BC Forest Safety Council Newsletters

[Scooter]

If you'd like to sign up for the BC Forest Safety Council newsletters (free), here's a link:

http://www.bcforestsafe.org/newsroom/newsletters.html

You can also sign up for safety alerts from that page.

Here are the direct links to some of their newsletters:

December 2015: http://www.bcforestsafe.org/files/BCFor ... cember.pdf
February 2016: http://www.bcforestsafe.org/files/BCFor ... bruary.pdf
April 2016: http://www.bcforestsafe.org/files/Fores ... 6April.pdf
June 2016: http://www.bcforestsafe.org/files/Fores ... 16June.pdf

[Scooter]

Here's a link to the August Newsletter:
http://www.bcforestsafe.org/files/Fores ... August.pdf


One thing that caught my attention is the article on page 19 by Delia Roberts. Here's an excerpt:

But isn’t DEET dangerous?

No, not really. Many safety studies have been done over the years since DEET was approved for public use in 1957. As recently as 2014, these studies have found no health or environmental concerns associated with the use of DEET. There have been studies published that claimed regular, high-dose exposure to DEET caused brain-cell death in laboratory animals, but those studies have since been rejected because of the way that the samples were prepared. Experts in the field of neurotoxicology showed that there was no behavioural evidence of brain damage at all.

As for the reaction between DEET and plastic or rayon, it happens because of the specific chemical structures of these substances. So while DEET may dissolve your phone, pack, or sunglasses; your body, skin and organs will be
just fine (unless you have a prosthetic limb). Some people do experience skin irritation when using insect repellents containing DEET. Minimize your risk by using the following strategies:

• Use a product that is no more than 30% DEET. DEET is effective all day at 30% concentration; there is no need for a more powerful product.
• Apply just enough repellent to exposed skin to achieve a light coating and do not apply to areas that will be covered by clothes.
• Do not use repellent on areas where the skin is broken (i.e. cuts or scrapes).
• Apply spray-on repellent to the face by spraying it onto your hands and rubbing it on rather than spraying it into your face.
• Covering up (as outlined above for sun protection) will help to minimize the amount of repellent you need to apply.

If you are still worried about DEET or have a skin reaction to it, you can choose a repellent containing Icaridin/Picaridin, a new active ingredient recently approved for sale in Canada. It’s only available in a few products, but is very effective – at a concentration of 20%, it provides protection for at least eight hours. The only ‘natural’ insect repellent (products based on essential oils) that has been shown by scientific studies to be effective is product containing oil of lemon eucalyptus. Although it can be as effective as DEET (and certainly smells better), it is only effective for about two hours, instead of the four to six hours of DEET, and it can also cause skin irritation. You’ll either have to be very careful to re-apply it regularly or choose a stronger repellent, especially in areas where mosquitos and ticks are known to carry disease.

[jdtesluk]

Yes, but no.
"Most research" examines DEET on its own, in controlled conditions, and actual exposure levels and effects may vary under different circumstances. For example, DEET combined with permethrin insecticides has been shown to have detrimental neurological effects. Note also, "do not apply to where skin is broken"....well that can be a problem when you're working in the raspberry.

Still, I think Roberts makes reasonable observations, and people should consider DEET among the broader panarchy of risks they face.

-Chemicals are everywhere. Everything is chemicals.
-All chemicals are potentially harmful in the right amounts. (see irritation caused by lemon-eucalyptus...sounds hippy-happy, but that sh*t can burn!)
-Chemicals that are harmful in small amounts to some organisms are lethal in the same amounts to others. Think about it, why can we eat grapes, avocadoes, and chocolate as health foods, yet these are considered toxic to dogs?

The risk of using certain chemicals is sometime balanced against the risk of not using them (Lyme or West Nile vs the still-foggy threshold of DEET exposure that poses zero health risk).

Her advice on ticks is generally spot on. I continue to be amazed at how much misinformation there is about ticks out there. I cringe every time someone tells me about burning one out with a needle or using some weird ointment they read about on the internet. I think every forest workers should read this article. However, there are a few gloss-overs. For example, she is a bit vague when she says that removal of a tick within 24-36 hours "usually" prevents infection. THIS IS KEY. Yes, this may "usually" be the case, but there are anecdotal findings and numerous claims to suggest that infection can happen much quicker. So, do you really want to roll the dice on Lyme disease, based on "usually"? If you want to play it safe, you get that little blood-sucking bastard tested ASAP!....even if it was only on for a few hours.

Also, be wary of the newly available over-the-counter tick-testing kits. These are made with one goal in mind....make money. You will never test as accurately as a laboratory (unless infectious diseases are your specialty). You have one shot to test the tick, and I would advise against wasting your $50 and your only tick on a dumbed-down consumer-level testing kit.