Barnstable County, MA Tickology Project - 2018, 20 Sep 2018

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From YouTube: Tickology: Skin Repellents

Description

Part 5 of the Tickology video project.

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Hi I'm larry dapsis, I'm the animologist with cape cod, cooperative extension and.

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In this segment, we're going to talk about repellents as a first line, defense.

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Against tick bites, there's another segment. We did on repellents that are.

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Used to treat clothing and footwear with an active that contains permethrin, but.

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In this segment, we're gonna focus on repellents that we apply to our skin.

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Alright repellents come in a couple: different flavors we've got a group of.

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Actives up here deet and some of the alternatives to deet, and then we have a.

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Whole family of products that are in the all-natural category, there's a big.

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Distinction between these two groups, this group up top here.

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Those are epa registered, meaning that if it has a label, claim repels tick bites.

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For six hours there are data on file at epa to support that and the all-natural.

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Products they're epa registration example we'll get into some more details.

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About those later all right, finding the right repellent there are so.

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Many products on shelf it can be pretty pretty challenging to kind of pick out.

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You know what's going to work best for you. Well, epa came up with a selection guide. Okay, so you go to this website and go to.

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Their home page and it's basically a menu of characteristics of what you want.

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In your repellent so for this one, I'm looking for a repellent that's going to.

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Repel ticks for five to eight hours and I want to focus just on ticks, so you can.

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Pick one for ticks, one for mosquitoes or ticks and mosquitoes active ingredient.

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Maybe I've heard something negative about deet as inactive, and so I'm.

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Picking picaridin as a deed, alternative manufacturer, I don't care who makes it.

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So we pull up six different products that meet those selection criteria.

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They're all made by cutters, so it's a matter of just finding. You know. What's.

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Available in stores nearby you all right, deet, there are a ton of different.

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Product formulations out there on the shelf and when I talk to a lot of people.

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You know a lot of people say: larry I've heard it's carcinogenic, it can hurt my.

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Children, it can permanently damage your nervous system. What's the deal on this, and and where I point people to is, don't go out.

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And try and learn about this stuff on social media, because it's just the facts.

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Aren't out there but there's an excellent resource. The national.

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Pesticide information center- this is a collaboration between the epa and oregon.

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State university and the objective here is to provide a repository for.

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Objectives science-based evidence that people can now look through and really.

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Find out what the facts are, so you go to their homepage on this site and we're.

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Looking at repellents, so if we zero in on deep here, we have a series of.

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Questions that typically people may ask, is it carcinogen etic? Is it have more of.

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An impact on children! What about the environment? What happens to it when it.

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Enters my body and if you scroll down through those, there are two the point.

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Factual answers to all those questions, so it's a great resource. Alright,.

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So we do have alternatives to deet picaridin ir 3535 oil of lemon.

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Eucalyptus, these are all synthetic products, okay, so even the oil of lemon.

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Eucalyptus, even though you can derive that oil from the eucalyptus plant, this.

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Is a synthetic version, so they are required to be registered by epa. These.

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Can be a little bit confusing and what I did was I developed a a fact sheet on a.

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Guide to tick repellents and you can find this guide on our website so again,.

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Short and to the point, factual answers on what these products are all about. All.

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Right, the all naturals there are a slew of these products on the market and and.

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A lot of them have product names. That kind of you know gravitate or influence.

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Parents selection, so baby gan x, will armor a number of things. A deep free. We.

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Already talked about the tox profile of date, actually squeaky clean, but they play to people's perceived fears on these things, which is.

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Unfortunate now not be an epa registered means they do not have to provide any.

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Data to show they work at all, so you might see some products with labels.

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Claims you know repels for insects for four hours, not all of them call out.

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Ticks as as one of the things they repel and those criteria that they're putting.

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Out there you don't know how those claims were arrived at they're, not.

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Following epa protocols, like you, would with an epa registered product, I came.

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Across one product it had a claim boasting that it was scientifically.

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Proven to be the best repellent on the market, they cited the prestigious.

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University and a leading researcher- and I happen to know the researcher- it's.

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Like I contacted him and said, hey, did your research program take a big.

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Departure and start working on tick repellents. Well, no he's still a.

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Biochemist and had nothing to do with that label claim so lesson here is let.

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The buyer. Beware! So here's my contact information. I look forward to either.

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Speaking with you or communicating you through email and we'd like to thank.

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Cape cod healthcare for their generous financial support of this project.