Permethrin bug repelant?

[luke213]

Well I've been doing some research into permethrin for a bug repelant and it seems the military is using this for soaking their BDU's in to repel bugs. My wife is going to africa this summer so we're looking into options for soaking her clothing to protect her against all the creepy crawly things that area has to offer:) On top of that fine and dandy purpose I've also been checking into it for airsoft purposes since I sometimes get bit all to hell playing in the summer.

I've found several commercial solutions for soaking and spraying though the price is fairly prohibitive and I've been looking for less expensive options. The stuff is faily nasty to skin etc, but from what I've been reading the military is using it in %40 concentrate form whereas the civy version is %10-20. Either way I've found bags of it in pesticide form and was considering giving some old bdu's a soak in it to see how it works and if it had any adverse effects. I understand this isn't likely the correct way to go about this since It's likely a bit of a health hazard though as I said I'm considering it and I'd like some opinions and even better some advice from someone with some experience with it first hand or anything of the sort. Thanks again.


Luke

[Snip]

Just to let you know, bugs will still land on you, but they won't bite. They will still go after unprotected skin. I had the option to use the stuff, but since I'm somewhat of a idiot I decided not to. Just make sure its dry when you put it on and wear rubber gloves when handling it wet. Oh, and once you wash your clothes you have to re-apply the stuff.

[Arc]

1 word:

CANCER.

Keep that stuff off your skin. That being said, it works pretty good, and is pretty easy to apply so long as you can hang your clothing somewhere with decent ventilation.