The NPA has been helping people around the world since long before there was an Internet. This section features some of the timeless articles and editorials that appeared in peer review journals, newspapers and from the NPA’s own publications. Please note that many of these resources will open as pdfs and other document types and some may open not yet formatted for our relaunched website.
Return to complete listing of classic articles.
| 2010 | The Lindane Project: A Petition to the United States Government Lindane is a persistent bioaccumulative toxic (PBT) chemical to which the US population continues to be exposed to and at risk from the past and current use via the ambient air, water, soil, food, manufacturing, Superfund sites, stockpiles, recycled plastic and the pharmacopeia. |
| 2009 | Deborah Altschuler Discusses LiceMeister Comb at the Stockholm Convention The Stockholm Convention identified the LiceMeister comb as a POPs-free product and featured it at a global meeting of more than 150 countries April 25 – 29, 2011. |
| 2008 | PESTICIDES AND CHILDREN: UNWITTING PARTICIPANTS IN EXPERIMENTATION Since World War II, the use of pesticide products in the United States has increased fifty-fold. We now use approximately 900 million pounds of industrial pesticides per year in the United States. Two pesticide products marketed for use on children present striking examples of our overall failure to protect children from these dangerous toxins. Malathion, a deadly organophosphate pesticide, and Lindane, a lethal organochlorine pesticide, are both included in shampoos widely used on children’s heads to cure pediculosis, otherwise known as head lice. In the United States alone, seventeen deaths have been reported in connection with the use of Lindane; five of these deaths occurred in children. Lindane is so toxic that the Environmental Protection Agency banned all agricultural uses of the chemical in December of 2006. |
| 2004 | Decomposers Vs. An Unbelieving World – First Day of Testimony Well, Your Honor, we decomposers take dead plants and animals and turn them into nutrients and chemicals which can be used by other living things. When one organism becomes food for another organism, and that creature, in turn, becomes food for yet another… |
| 2002 | A letter to Lee Lemley of the FDA Pediculicide treatments put both the person applying the treatment and the person receiving treatment at risk. |
| 2002 | A letter to the EPA on lindane risks The NPA urges the EPA to recognize the risks associated with the pharmaceutical use of lindane for the treatment of lice and scabies as part of the Agency’s RED document. Consideration of the risks of pharmaceutical use of lindane is appropriate because the risks apply not only to the child or individual being treated, but also to the caregiver (“applicator”), the public at large and the environment. |
| 2002 | A letter to the FDA FDA wording jeopardizes the public health |
| 2000 | Fake News! Guidelines for the treatment of resistant pediculosis From Contemporary Pediatrics and the Working Group on the Treatment of Resistant Pediculosis. |
| 2000 | If your new school policy is based on this published paper you probably should take a closer look: Overdiagnosis and consequent mismanagement of head louse infestations in North America Health care professionals as well as nonspecialists frequently overdiagnose pediculiasis capitis and generally fail to distinguish active from extinct infestations. |
| 2000 | If your school relaxed the No Nit Policy for children with head lice you will want to know about this report and why it shouldn’t have been the basis for allowing infested children to remain in the classroom: “Overdiagnosis and consequent mismanagement of head louse infestations in North America.” Pollack RJ1, Kiszewski AE, Spielman A. –https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10959734 – (Abstract of Article).From Methods:….“we invited health care providers as well as nonspecialized personnel to submit specimens to us that were associated with a diagnosis of pediculiasis. Each submission was then characterized microscopically.” RESULTS: Health care professionals as well as nonspecialists frequently overdiagnose pediculiasis capitis and generally fail to distinguish active from extinct infestations.”Dr. Pollack’s methods from this reference do not support his assertion that “The vast majority of kids who have nits are not currently infested, and quite a few were never infested” His abstract describes an opportunity screening sample obtained from volunteers who are apparently seeking guidance as to the identification of a particular louse nit sample. It offers no quantitative information about either the majority of children infested or the identification skills of the typical parent, school nurse or teacher.It would be necessary to test a random sample of several schools and health providers to support the assertions in the Pollack post. It is important for public health professionals to review the scientific support for Pollack’s assumptions.David R. Brown, ScD – Environmental Public Health Scientist David Brown is the Public Health Toxicologist and Director of Public Health Toxicology for Environment and Human Health, Inc. He is the past Chief of Environmental Epidemiology and Occupational Health in Connecticut and was previously Associate Professor of Toxicology at Northeastern College of Pharmacy and Allied Health. He also served as Deputy Director of the Public Health Practice Group of Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) at the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Brown graduated from Cornell University in Biochemistry, received his MS from the University of California in Environmental Health, and his ScD from Harvard School of Public Health in Toxicology. |
| 1999 | Letter from Barbara Frankowski to National Pediculosis Association Agreement concerning NPA’s stand on not using lindane, not overusing the other pediculocides, not using lice sprays, and being wary of unproven remedies such as vaseline and herbal oils. |
| 1998 | Survey presented to the 1998 national meeting of the National Association of School Nurses Survey regarding occurrence and treatment of head lice (Pediculus capitis) in American school children |
| 1998 | There’s More to Head Lice Than Killing The Bug. |
| 1998 | Exposing The Nitty Gritty About Head Lice |
| 1998 | Tom Bell in support of No Nits |
| 1997 | Louse on Board? Head Lice Awareness Graphic NPA |
| 1996 | The late Robert Dalgleish, PhD says “Physical removal is always a choice, preferred choice, and thus should be first and last choice.” From Letter to the NPA |
| 1996 | Resistant Lice? A Crisis for the Kids From the Progress Newsletter |
| 1996 | A Heady, Nitpicky, Lousy Problem Report on head lice from the CA Dept of Health Services, Div of Communicable Disease Control |
| 1995 | Shampooing with Poison Article from the NPA’s Progress Newsletter |
| 1995 | Systematic review of clinical efficacy of topical treatments for head lice From the British Medical Journal, September 1995 |
| 1994 | Lindane – The Most Dangerous Medicine The Paula Lyons article that launched the NPA’s National Reporting Registry |
| 1992 | It’s A Lousy Job But She’s Good At It In The War Against Head Lice In Children, This Massachusetts Mother Serves As Commander-in-chief Without Pay |
| 1992 | Head Lice as Vectors of Disease The question of head lice as disease vectors has not been resolved |
| 1992 | Correspondence on the NPA’s ‘Lice & Disease’ Presentation to the U.S. Military Medical committee concludes that lice are a vector for typhus and louse-born fever |
| 1991 | Pediculosis prevention and control strategies of community health and school nurses: a descriptive study |
| 1991 | Old Comb Reveals Nits On The Nile Mummified head lice found on ancient Egyptian comb |
| 1990 | Zinsser, Lice And History Lice and disease |
| 1990 | Head of Quebec Poison Control calls for ban on lindane-based head lice products Facilities turn up more than 300 cases of poisoning, and that is just the tip of the iceberg |
| 1990 | The Misuse of Pesticides A painful prophecy |
| 1990 | Interview with the NPA President From ‘Bob Detwiler’s Journal’ |
| 1989 | The Pressure to Fumigate Parents who discover one or more family members harboring lice can become anxious and panicked. |
| 1989 | The Hazards of Treating Head Lice Minimizing risks by working together |
| 1988 | Defining The Problem Editorial from the Progress Newsletter |
| 1986 | Product Advertising Inconsistent With Health Goals Editorial from the Progress Newsletter |
| 1986 | Addressing A Common Bias Indifference to head lice in the medical community |
| 1985 | University of Miami Field Epidemiology Research Team’s Findings on Head Lice Team has treated over 2000 lice cases and extensively studied the biology of the head louse |
| 1985 | AIDS Precautionary Guidelines and Procedures for School Children Pediculosis position statement submitted to the CDC |
| 1985 | California School Nurses Organization Supports Nit Free Policies From the CSNO President |
| 1985 | Pediculosis Prevention Resolution Submitted to Congress H.J. Res. 223 |
| 1984 | Letters on Pediculosis from NE Journal of Medicine Letters on head lice topics, including nit removal and the search for safe methods for preventing head lice infestation. |
| 1984 | Memo to School Nurses If head lice management in this country is to succeed, health professionals and parents must acknowledge nit removal as an integral part of total treatment. |
| 1984 | Getting Bugged to the Limit From the Washington Post |
| 1983 | No Nit Checklist National Pediculosis Association |
| 1983 | Department of Health and Human Services discourages environmental use of insecticides for head louse control Department of Health and Human Services |
| 1982 | Kansas No Nit Policy From the Kansas Department of Health and Environment – NPA Policy Reference |
| 1971 | UNDERSTANDING AND TREATING INFESTATIONS OF LICE ON HUMANS Benjamin Ken and John H. Poorbaugh, Ph.D. |
| 1954 | Flavor and benzene haxachloride content of peanuts grown in rotation with cotton, dusted with insecticides containing benzene hexachloride HOWARD REYNOLDS, GLADYS L. GILPIN, and IRWIN HORNSTEIN – U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE |
| 1946 | Rats, Lice and History An excerpt from Hans Zinsser’s Book |
| 1944 | Mr. W E VAN DEN BRUEL shows specimens of Lepidocyrtinus domesticus (NIC.) BÖRNER captured on the head of a child. Cited (and translated) from van den Bruel, W.E. in Collart, A. (1944:210) |
| 1941 | Nursing Issues in the 1940’s Nurses are devoted to the children and the children are devoted to them |
