‘Natural’ Bug Repellent Won’t Protect Against West Nile Virus
August 8, 2002
CHURCHVILLE, VA - Stock up on mosquito repellent. West Nile virus, now being spread rapidly across the United States by mosquitoes, kills wild birds and can cause a potentially fatal brain inflammation in humans. The CDC has confirmed nearly 200 human cases, and about two dozen deaths, since the disease was first found here in 1999. For every reported case, about 150 mild cases of West Nile probably weren’t reported.
West Nile was already endemic in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Now, the experts say it will be a permanent summertime threat across most of America. The Federal Centers for Disease Control say we should all start using mosquito repellent when we go outdoors, just as we buckle up our seat belts when we get into an auto. Dr. Lyle Petersen of the CDC says, “You should be concerned enough about it to do something to protect yourself, but not change your whole lifestyle.”
Mosquitoes spread the virus. But don’t use one of those ‘natural’ bug repellents to keep them off. The CDC says the natural botanical repellents don’t work well enough to protect you. The CDC experts say you should use a bug repellent containing the synthetic chemical listed on the label as DEET.
But aren’t natural chemicals safer for use on our skins? No. Recently, the makers of ‘OFF!’ registered a new version of their bug repellent using a different plant-derived active ingredient (p-menthane-3,8-diol). Because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classified the new product as a biochemical pesticide, only limited toxicity testing was required for federal registration. (Like ‘natural’ medications, natural’ pesticides get only limited toxicity testing.)
According to the New York State Bureau of Pesticides Management, the new ‘OFF!’ ingredient is corrosive, but not toxic enough to kill laboratory animals when put in their feed or rubbed on their skins. It causes skin inflammation, bloating, scarring, organ weight changes and kidney effects in high-dose rat tests.
Since the product has not been tested for repeated applications to human skin, the makers of ‘OFF!’ are not allowed to use the label statement they had proposed: “With this plant-based repellent, you can feel good about putting it on the whole family.” Instead, the label will say, “Do not use on children under the age of three.”
What is not on the ‘OFF’ label is the even more critical information that the botanical won’t protect your family from West Nile-bearing mosquitoes as effectively as the synthetic DEET. That’s the unfortunate weakness of too many ‘natural’ products. Today’s nostalgic preference for the ‘natural’ things of this world ignores the reality that for a million years people had nothing but natural products and an expected lifespan of about 30 years. Our life expectancy today is rapidly climbing toward 75 years, strongly assisted by such man-made chemicals as antibiotics, cholesterol-reducing medications, and plastic for oxygen tents.
Why did man-made chemicals get such a bad reputation? Much of the credit goes to Rachel Carson. Her brilliant-but-flawed book, Silent Spring, told us that DDT was deadly for humans, killing wild birds by the millions, and that ’six or seven’ of the pesticides then in use (1962) would be found to cause human cancer. Modern science confirms none of her claims. (Not even the assertion that DDT thins the eggshells of raptor birds; the raptors had been suppressed by poison, habitat loss, and shooting because we didn’t used to like them.)
Now, the world is learning that we haven’t been using enough DDT. Two million people a year are dying needlessly from malaria and at least ten times that number have their lives blighted by the disease throughout Africa and Asia because the First World opposes harmless DDT being sprayed inside Third World homes to repel and kill malaria mosquitoes.
Will West Nile virus become severe enough in America to rekindle our enthusiasm for the pest-killing and mosquito-repelling capabilities of DDT? Don’t wait until DDT’s reputation is rehabilitated. Start using a DEET-based mosquito repellent now and also make sure to eliminate places around your home that could collect water and allow mosquitoes to breed, such as empty flower pots, wading pools and old tires. Water that stands for as little as two days can breed mosquitoes, and that’s more important now than at any time since we drove malaria out of America (with the help of DDT).
This article was published by Knight Ridder Tribune
Dennis T. Avery is based in Churchville, Va., and is director of global food issues for the Hudson Institute of Indianapolis.
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