Officials warn of flea, tick collar dangers Published April 16, 2003 By Army Sgt. 1st Class Doug Sample American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- Pentagon officials are, once again, advising servicemembers that flea and tick collars work great on pets, but not on humans.And officials at the Armed Forces Pest Management Board said good-intentioned citizens and family members should not include the collars in care packages to troops.Responding to reports that people and organizations are sending pet collars to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, Army Maj. Dwight Rickard, contingency liaison officer for the board, warned of the dangers involved."That some organizations with good intentions were doing this concerned us," Rickard said. "Flea and tick collars are not approved for humans and, in fact, are quite detrimental to the skin. Our skin is different from that of dogs, and the pesticides tend to burn our skin."There is also potential to absorb pesticides into the skin, which "as you can imagine, is not healthy," he said.Flea and tick collars contain the pesticides organophosphates, carbamates, pyrethroids and organochloride. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, these chemicals may produce adverse effects and have not been tested for human use.In September 1990, the Army's Health Services Command released a message warning that prolonged exposure to the collars could produce toxic effects in humans. Shortly thereafter, post and base exchange stores put up signs to warn of the dangers.In 1999, the Rand Corp., a research firm, surveyed thousands of Gulf War veterans on their use of pesticides in that war as the Defense Department searched for possible links to illnesses in Gulf War veterans. The survey did not provide definite evidence of a link to Gulf War illness, but a number of veterans had reported using pet flea and tick collars to protect themselves against insects.From the survey data, about 3 percent of soldiers, sailors and Marines and about 1 percent of airmen serving in the Gulf are estimated to have used animal flea and tick collars. The survey stated that most veterans who used flea collars wore them over their clothes or shoes, which helped minimize exposure to the active ingredient.However, Rickard said the best way to protect against fleas and ticks is to use measures found in AFPMB Technical Guide-36, titled "Personal Protective Measures Against Insects." The guide describes DOD's insect repellant system and other techniques to ward off fleas, ticks and chiggers.Rickard emphasized that the collars work very well on dogs, but hardly at all on humans."If you put them on a humans, the fleas and ticks won't go near the collar, but they will go everywhere else," he said.To learn more about the insect repellant system, visit the pest management board's Web site at http://www.afpmb.org.