Conference noted::bicycle

    Shaw:
    
    I believe Deet is dangerous because, when applied directly to the skin,
    it is absorbed into the blood stream almost instantly.
    
    Ken
       

    
    If all this information is known, it surprises me to see all these 
    products, especially the Deep Woods OFF on the supermaket shelves 
    without any warnings , atleast to say do not apply on children. 
    Directions say to not spray it directly onto face, but spray on
    hands and then rub onto face. 
    Odd thing is I still had it on may hands when we stopped for a lunch
    break and all I had to wash my hands with before touching my 
    sandwich was water from my water bottle....
    
    Shaw

For hiking I've used Green Ban got it at EMS. Seems to work fairly well without
DEET.

Chris

    
    Thanks Chris, I will try the Green Ban. 
    
    Shaw

while i don't particularly like the idea of it, i use deet because i haven't
been able to find anything as effective.  i think the military did tests and
indeed concluded that there wasn't anything as good as deet.

- rich

I don't know why it took that supposed "news program" so long to report this, but 
DEET was deemed harmful several years ago. The same warnings were issued then -
apply to clothes, do not use on children, etc. The HIKING conference probably
has more info on this...

         Most of the stuff that works has DEET.  Things like Cutters, D.W.
    Off, D-15 and such have relatively high concentrations but it's only
    100% of the ACTIVE ingredients.  There is still a majority of inert
    carrier material.
    
         In order to avoid skin contact, is spray my clothes, shoes &
    socks, helmet, gloves, etc.  Only in realy heavy bugs do I have to
    resort to direct application to open flesh.  A side benefit of putting
    it on clothes is that sweating doesn't wash it off as fast.
    
    P.S.  You can also eat LOTS of garlic.  That's supposed to turn off all
    kinds of blood sucking creatures!!
    
    Tom

    I guess there are still a few reasons to ride on the road with my
    roadbike ... I may not be fast but I'm faster than the bugs!
    ;-) Larry

    
    A Yankee 4th of July tradition - Avon's SSS (skin so soft) seems to do 
    the job.  Perhaps it has DEET in it????  ;-)

	According to a Consumer Reports article of summer '94, 
	Avon's Skin-so-Soft does not have DEET, nor is it as 
	effective at repelling mosquitos as the products that 
	have DEET. None the less I usually use SSS because it
	leaves me smelling less foul than the DEET based 
	repellants. Unless the bugs are reallllly bad...

				John

As far as I now, those products without DEET (like Avon SSS) aren't going to do
anything to prevent the more harmful pests like Ticks.

I'm more concerned about them, than about blackflies and mosquitos.

-Al

    
    I too have first hand experience ;-) that skin so soft doesn't work 
    when you are in the deep woods.  I road biked Saturday in bad weather
    and all, but Sunday had to get the adrenaline up so went mountain
    biking, with all the bad things I have heard about DEET, I still used
    my Deep Woods Off and although I had an escort of mosquitos following
    me, I wasn't not attacked by them and managed to have a fun ride.
    Maybe it's only certain poeple that are affected by this DEET. 
    
    Until there is a good alternative, (I haven't tried the EMS stuff yet!) 
    I am afraid I'm going to have to use what works, as it is not fun 
    climbing uphill while you are getting bit by a hundred mosquitos on 
    your back. 
    
    Shaw

Having fished all my life, I can personally recommend nothing other than 100%
deet.  A cigar also works well, if you can stand the smell.  I can't anymore. 

One summer I gave up bananas and ate tons of garlic.  It seemed to help a lot,
but I can't give up bananas while biking...need the potassium and they are so
darn convenient.  Garlic also keeps other people away which is not always a good
thing either.

Tim

A couple months ago, I read that Deet actually eats certain types of 
fabric.  The writer said his $70 shorts (fieldsensor?) were ruined.   
Anybody know any more on this?   Which materials are negatively affected?


Mike

Deet does work, though.  While mowing my lawn yesterday I saw several ticks on
the mower.

Since I had showered myself with "deep woods off", they wanted no part of me.

-Al

    re:-2
    
    on the bottle of deep woods off that I have it says do not apply on 
    lycra, which most cycling shorts are made of? I have not applied 
    near that area. Rather get bit that ruin my irreplacable
    Descents(nomore on the market).
    
    Shaw