Myths And Facts About Bug Spray

Three Unlikely Facts About Bug Spray

Some of the most frequently told tales of the devastating effects of bug sprays are simply urban legends. And some of the most fantastic-sounding stories about bug sprays are actually true. This article will take a look at five myths and five facts about bug sprays so you can know when you are safe from ill effects and when expecting the worst is really sensible.
 

Claim #1: Bug spray can be explosive

This often-repeated claim about bug sprays is fact-based, but you can easily avoid disaster. The American television program Mythbusters investigated a claim that a family in San Diego, California lost its home when the myst from multiple bug bombs was ignited by a spark from a personal computer, causing the house to explode in flames, quickly incinerating the structure.[1]

This story seems to have originated in a report on Ananova in 2005 about an incident in the state of Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany, not in southern California. Walter Mueller, aged 36, the Ananova story goes, set out several canisters of bug spray to get rid of cockroaches in his apartment. Failing to heed warnings not to breathe in the fumes, he then sat down at his computer to surf the web. A spark from the computer ignited the bug spray, incinerating the apartment.[1]

The producers of Mythbusters were able to duplicate the incident in a test house, using several dozen cans of bug spray. Mueller's disaster probably would not have taken place in a larger flat or if he had simply followed the instructions on the product and left his residence for 24 hours.

Claim #2. Bug spray causes cancer

The California fruit industry is periodically threatened by a tiny insect known as the Mediterranean fruit fly. Eradicated in Hawaii, New Zealand, and Chile, but still found in Australia, Texas, Florida, and its native Mediterranean home, the fruit fly lays its eggs in tiny cracks in the peels of fruit, wriggling larvae hatching three days later.

In most of the locations where the fruit fly has been wiped out, its population has been killed by aerial spraying with the pesticide Malathion. In addition to taking the paint off cars, Malathion is rumored to cause cancer. But does it really?[2]

Oddly enough, malathion exposure has been linked to cancer, but not in California, Hawaii, Texas, Florida, New Zealand, or Chile. Six provinces of Canada report higher rates of cancer among agricultural workers exposed to the pesticide. In particular, agricultural bug spray has been linked to prostate cancer among farmers in British Columbia. This form of prostate cancer actually grows when it is treated with hormone therapy, making it especially deadly. Perhaps because the public health officials don't want to know, similar studies have not been conducted in other countries where malathion bug sprays have been used on fruit.

Several kinds of research were made to prove a link between cancer and malathion: rats were fed for up to two years with malathion and scientists found no evidence of increased cancer in the treated animals, while another study where researchers again used high doses of malathion found that rats and mice developed liver cancer. The United States Environmental Protection Agency determined that there is "suggestive evidence of carcinogenicity but not sufficient to assess human carcinogenic potential by all routes of exposure," for malathion.[2]

Claim # 3. Bug spray is dangerous for babies

One of the most alarming documented stories of the dangers of bug sprays for babies comes from the Journal of Medical Case Reports in 2009. Parents of a newborn baby boy in Spain lived in a house with a severe infestation of cockroaches. The mother used a full bottle (1000 cc) of bug spray every two days to try to get the bugs under control. The father worked as a fruit fly fumigator in an orchard, but was careful to change his clothes before he came home from work.

The baby boy was born with a condition called bladder exstrophy. He was born with his bladder outside his body, rather than inside it. His blood tested positive for a bug spray ingredient called permethrin.[3]

Permethrin acts like estrogen in developing girl babies and as an anti-testosterone in developing boy babies. When the embryo is exposed to chemicals in this class during the fifth to seventh weeks of pregnancy, the "plumbing" of the urogenital tract fails to form. The bladder may remain outside the body, and the penis may be replaced by an open cavity, even when the child is genetically male. Baby girls develop normal external genitalia but may suffer reproductive failure later in life.

Three Bug Spray Myths

Some of the realities of bug sprays are disconcerting,  but not all the stories about bug sprays are true. Here are three widely repeated stories about bug sprays that are just myths.

Claim #4. Listerine and water make an effective personal bug spray

Many people don't care to use bug spray products that contain the chemical DEET. To avoid using DEET, people try various home remedies that are more "natural," including spraying themselves with Listerine. A typical story goes something like this:

"The best way to get rid of black flies and mosquitoes is to spray yourself with Listerine. Last year at our Fourth of July picnic everybody had used Off (the DEET-based spray), but we were still getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. I went inside and filled a four-ounce (120 ml) spray bottle with Listerine, and just a little spritz of Listerine every 20 minutes or so was enough to keep the bugs away for the rest of the day. The mouthwash they sell at the Dollar Store works, too."

There haven't been any scientific studies disproving the use of Listerine as a bug spray, but there have been scientific studies that have found that herbal ingredients, such as the thyme and eucalyptus oils found in Listerine, simply don't keep bugs away. The alcohol in Listerine actually attracts some kinds of insects. Personal chemistry is complex, however, so it is possible that on the skin of some people, the combination of Listerine and body odor is just too much for bugs to stand.

Claim #5. Bug spray can make sunblock catch on fire

This just does not happen. You will not be the first person to catch on fire if you combine sunscreen and spray-on bug spray.

However, that does not mean that the combination of sunblock and bug spray in a single product is always a good idea. The combination of DEET and sunblock causes the skin to absorb DEET three to four times faster than when the bug repellent is used alone. Moreover, sun screen has to be reapplied much more often than DEET. If you use a combination product, you will apply much more DEET to your skin than if you used two different products for the two different purposes.[4]

Why does DEET make a difference? Government regulators usually consider DEET to be a safe product, but there are people who experience adverse reactions, and when there are adverse reactions, they are likely to be severe [5].

Some users of DEET have experienced auditory hallucinations. Others have become suicidal. A 30-year-old man who used DEET before taking a sauna developed grandiosity and delusions (a psychological state on the lines of assuming the identify of Jesus, Superman, or Napoleon) that resolved after 10 days of detoxification and never returned. One user of DEET developed hallucinations and paralysis, requiring him to be placed on a ventilator until his liver was able to break down the chemical.

Soldiers who have gone to sleep without showering, leaving DEET on the skin, have developed severe blistering. And a six-year-old child who had a genetic condition called ornithine transferase deficiency died after exposure to the bug repellent.

These adverse reactions, however, happen to about 1 in 1,000,000 users of the product. And DEET doesn't catch on fire.

There are also effects reported have to be considered in the context of the large proportion of the US population regularly using DEET containing insect repellents. Reported side effects include [6]:

• dermal effects
• central nervous system toxicity
• psychosis,
• adverse effects on reproduction 

Claim #6. Bug sprays cause bed bugs to multiply more rapidly

The truth is that bed bugs don't just live in beds. They also live behind baseboards, in carpeting, behind wallpaper, and in tiny cracks and crevices throughout a room. They come at night to feed on animals so they can molt and replace their shells.

Spraying the baseboards won't increase the number of bed bugs. It may, however, chase them into your bed. If you see tiny red or black streaks in your bed linens, or if you smell the faint odor of granola (the odor of a crushed bed bug), make sure you launder your bed linens in hot water and make sure you don't put a purse or luggage on a contaminated bed.