How can I kill deer ticks on clothing?

[+elephantmama]

My kids and I ended up covered in deer ticks today, like head to to covered. Nastiness. It certainly brought an end to our great planned day of caching! AND we didn't even find the tick-surrounded cache! How is that for fair? If we're gonna get Lyme Disease, I at least want some swag for my trouble.

 

Anyway, so I threw all the clothes and towels from our shower in the washer. They've gone through three cycles of hot water now and there are still live ticks! What can I do now? It's really making me itchy just thinking about what is swimming around in my washer.

[+awhsom]

My kids and I ended up covered in deer ticks today, like head to to covered. Nastiness. It certainly brought an end to our great planned day of caching! AND we didn't even find the tick-surrounded cache! How is that for fair? If we're gonna get Lyme Disease, I at least want some swag for my trouble.

 

Anyway, so I threw all the clothes and towels from our shower in the washer. They've gone through three cycles of hot water now and there are still live ticks! What can I do now? It's really making me itchy just thinking about what is swimming around in my washer.

The Dryer will kill them

[+Renegade Knight]

Tough buggers. I find the best was to kill ticks is to smash them with a hammer. My wife flushes them and lets the city figure it out.

 

DEET does a good job of repelling them so they don't end up on your clothes to begin with.

 

Beyond that...Google for people who wanted to reclaim their tick infested clothes.

[+oldsoldier]

Try a wash-in permethrin treatment for your clothes too. IT stays in the clothing for up to 10 washes, give or take. Works great...ticks wont stay on long, if they get on there at all!!!

[+OEnavigators]

We do it the old fashioned way. Pick them off. I have discovered much to the delight of my children and the disdain of my wife that if you put a live tick on a hard surface, and then put a lighter flame on it, they'll pop!

 

It makes the after caching tick check more fun! Deep Woods Off works great to keep them away.

[+elephantmama]

Thanks all. I'm trying the dryer now and I'll get the stuff to wash in tomorrow. We're also on Lyme watch now, so I'm on the lookout for strange rashes or flu symptoms. Fun stuff.

 

It figures that the ONE time all summer I forget to use the bug spray is when a mad herd of ticks decides to attack us!

[+mousekakat]

My kids and I ended up covered in deer ticks today, like head to to covered. Nastiness. It certainly brought an end to our great planned day of caching! AND we didn't even find the tick-surrounded cache! How is that for fair? If we're gonna get Lyme Disease, I at least want some swag for my trouble.

 

Anyway, so I threw all the clothes and towels from our shower in the washer. They've gone through three cycles of hot water now and there are still live ticks! What can I do now? It's really making me itchy just thinking about what is swimming around in my washer.

 

Ugh, what a mess... forgive me for saying this, but better you than me!

 

Please be sure that you've checked every little bodily nook and cranny, including up in the hairl and places where the sun don't shine for those little nasty buggars!

 

Lyme disease is not fun and deer ticks are big carriers!

 

If you do find one attached, do NOT squeeze it. That causes it to regurgitate the contents of its stomach and that is where the disease bacteria lives. Get a tick remover and use it and if I'm not mistaken, you can save the tick and have it tested!

 

Good luck... and remember... bleach is our friend in the washer....LOTS of bleach *scratching and shuddering*

[+elephantmama]

I did a good check of all the kids after they showered and I'm going to ask dh to check me tonight. He'll love that. My eldest two kids have followed the trend of longish hair on boys, so checking in their mops is tough. I'm going to check them all again before bed time to be safe. I also called the pediatrician and got some info on what to look for in case of Lyme. She wrote down when they'd been exposed, so she'll know to just start antibiotics right away if I call and say they have symptoms.

 

I'm also worried about the carpet and seats in our van. We all changed right away (I startled some nice Orthodox ladies by doing a quick shirt change in the parking lot. It was an emergency!) and I bagged up all our clothes. But if any were on our skin or fell off our clothes while changing, they're now hanging out in my french fry mobile aka minivan.

[+admo1972]

The dry will kill them. Often, if my caching clothes are relatively clean, I will throw them right into the dryer for 20 minutes, and then they are ready to go.

[+briansnat]

The best way is to treat your clothing with a permethrin based repellent before heading outdoors. It's a mild insecticide and will kill the ticks if they foolishly decide to jump on your clothes.

 

It also lasts through several washings so no need to re-treat your clothing next time you go out.

 

Just follow directions and permethrin is safe. It goes on your clothing, not your skin.

[+hukilaulau]

I use a DEET spray on th skin, Repel (permethrin product sold at K-Mart) on socks, boots and pants, and then, during prime tick and chigger season, pants and socks from here under my clothes. Works great!

[+elephantmama]

Well, I now get the pleasure of 3 weeks of doxycycline. Aren't I lucky?

 

A funky, bruised looking, rather uncomfortable rash started on my ankle this afternoon. There is a clear red spot in the middle with the bruised/red area radiating out. My doc is just starting the antibiotics now and testing me in a few weeks.

 

And I just saw some new caches I want to hunt for, so a few little ticks haven't gotten me down. But next time, I'm packing extra DEET, pants, gloves, pymethrin, etc.

[+ThreeTrees]

Well, I now get the pleasure of 3 weeks of doxycycline. Aren't I lucky?

 

A funky, bruised looking, rather uncomfortable rash started on my ankle this afternoon. There is a clear red spot in the middle with the bruised/red area radiating out. My doc is just starting the antibiotics now and testing me in a few weeks.

 

And I just saw some new caches I want to hunt for, so a few little ticks haven't gotten me down. But next time, I'm packing extra DEET, pants, gloves, pymethrin, etc.

 

Symptoms don't show up in 24 hours. If you have Lyme it was from previous outing.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Something very wrong with this picture. The Lyme rash (which only appears in a small prcentage of cases) is not 'uncomfortable'. The blood test should be taken immediately! Or is he referring to the retest to see if the Lyme is no longer active?

My substitute doctor said that she would not prescribe doxycycline without symptoms, even if the test were positive. I will never go back to her!

My first case of Lyme, I had a rash on my shoulder one day. By the next day, I had rashes all over my body. (I was on vacation, travelling back from western Pennsylvania. The third day, I was at the doctor's office.) For my second case of Lyme, I had no rash whatsoever.

I've had no problems with doxycycline. But be careful with bright sunlight.

My caching partner has just been diagnosed with Lyme. We may have to reconsider geocaching as a hobby.

[+elephantmama]

I asked the doctor about the incubation time too. It was the on call doctor who I spoke to on the phone. I made sure he knew that I was just bitten yesterday. He told me to take the antibiotic for 3 weeks and have my regular doc run a Lyme titer in 10-14 days. It seemed odd to me too that I have this rash so soon, yet here it is. It looks like one of the rash pictures on the CDC site, which is why I called the doctor in the first place.

 

We also went out caching on Monday, but I was wearing DEET then. I didn't do a tick check afterwards though and we were out for many hours. Who knows?

 

It's all very odd and uncomfortable. Where the rash is looks bruised and it hurts. There is a red spot in the middle with a mosquito bite looking ring around it. The area around that looks purple-y bruised. My ankle is achy and when touched, the skin is warm and pressure on top of the area causes pain.

Edited August 24, 2007 by elephantmama

[+Harry Dolphin]

I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on the Internet. That does not sound like Lyme. Sounds like a bruise. I think it takes two to three weeks for the rash to appear. Of course, if could be from an earlier bite...

(Be good, or I'll post my Lyme rash photo!)

But take your doxy, just to be sure!

[+miles58]

Do your own research before you expose kids to permethrin

 

Go to a Veterinarian and ask for Mycodex. It's a straight pyrethrin product. Much safer, much more effective. You spray it on a tick and you have a dead tick instantly and it is almost non toxic to mammals. It will keep them off your clothes and it washes out immediately so you don't have residue to worry about with the kids.

 

I know of nothing more toxic to insects and less toxic to people. The LD-50 is so high I think you could drink the whole bottle. The fragrance in it is more likely to do you harm than the pyrethrins.

[+elephantmama]

I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on the Internet. That does not sound like Lyme. Sounds like a bruise. I think it takes two to three weeks for the rash to appear. Of course, if could be from an earlier bite...

(Be good, or I'll post my Lyme rash photo!)

But take your doxy, just to be sure!

I thought about the bruise aspect, but I haven't done anything to bruise it. While I am clumsy, it's on my inner ankle bone and that's not an area that I ordinarily bruise. And the raised red area in the middle isn't consistent with a bruise. We've been out a few times a week since June, so if it is Lyme, I could've gotten it any time since then. It may just be coincidental that I was bitten yesterday. Who knows? I may just make a doctor's appointment tomorrow or Monday for some clarity.

 

And I've been looking up Lyme rash photos. You can't scare me after some of those I've seen! And my ankle does look like some of the pics I've seen, especially one on the CDC site.

 

I never thought I'd be describing a weird rash to the entire internet.

[+DammitNanet]

I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on the Internet. That does not sound like Lyme. Sounds like a bruise. I think it takes two to three weeks for the rash to appear. Of course, if could be from an earlier bite...

(Be good, or I'll post my Lyme rash photo!)

But take your doxy, just to be sure!

 

I agree with Harry. I had lyme the end of June and had the tick bite 3 weeks earlier. Got real sick and didn't know what was wrong (I had actually forgotten about the deer tick bite) and on the 4th day of feeling lousy the rash appeared & doc put me on doxy right away. In about 2.5 weeks I felt really good again.

Edited August 24, 2007 by DammitNanet

[+Harry Dolphin]

I never thought I'd be describing a weird rash to the entire internet.

 

Pushed your luck too far! This is what my doctor described as a 'classic case of Lyme rash".

Lyme Rash

[+elephantmama]

I never thought I'd be describing a weird rash to the entire internet.

 

Pushed your luck too far! This is what my doctor described as a 'classic case of Lyme rash".

Lyme Rash

Impressive!

 

The CDC site says there the rash doesn't always have the "central clearing" that yours does. They link to this picture as an example:

rash pic without central clearing

 

That's pretty much what my ankle looks like, but a little more purple and less hairy.

 

I just spoke to a friend who had Lyme. She reacted the next day after a bite. Her doc told her that it signaled a very strong immune system to react so quickly. I don't think I have a very strong immune system, but I do have a seemingly hyperactive one. I have a ton of allergies and have developed more over the past few years. I react to all sorts of fun things.

[+Airmapper]

I generally use plain Raid ant and roach killer. It kills on contact, put your clothes in a trash bag, spray some Raid in there, and seal it up good. After a while they will die from the fumes, then you can wash your clothes.

 

I live in an area where ticks are horrible. We especially have a lot of the "seed ticks." (Larvae or whatever they are really called) They clump on low weeds in the thousands, and when you get a wad on you it is a race to kill them before they spread.

 

Prevention is much easier than removal. What I do is watch my feet when I walk and don't step on low plants if possible. Another thing I do is glance down and check my legs often. There is no such thing as finding "one" tick when they are of the tiny "seed" variety. I sometimes spray Raid on my pants before going into the woods. I don't think it is good for use on skin, but I have in an emergency, I figure a little of that isn't nearly as bad as thousands of ticks all over. I immediately wash it and the dead ticks off.

[+Team Cotati]

"How can I kill deer ticks on clothing?" The simple and yet effective solution: Run the clothes through a timed 30 minute cycle on hot in a dryer. They cannot survive being dried out.

[+Mfurman]

elephantmama - I think I had a similar bite to what your are describing. I had a clear bite like a mosquito bite in the middle an almost prefect circle/ring which was more like a bruise than a rash in that was very purple (broken blood vessels). I work in a hospital and I showed it to a few doctors and PAs and they were split between bite or bruise. In the end (I had this looked at for 3 consecutive days) they all agreed it was a bite and it was an impressive reaction but they did not feel it was a tick because of the amount of brusing/blood/purple in the area around the bite. They felt it was a spider bite and the purple bruising was a reaction to the anti-coagulants (or was it coagulants) from the spider. I get blood work every three months (due to meds) and my PCP runs a lyme titer on my annual physican so their advice was to just have the PCP run the lyme titer again in a few weeks when I get my next routine blood test.

 

Best wishes

[mtbikernate]

Do your own research before you expose kids to permethrin

 

Go to a Veterinarian and ask for Mycodex. It's a straight pyrethrin product. Much safer, much more effective. You spray it on a tick and you have a dead tick instantly and it is almost non toxic to mammals. It will keep them off your clothes and it washes out immediately so you don't have residue to worry about with the kids.

 

I know of nothing more toxic to insects and less toxic to people. The LD-50 is so high I think you could drink the whole bottle. The fragrance in it is more likely to do you harm than the pyrethrins.

 

Pyrethrin is not as warm and rosy as your post makes it sound. Yes, it's an effective insecticide, too, but for the record, pyrethrin can KILL cats, so it's not 'almost non toxic to mammals'.

 

With regards to kids, you have two options...expose them to insecticides and repellents, all of which have potentially harmful side-effects (if they're effective, anyway, they have the potential for side-effects...but used as directed on the labeling, they should be fine), or expose them to ticks and lyme disease (among other tick-borne diseases), which can be a debilitating lifelong disease. Me, I'll expose them to insecticides.

Edited August 24, 2007 by mtbikernate

[+elephantmama]

elephantmama - I think I had a similar bite to what your are describing. I had a clear bite like a mosquito bite in the middle an almost prefect circle/ring which was more like a bruise than a rash in that was very purple (broken blood vessels). I work in a hospital and I showed it to a few doctors and PAs and they were split between bite or bruise. In the end (I had this looked at for 3 consecutive days) they all agreed it was a bite and it was an impressive reaction but they did not feel it was a tick because of the amount of brusing/blood/purple in the area around the bite. They felt it was a spider bite and the purple bruising was a reaction to the anti-coagulants (or was it coagulants) from the spider. I get blood work every three months (due to meds) and my PCP runs a lyme titer on my annual physican so their advice was to just have the PCP run the lyme titer again in a few weeks when I get my next routine blood test.

 

Best wishes

Hmmm, that's an interesting idea too. How did they treat it? I don't feel well at all today. I'm exhausted, though I slept a lot last night. I'm alternating between hot and cold, and I'm headachey and slightly dizzy. It may be allergies, as would be normal this time of year, but it seems odd timing.

 

About the pesticide stuff. . .I try to spray most of the DEET on the kids' clothes right now because I get nervous about exposing them to it so often. I put a bit on their skin too, but concentrate most of it to their clothing. It seems to be pretty effective that way, when I actually do remember to use it!

Edited August 24, 2007 by elephantmama

[mtbikernate]

 

About the pesticide stuff. . .I try to spray most of the DEET on the kids' clothes right now because I get nervous about exposing them to it so often. I put a bit on their skin too, but concentrate most of it to their clothing. It seems to be pretty effective that way, when I actually do remember to use it!

 

If you're concerned, by all means, keep the nastiest, most effective stuff on their clothing, and make sure they wear long pants/sleeves. It's not as uncomfortable as you might think if you choose the right fabrics (yes, it is uncomfortable sweating on a hot day in blue jeans and a cotton t-shirt, but some lightweight cotton/poly pants and a LS shirt with lots of venting...just beware that DEET can melt many synthetic fabrics, especially nylon...polyesters seem to be ok).

 

For their skin, you can use an oil of lemon eucalyptus-based repellent. If most of their skin is covered by permethrin-treated clothing, then all that's left would be hands, ears, neck (keep all repellents off of the face...I won't even put them on my own face b/c they tend to run when you sweat). But, from what I've read, even DEET used appropriately is fine for kids (you want to be more careful about it with babies, though).

 

DEET is the one repellent I'm aware of that is specifically mentioned to be effective against ticks. There are two others the CDC recommends (oil of lemon eucalyptus and picaridin), but I've seen ZERO mention of their efficacy against ticks...only against flying beasties like mosquitoes, deer flies, and black flies.

[+Mfurman]

They didn't treat it at all. I've been taking Advil and I've felt like garbage the past 2 weeks, mostly with a really bad headache. I think it is finally starting to pass.

 

Interesting thing, is I always spray my clothes with Deep Woods Offf and I was wearing pants yet I managed to get a bite on my thigh just above my knee. We did sit on the ground for a while so it is possible that's when I picked it up.

 

My trick is to wear a baseball cap and have my kids wear them too and I spray the bug spray on the hat.

 

The other thing we do is we use the suntan lotion with the bug repelent built in. Then we usually just spray their clothes, socks and shoes.

 

Hmmm, that's an interesting idea too. How did they treat it? I don't feel well at all today. I'm exhausted, though I slept a lot last night. I'm alternating between hot and cold, and I'm headachey and slightly dizzy. It may be allergies, as would be normal this time of year, but it seems odd timing.

 

About the pesticide stuff. . .I try to spray most of the DEET on the kids' clothes right now because I get nervous about exposing them to it so often. I put a bit on their skin too, but concentrate most of it to their clothing. It seems to be pretty effective that way, when I actually do remember to use it!

Edited August 24, 2007 by Mfurman

[mtbikernate]

The combo bug repellent/sunscreen stuff is GARBAGE. Don't use it. If you're going to use both, us two different lotions. Why? Insect repellency usually lasts longer in those things than the sunscreen part. So, if you only apply when you start getting eaten, you get burned. If you reapply when the sunscreen wears off, then you end up putting on more insect repellent than the label suggests, and all bets are off concerning sensitivity and toxicity effects.

 

By using two different lotions, you can reapply sunscreen according to the label instructions, and insect repellent according to label instructions...and at different intervals.

 

For ticks, the entire surface needs to be treated for your treatment to be effective. Spot treatment can work okay for flying bugs, but not the crawling ones. If you miss a spot with your repellent or insecticide, the tick can find that spot. Sometimes (like you found out), that means they'll crawl up the inside of your pants leg until they find a nice tender spot. That's why folks recommend tucking pants legs into your socks. I try to wear shorty softshell gaiters instead. They're water repellent...so I don't end up with soggy socks.

[cleo43]

I learnt the 'Bounce' trick on the Internet.

Always carry a sheet with me before going into the woods. My find is improving because I can hang longer around the target without fear of being eaten alive by mosquitoes !

[+HaLiJuSaPa]

Thanks all. I'm trying the dryer now and I'll get the stuff to wash in tomorrow. We're also on Lyme watch now, so I'm on the lookout for strange rashes or flu symptoms. Fun stuff.

 

It figures that the ONE time all summer I forget to use the bug spray is when a mad herd of ticks decides to attack us!

 

Although I admit you can't say it absolutely if you don't get the large "bullseye" rash, you probably won't get Lyme. Not to minimize this since Lyme disease is real and people do get it, but it's believed that only something like 1 out of 100 ticks actually carry the disease and that they have to be on you a good 24 hours or more to get a bite that really puts the germs into your system.

 

And if the ticks were fairly large, they may not be deer ticks at all. We freaked after a cache hunt when a large tick was on our then 3 year old daughter's forehead, ran to the emergency room and found out it was a Wood Tick, not a Lyme deer tick.

 

Good luck, hope you get all the ticks off your clothes.

Edited August 25, 2007 by HaLiJuSaPa

[mtbikernate]

FYI, Lyme disease is not the only tick-borne disease to be concerned with or aware of. Ticks are nasty, and are the largest arthropod-borne disease vector in North America. ALL tick species in North America have the potential to carry at least one disease, but three species carry most of them...the deer tick, dog tick, and lone star tick. ALL tick species in North America are expanding their range and disease prevalence is increasing among them. It's suspected that the deer overpopulation is what's driving this, since deer are the major host that ticks require in their life cycle.

 

Here's a list of only some of the tick-borne diseases to be aware of:

 

Lyme disease

rocky mountain spotted fever

human monocytic ehrlichiosis

human granulocytic ehrlichiosis

babesiosis

southern tick-associated rash illness

tularemia

relapsing fever

colorado tick fever

powassan encephalitis

tick paralysis

 

These problems are caused by a range of agents from bacteria, rickettsia, ehrlichia, protozoa, viruses, and a neurotoxin. Compounding matters, many human doctors wouldn't know Lyme disease (let alone one of the other, rarer ones) if it smacked them in the face. One of my wife's coworkers (a veterinarian) had symptoms that strongly suggested Lyme disease. His doctor tested him for everything under the sun, but REFUSED to test him for Lyme. It got so bad that he took his own blood sample, and sent it out with a batch of dog blood to the lab for Lyme tests...and it came back positive. Only after that did his doctor take him seriously, and even worse, the man's entire family was found to have Lyme, too! The guy had it so long that he's suffering from permanent effects and is now out of work in his 30's on disability.

 

Folks really need to take tick safety seriously. There's no place for folk remedies when it comes to killing ticks and avoiding bites. You need to hit them hard and fast if you don't want to end up with one of these tick-borne diseases (especially if your doctor is a moron).

[+Jenischmeni]

Just to add my .02 worth....I saw on Good Morning America that a sunscreen/insect repellent combination is totally ineffective. The combination tends to cancel each out. You won't have good insect protection because something in the sunscreen makes the insect repellent ineffective.

 

Gee, I've sworn off of summer caching in forests because of stinging nettles, chiggers, and mosquitoes. Ticks hadn't really rose up in mind until NOW! Snow caching can be very fun, imo!

[+elephantmama]

I will never forget the DEET again after this thread! Thanks for all the great information. I really do appreciate it. I'm still keeping a close eye on my kids, but they don't show any strange symptoms yet.

 

I am starting to think that the rash on my ankle may not really be Lyme though. It still hurts and that doesn't seem consistent with Lyme. I've also had 5 doses of Doxy and there has been no change in it, except that the center spot has gotten a tiny bit bigger. It's still red and purple and uncomfortable. I feel better physically though. I wasn't so exhausted and feverish today. Still tired and had a bit of a headache, but I was able to get some stuff done without feeling the need to go right back to bed.

 

It's all very strange.

[mtbikernate]

You can get basic staph infections in just about any sort of bug bite. The puncture from the bite provides an entry for the staph bacteria normally on your skin into your body.

 

Also consider the potential for an allergic reaction (especially with what you've already mentioned about an overactive immune system). I had a somewhat mild allergic reaction to the first black fly bite I got. The bite got to be the size of a golf ball with a discolored center and the whole thing was pretty tender. Have you been taking any benadryl lately?

 

Some pictures of allergic reactions to bug bites.

[dsandbro]

While wearing the clothes light your pants legs on fire. As the fleeing ticks run across your chest stab them with an icepick...

[+sTeamTraen]

While our son was recovering from what may have been tick-borne encephalitis, the doctor - who knew hr stuff, she was the specialist on insect-carried pathologies - told us that the diagnosis of Lyme disease takes about 6 months, and in many cases is done by elimination of other possibilities. There is no yes/no blood test for it. The "Lyme rash", if it appears (50% of cases), comes up generally from 7 days or later after the bite.

 

She also said that if you get a tick off within the first 24 hours or so, your chances of infection with Lyme are pretty minimal.

 

Oh, and we never found out if our son had TBE or some other viral illness with meningitis-like symptoms. 18 months later, his intracranial hypertension is almost back to normal. There is a vaccine for TBE and I'd recommend it to everyone. (Apparently there is a working vaccine for Lyme in the lab at Glaxo, but there's "no demand", meaning that various health care systems have done the math and prefer not to pay for it.)

[+miles58]

Do your own research before you expose kids to permethrin

 

Go to a Veterinarian and ask for Mycodex. It's a straight pyrethrin product. Much safer, much more effective. You spray it on a tick and you have a dead tick instantly and it is almost non toxic to mammals. It will keep them off your clothes and it washes out immediately so you don't have residue to worry about with the kids.

 

I know of nothing more toxic to insects and less toxic to people. The LD-50 is so high I think you could drink the whole bottle. The fragrance in it is more likely to do you harm than the pyrethrins.

 

Pyrethrin is not as warm and rosy as your post makes it sound. Yes, it's an effective insecticide, too, but for the record, pyrethrin can KILL cats, so it's not 'almost non toxic to mammals'.

 

With regards to kids, you have two options...expose them to insecticides and repellents, all of which have potentially harmful side-effects (if they're effective, anyway, they have the potential for side-effects...but used as directed on the labeling, they should be fine), or expose them to ticks and lyme disease (among other tick-borne diseases), which can be a debilitating lifelong disease. Me, I'll expose them to insecticides.

 

Permethrin is synthetic pyrethrin and it is dangerous to cats much more so than pyrethrin.

[mtbikernate]

http://www.southernag.com/PDF%20Files/ms1040.pdf

 

http://www.pbigordon.com/pdfs/Permethrin-10-MSDS.pdf

 

My point is that permethrin is fine for its labeled use, and that switching to pyrethrin is not going to be any more or less harmful for the same labeled use. Compare the MSDS sheets for both chemicals. Both have similar effects with inhalation or eye exposure, and both can be harmful if absorbed through the skin. The one for permethrin mentions the possibility of allergic reaction due to repeated skin exposures...but in reality, that can happen with ANY chemical. The health hazard for it is rated a 1 (out of 5), which is very low. Pyrethrin would have the same rating because its potential effects are pretty similar.

 

If you want to use pyrethrin instead...fine, it'll work...but claiming that it's significantly less harmful than permethrin is just ridiculous.