and Yagupsky, 1982). Results from questionnaire surveys conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) among Everglades National Park Employees indicated a variety of dermal reactions including rashes, irritation of skin and mucous membranes, and numb or burning sensations of the lips among park workers who were highly exposed to Deet-containing repellents (McConnell et al., 1986). Urticaria or dermatitis, resulting from topical Deet exposure has been noted in both children and adults (Maibach and Johnson, 1975; Mayenburg and Rakoski, 1983; Miller, 1982; Oransky et al., 1989; Roland et al., 1985). In one instance involving only limited Deet exposure, the urticaria was accompanied by an anaphylactic reaction (Miller, 1982) (3). “Controlled human exposure studies using 50 or 75 percent Deet have reproduced many of the dermal effects noted in field studies (9, 11). The U.S. Army conducted an investigation in volunteers using 75 percent Deet applied to the upper arm and elbow's crease. Of the 77 volunteers, 37 (48%) had severe dermal reactions at the crease of the elbow. No dermal reactions were observed on the upper arm or in the control group of men tested with ethanol solvent alone (3, 11). “Several cases of toxic encephalopathy associated with the use of Deet in children have been reported in the medical literature. The first reported case involved a 3.5 year old girl whose body, bedclothes and bedding were sprayed each night for two weeks with an insect repellent containing 15 percent Deet (12). Since then, five additional cases of toxic encephalopathy have been temporally associated with the use of Deet products in children, all of whom were females (Edwards and Johnson, 1987; de Garbino et al., 1983; Heick et al., 1980; Roland et al., 1985; Zadikoff, 1979). The toxic encephalopathy was characterized by agitation, weakness, disorientation, ataxia, seizures, coma and in three cases resulted in death. Autopsies conducted on two fatalities (Heick et al., 1980; Zadikoff, 1979) indicated edema of the brain, with one case presenting necrotic lesions in the cerebellum and spinal cord and an enlarged liver accompanied by microscopic changes (Heick et al., 1980).” You can read the whole report at http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/carbaryl-dicrotophos/deet-ext.html Gulp! We put this on our skin? I wonder if a mosquito bite is worse? So here is another way to reduce problems with insect bite send when a reader shared: “Gary, I was told Garlic was not good for people. I really did not want to hear that but have been trying to avoid the onion and garlic to see what a difference it makes. Well, I am now being bitten by something. So I assume it is mosquitoes. I looked up and found this. Worth a shot! I knew eating garlic should cause them to avoid a person .... but spraying garlic juice. interesting.” This reader told me about “Mosquito Barrier” a 99.3% solution of garlic juice (plus some preservative). According to the manufacturer it kills and chases mosquitoes, ticks and fleas out of your yard and away from your house immediately upon spraying and keeps them out for up to 4 weeks and longer. Their website is even kind enough to include a link to this products MSDS which says: “EPA EXEMPT LABEL-This means that the ingredients, both active and inert are declared as GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe) - not harmful to people, animals nor the environment. This product may be used by farmers everywhere in the same manner as they might use water.” http://www.mosquito-zapper.com/mosquito_barrier.htm We all know the pain and torture that comes from bug bites. Plus there is some health risk. However there could be some health risk from using regular DEET loaded insect repellant. No we know another way…oir come on up here and stay with us where the bugs don’t bite much. Either way, until next message, have good investing, natural health and I hope the bed bugs don’t bite! Speaking of bugs. The Blue Ridge flowers are in bloom and the farm is packed with hummingbirds, butterflies and bees. Here’s a butterfly sitting on some Echinacea in our front measure.
International Investments – July 2006 Major Market Value Analysis. See the equity markets with the best value now at http://www.spottingtrends.com/stock_markets/stock_markets_23.htm Join Merri, Thomas Fischer of Jyske Bank and me at our next International Business and Investing Made EZ course in North Carolina. Review where to invest and do business now and learn which markets and currencies may be strong in the year ahead. Meet Steve Marchant, our man in Ecuador, and learn about products to export. Go to http://www.garyscott.com/nccourse/index.htm Ecuador Real Estate and Latin America. If you don’t like it hot come stay in Ecuador where it’s cool (but never cold) 365 days a year! Plus shop in the markets and help people like this…a really cool experience! (Photo by Jim Humphrey)
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