Are lice treatments safe?

Products that kill lice and scabies aren't 'shampoos.'

They are insecticides.  Except at Lice Lifters Treatment Centers are treatments are all natural and pesticide free.

Q: My child has head lice! I have gotten conflicting information on treatment. Are the over-the-counter medications safe to use? What other options do I have?

— Liz

Dear Liz,

Head lice — those tiny, wingless parasitic insects that live on the human scalp and glue their eggs to our hair — are practically inescapable. They can’t fly, hop or jump, but they certainly can get around.

It is safe to expect that you (or more probably, your child) will get lice at least once. While social stigma and fallacious notions of hygiene attached to lice have somehow survived, the louse hath no prejudice. Long or short, curly or straight, clean or dirty, our hair and scalps provide the perfect environment for lice: just the right temperature, protection and moisture levels. Add the miniscule bit of blood they draw from us several times a day, and you’ve got a haven for Pediculus humanus capitis. Only the human head will do: they do not live anywhere else on the human body, or on animals, and can only survive about two days without feeding on human blood.

Lice may be a nuisance, but they are not a public health menace. Head lice aren’t dangerous and don’t spread disease. At worse, persistent scratching can cause the skin to become irritated or infected.

So what to do about these annoying, harmless, persistent creatures? Bathe our children in pesticides and nerve gas, of course!

Understand your toxins

Lindane, a neurotoxin, is commonly used as a pesticide. Known to cause cancer and harm the human nervous, reproductive and hormonal systems, lindane is one of the ingredients of choice in lice treatment products. The U.S. has banned lindane for some uses, and many countries have abandoned it altogether, but we continue to use it to kill lice. Of course, lice are usually found on children, whose developing bodies are particularly vulnerable to toxic threats. In the U.S., use of lindane on animals has been banned, but you can buy it for the human members of your family. Treatment with lindane can result in vomiting, seizures, brain damage, spontaneous abortion, learning problems, epilepsy and death. The pesticide is categorized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic pollutant — meaning it lingers for a long time in the environment, accumulates as it moves up the food chain, and is highly toxic to humans and wildlife. As the allowable limit for lindane in drinking water sources is 19 parts per trillion, a single treatment of lindane to kill head lice or scabies pollutes 6 million gallons of water.

Find a Lice Lifters Treatment Center near you. http://www.licelifters.com/locations.html The Nit Nanny Products are always available http://www.thenitnanny.com/productsandprevention.html