Don't Send Flea, Tick Collars to Troops - Pentagon

[thedrifter]

Don't Send Flea, Tick Collars to Troops - Pentagon


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Good intentions aside, the Pentagon is once again warning family members not to send U.S. troops in the Gulf flea and tick collars designed for pets.
"The fact is that flea and tick collars are not approved for humans and in fact are quite detrimental to the skin," said Army Maj. Dwight Rickard, contingency officer for the Armed Forces Pest Management Board.

Plagued by pesky sand fleas, some U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq have been asking family members to send them animal collars to wear over their boots, a practice also seen during the 1991 Gulf War.

But the Pentagon said the collars don't work on humans and can cause dangerous pesticides to be absorbed into the skin.

Flea and tick collars contain the pesticides organophosphates, carbamates, pyrethroids and organochloride. The Environmental Protection Agency warns that these chemicals may produce adverse effects and are not tested for human use.

Rickard said the collars work well on dogs, but don't help humans much. "If you put them on humans, the fleas and ticks won't go near the collar, but they will go everywhere else," he said.

The Rand Corp. found in a 1999 study that about three percent of Army, Navy and Marine Corps troops and one percent of Air Force personnel used the collars during the 1991 War.

It said most troops wore the collars over their shoes and clothes to limit exposure to the active ingredient.

The Rand study was commissioned to study any possible connection between the use of the animal collars to Gulf War syndrome, but found no direct evidence of a link.

The Army warned soldiers as far back as 1990 that prolonged exposure to the collars could produce toxic effects in humans, and base stores later put up signs to warn of the dangers.

Many local groups supporting U.S troops have been including the collars in care packages filled with other useful items such as lip Balm, toilet paper, sunscreen, bug repellent, deodorant, razors and snacks.



Sempers,

Roger