Clothing: Insect Shield Bug Off vs Permitheon Sprayed On Yourself

Today got email at work:
"Columbia Sportswear has revolutionized the outdoor apparel industry by combining inspired problem-solving with advanced materials and product engineering.

The results include coats that use body heat to keep you warmer, hats that help block the sun’s damaging UV rays, boots that deliver battery-powered heat on demand, and clothing that repels bugs.

Inspired by Mother Nature, Columbia’s Insect Blocker clothing integrates directly into their fabric a synthetic version of a natural bug repellent found in certain types of chrysanthemum flowers. It protects the wearer from all types of biting insects and retains its bug-repelling effectiveness for up to 70 washings. "

And a lot text saying why they chose our Intel servers instead of IBM …

70 days?

That sounds like false advertising to me.

Ex-officio has been doing it for years, they don't make that claim.

Permethrin may last several washings over 3 or 4 months, but 70 sounds impossible.

@Barry, Thanks for the warning. Thats good to know.

I do know my wife made a video of a tick dying on her pants(treated with the bulk stuff) on one of our hikes, but it was only a couple washings after treatment. I can't say for sure if she would get the same results a month later.

> Ex-officio has been doing it for years, they don't make that claim.

Oh, yes, they do. Direct from their site: "Treated with Permethrin, BugsAway clothing and gear is effective through 70 washings against mosquitoes, ticks, ants, flies, chiggers and midges."

Do we really have to go over some subjects every two weeks? (By which I mean the fear of permethrin toxicity.)

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=65983

Permethrin is one of the LEAST human-toxic insecticides. Is it totally non-toxic? No, but…

"All substances are poisons: there is none which is not a poison. The right dose differentiates a poison and a remedy." Paracelsus (1493-1541)

As I have said before, rickettsial diseases scare me a heck of a lot more than permethrin does.

That said, I'm rather uninformed on the issue of inert ingredients. It seems logical that they might make some difference in durability on clothes, and that some meant for use on livestock might not be so great for humans. Heck, it turns out that permethrin is deadly to cats, so every species is different…

I have sprayed the sawyer stuff on my clothes. It works great, but here is my problem with that solution… it puts a fine mist in the air which you, your family if they are close or your pets could breathe in very easily. I doubt it will kill you, but it seems to me dunking clothes in a bucket would be much safer since the stuff is more toxic while wet.

I did some camping in Arkansas with it…. one time without it, the next time with it. The first time I pulled two ticks off of me and so did my wife. I did not get a single bite of anything when we went about three weeks ago. I am sold on the stuff, and believe me when I say you don't want to get lyme disease, it sucks.

Good point about breathing it

I hang clothes outside where they can dry, then quickly spray them while avoiding breathing any of it. Keep others away…

“it puts a fine mist in the air which you, your family if they are close or your pets could breathe in very easily.”

I take advantage of this :).
I hang up a clothes line in the garage and keep all the doors and windows closed. I put on my backpacking gas mask (bandanna) and do my spraying. The next day when I retrieve my clothes, all the flies, spiders, moths, earwigs, etc., are dead in the garage. I don’t know why I get excited about that :)

-Barry

You can now send your own clothes to Insect Shield to be treated with permethrin that lasts through 70 washes, essentially the same as the expensive clothing that incorporates permethrin. The spray on permethrin from Sawyer is only good for six washes or six weeks, so a thru-hiker would have to re-treat a number of times in a thru. If it's really good for 70 washes, the Insect Shield treatment should last through a whole thru-hike without re-treating.

http://www.tickencounter.org/prevention/insect_shield_your_own_clothes

Order form including instructions and types of clothes that can't be treated:
http://www.tickencounter.org/prevention/insect_shield_your_own_clothes
$9.95 for each item plus shipping
$8.33 for items #3-19.

I haven't tried this myself, but it looks useful.