Warning, OFF is hazardous...

[cpaharley2008]

My significant other has some health issues and needs to avoid bug bites. She uses Johnson and Johnson OFF brand of bug repellent. I left a can in the trailer over the winter and today when I removed a small USB powered fan from the overhead, my hands were covered with grease. Upon further inspection, it was melted rubber from a USB cord that powers the little fan. It seems that the can leaked its contents and the spray liquid melts anything rubber or plastic it comes in contact with. What a mess....so if it does this to innate objects, imagine what the human body must deal with. No more OFF in out family.

[thoer]

I think you would find that most any insect repellent spilled on rubber or plastic will effect it in some way. I've even seen some of the "natural" repellents cause damage to some kinds of plastics when spilled.

(Side bar - climbing on my soap box): Lyme disease is rampant in our area and now the new deer tick carried Ehrlichiosis is spreading. More than half of my friends have had lyme's disease and one has long term complications from it going undetected.

Mary and I work on our land on native prairie restoration projects, tree planting and trail maintenance all summer long and religiously use tested/proven repellents. We use Permethrin on our clothes and DEET, Lemon Eucalyptus or Picaridin based repellents on ourselves. We know people who refuse to put repellents on their skin and a couple of them get lymes disease nearly every year. I'm willing to accept the theoretical risk of insect repellents vs the absolute risk of tick spread diseases.

[steve dunham]

DEET , which is the active ingredient is harmful to most plastics and synthetic fabrics. I left a squeeze bottle of bug juice in my fishing tackle box one winter , I ended up with a pile of oily plastic goo in the bottom of the tackle box . Had to throw out a couple hundred bucks worth of fishing tackle

[reetired]

Yikes!

In the ADKs there are noseeums which I am highly allergic to. I use Avon skin so soft...they have a bug spray formula also.

[rbryan4]

DEET will indeed break down plastics and some other materials as well. But man, does it work to repel mosquitos. When they're really bad, like the early springtime down on the gulf coast, or in the mountains of Alaska during summer, nothing works like DEET. We use the 100 percent and can get by with very small amounts used.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[gbaglo]

I don't spray OFF on me. I spray it on my ball cap and on trouser cuffs and my long sleeves of shirts.
I presume your fan cord didn't bathe or shower.

[blhvet]

I can't remember the nam (I think the box said it was a "natural" product), but i saw n insect repellant patch at Walmart the other day - supposedly water resistant and lasts 24? hours. anyone have any experience with it?

[blhvet]

If I'm working outside (or camping) where I'm not moving around too much, I find the Thermacell products also work pretty well.

[Jim Bennett]

I haven't used any insect repellent for many years now. I much prefer a light long sleeved shirt, and just to ignore the little buggers. If there was a danger of some disease where I go, I might reevaluate, but until then I am keeping that stuff off me.

I actually delight in seeing grown men panicking and getting infuriated by a tiny little insect. I am weird that way (okay, and others too)

[C&G in FL]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

I haven't used any insect repellent for many years now. I much prefer a light long sleeved shirt, and just to ignore the little buggers. If there was a danger of some disease where I go, I might reevaluate, but until then I am keeping that stuff off me.

I actually delight in seeing grown men panicking and getting infuriated by a tiny little insect. I am weird that way (okay, and others too)

I'm with you Jim on avoiding the use of repellants. I do, however, know two people who didn't realize they had contracted Lyme disease and are now suffering long term effects from it. Typically, when we spend time outside in rural areas, we will do body searches for ticks prior to crawling into bed. However, with the reported "outbreak" of Erlichiosis in Minnesota and Wisconsin, both in our travel plans for the summer, we will be using repellants for the first time in years. I can chuckle about annoying mosquitoes and even black flies, but tick borne diseases are no laughing matter. There are many State Parks in Florida where deer ticks are prevalent, and the DNR's response for not spraying is "we want to keep things natural." That can be interpreted as we are more interested in saving money than protecting the public health. That is why, except for Scamp Camp, I do not Camp in many of Florida's State Parks. Fortunately, neither one of us has ever found a tick at Highlands Hammock. It is far less tick infected than some of the other State Parks.

[Jim Bennett]

Are any insect repellents effective against ticks? We have ticks here, but not that carry Lyme disease, so this would be something to watch out for when travelling. I know in the Oregon desert area in 2009, a good friend that works at the San Diego zoo, checked Jasper out and found a bunch of ticks on him. She just used her fingernails to remove them.

[rbryan4]

100 percent DEET is quite effective in repelling ticks. We don't usually have to worry about it unless we are hiking through wooded areas or brush, particularly in the eastern half of the US, but a few spritzes on our pant cuffs and so forth and ticks aren't a problem.

As to removing the ticks, be careful using your fingernails to remove them. If they've already attached, the heads of those little buggers can detach and stay behind. I smother them with a dab of Vaseline, and they pull out quick.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[steve dunham]

We have lots of ticks in NW Wisconsin and they are already out for the year.
My wife and son both had lymes disease and we have neighbors who have had Lymes disease 3 or 4 times.
One bad thing about ticks unlike mosquitoes is that frost doesn't kill them , it needs to get down to 10 deg F to do any damage to the ticks.
Usually right before Memorial we hope for and often get one more GOOD frosty morning (25 to 27 deg F) which knocks down the mosquitoes , at least for the week or so . Frost is a much better bug repellant than DEET and much safer.

[wetzk]

I was in our garden picking tomatoes yesterday and somehow picked up a tick that hid just under the back of my watch. I thought it was a tomato seed at first when I noticed it but nope it was a tick nymph. It had attached but had not started feeding much yet so hopefully no problem. So either the blue jays who insist the tomatoes are theirs and still try for them under the netting or the squirrels who dig all around them have ticks.
We are at the end of tomato season, it's over 85 degrees so the blooms will not set anymore so I am getting the final tomatoes until November..

[thoer]

Here are some relevant links - top 3 from the CDC, bottom one from the EPA. For whatever reasons, tick and mosquito transmitted diseases are becoming more common throughout North America. I prefer prevention when it is fairly easy to accomplish and have seen too many friends and acquaintances acquire lyme to ignore it. YMMV

Lyme Disease Map
Tick Removal
Preventing Tick Bites
Find the Right Repellent

[LeonW]

A few years ago I found myself tent camping in Northern Wisconsin where the mosquitos were quite thick. I woke up one morning to find many of the buggers on my tent netting just waiting for me to step out. I tried various devices and potions, especially at night since it was usually a ways from the shower to the tent and I didn't like sleeping while covered with DEET. Also, given the effects of DEET on nylon, etc. I had horrible visions of my lycra cycling clothes disintegrating as I rode down the road. Up in Phelps, WI I found a thermocell device and started leaving that around my tent area. It seemed effective and much nicer than slathering myself in repellent. I also wore my rain gear around camp, even when it was hot and sunny, just to protect myself from the bugs. I find the thermocell works well in our clam shelter as well.

[cpaharley2008]

Good to know about the thermocell system.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by thoer

I prefer prevention when it is fairly easy to accomplish and have seen too many friends and acquaintances acquire lyme to ignore it.

Here here.

Lots of things can be hazardous if they're not used as directed. I dislike the title of this thread because it assumes facts not in evidence, or at least, without the context.



Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[cpaharley2008]

Sorry Robert, anything that leaks from a sealed can container and destroys something surrounding it, to me is hazardous. What else can be said...I'm not implying it's use is, that may take awhile, but the storage and the contents are.

[gbaglo]

Sounds like water to me.