DEET Alternative Recommended by CDC Atlanta

[Guardian]

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are now, for the first time, recommending other repellents in addition to DEET...

http://chealth.canoe.ca/health_news_detail.asp?news_id=14313

My favourite was this paragraph:

Users complained of DEET's odour or said it feels unpleasant on the skin. DEET repellents also have reportedly damaged plastics and fake fingernails.

I remember seeing the issue stuff melt my map while in the field, and leaving fingerprints embedded in plastic items...

Other people have speculated it could cause brain damage, although the Environmental Protection Agency said the chemical won't cause harm if used properly.

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

The old stuff would come up as a blister agent.  Since that time the level of DEET has been reduced.  If you want the bugs to lay off you have to balance things.

 

[clasper]

In the Int cell, we used to use DEET to clean the maps of all symbols drawn with permanent marker.  Stuff worked much better than alcohol.

 

[mo-litia]

It should work better than alcohol; the old juice was over 75 % DEET if I remember correctly!

 

[Andyd513]

i believe i had a bottle that was 95% issued to me right before I left for basic. It exploded in my buttpack at some point and ate straight through the plastic ziplock bag it was in. And then you understand why they say never apply directly to skin...

 

[DBA]

Those little Muskol bottles were 95%. Heard 100% was also available but really unpleasant to use.

 

[TCBF]

If you carried a ruck and an FN C2 at night in NW Ontario during Black Fly season, DEET was the only thing that worked better than McKirdy's.  The old oily 6-12 wasn't too bad, but they have pulled it off the shelves 10 or so years ago for health concerns.

We are dealing with low level Cholinesterase Inhibiters (Nerve Agent) here.

I like that stuff we soaked our CADPAT in at Kandahar.  Permethrin, I think.