DDT & Lyme disease

[mcfarmall]

When at the property I'm in the brush working a lot so I took advice from a .mil friend and got a pair of pantyhose and wear them while working in combination with a long sleeved shirt. Not a quarantee, but a measure peace of mind, at least from the waist down.

I don't believe you. Post a picture!

 

[gsganzer]

I took advice from a .mil friend and got a pair of pantyhose and wear them while working

I think I'd prefer to risk dying from catching the disease from a tick bite. :laughing:

 

[smstonypoint]

I would rather not see a picture.

Steve

 

[oosik]

Oh, my God - this wild picture just popped into my mind. I go over to visit my neighbor - where do I find him - scrunched down behind a patch of deer brush because he didn't hear me coming in time and has been caught outside wearing a pair of his wife's black pantyhose.

BTW - I have to pick ticks off this 'ol bod every summer. Very seldom have they burrowed in and with VERY FEW exceptions they have always been above the waist. Why??? Who knows - but I think I've only found one or two below the waist in 35+ years. And fortunately only wood ticks in this area - no deer ticks.

 

[tcreeley]

I've had maybe 4 ticks land on me in 66 years. Two in the last 30 years here in Maine. Not really a problem.

 

[newbury]

<snip>

When at the property I'm in the brush working a lot so I took advice from a .mil friend and got a pair of pantyhose and wear them while working in combination with a long sleeved shirt. Not a quarantee, but a measure peace of mind, at least from the waist down.

Treat all exterior clothing with Permethrin. They touch it they die.

Permethrin kills ticks and mosquitoes on contact with treated clothing. A method of reducing deer tick populations by treating rodent vectors involves stuffing biodegradable cardboard tubes with permethrin-treated cotton. Mice collect the cotton for lining their nests. Permethrin on the cotton instantly kills any immature ticks feeding on the mice.

from

<snip>
BTW - I have to pick ticks off this 'ol bod every summer. Very seldom have they burrowed in and with VERY FEW exceptions they have always been above the waist. Why??? Who knows - but I think I've only found one or two below the waist in 35+ years. And fortunately only wood ticks in this area - no deer ticks.

Could be body chemistry or what you eat. I try to consume a lot of garlic during "bug season". I've found ticks walking around on me but not burrowed in. I've had mosquitoes land and then fly off without biting.

 

[oosik]

When I was in Alaska we would get these 95% active DEET packets from the military. It was a dry powder - put in your wash machine with your exterior pants and shirts ONLY. No underpants or undershirts. It would repel mosquitos for weeks. It caused really bad rashes on the back of my knees and back of my elbows. I had to quit using the stuff. If it still is available, I'll bet it would work for ticks also. No experience with ticks in my case - no ticks in Alaska.

 

[newbury]

Ticks did have their benefits. After a day in the woods my wife and I would shower and then do a thorough "tick check". Very enjoyable.

 

[Coyote machine]

Lyme disease is believed to come from Plum Island, and island off the coast of Connecticut, close to Lyme, CT. It is an island where to this day there is a government facility which was experimenting with biologicals and other forms of warfare. Ticks were the chosen means of transmitting what is now called Lyme disease; and it is an 'experiment' gone wrong, which cannot be put back in the bottle.

Re: Rachael Carson's Silent Spring being junk science; spoken like a no nothing moron. It's junk if it doesn't fit you personal agenda and belief system. No, science is based on facts, not wishful thinking or creationism and other devoid of facts nonsense.

DDT and Lyme, two completely different, absolutely no connection threats to humankind from our own labs. Deer are merely the transport vehicle for the infected ticks.
Junk science is what the OP dreamed up regarding his friend and DDT and Lyme. Get a grip.

 

[tomfifield]

The notion that you could spray enough of any chemical to keep wild animals in hundreds or thousands of miles of woods free of ticks is not even feasible, never mind one that has been proven to be harmful. Even ones less harmful would not be good for the bees and wild life or humans at the rate it would take.