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New Medical Device Keeps Lice Out Of
Everyone's Hair
The Chemical Approach To Head Lice Has Failed.
BOSTON, March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- It's almost impossible to find a
community in the U.S. that doesn't have kids with lice. The non-profit
National Pediculosis Association (NPA) says this fact adds to the scientific
evidence that the chemical approach to controlling head lice has failed. The
continual reliance on pesticide treatments has enabled the louse to become
well established among the childhood population. The NPA advises parents that
the safe alternative is to screen often and manually remove lice and nits
(lice eggs). To help the millions of families affected by this communicable
childhood disease, the NPA has developed the LiceMeister(R) comb, and is
making it available to communities through local pharmacies.
The February 2000 issue of the publication Pesticide Biochemistry and
Physiology reports that researchers using DNA sequencing have added to the
growing body of evidence of lice resistance to the leading pesticide shampoos.
This latest research makes it possible to accomplish independent scientific
documentation of resistance early and objectively. Pesticide resistance can
now be identified by genetic mutation rather than the tedious and often
difficult collection of live lice and assay method. Deborah Z. Altschuler,
NPA president, says that lice resistance is predictable. "It would be prudent
for the FDA to routinely monitor lice resistance to pediculicides as a measure
of safety. Otherwise useless products remain on the market and people are
exposed to the risks without benefit."
The LiceMeister comb enables parents to screen for head lice and nits,
detect them early and manually remove them. This is what the agency promotes
as the logical safe ticket to defeating lice without hurting the kids. The
goal is to help parents protect their children from unnecessary exposures to
products designed to kill or destroy bugs and to keep kids in school, lice and
nit free.
Promises that chemical agents will be totally effective lull many parents
into a false sense of security. When the products fail to kill the lice,
people become desperate and switch from one product to another. Reports
indicate that many who use the pesticide shampoos misuse them by using them
too long and too often. The result is a child overexposed to pesticides but
still with head lice.
The US Federal Trade Commission recently settled a lawsuit against several
product manufacturers for falsely representing the effectiveness of their lice
shampoos.
Dr. Michael Frogel, Chief of General Pediatrics at Schneider Children's
Hospital, New Hyde Park, New York says, "We need a sound communicable disease
strategy to avoid using pesticide shampoos as much as avoiding head lice.
Manual removal is realistic and practical with an effective device and needn't
be a crisis for families. This is about encouraging the right choices by
educating parents in advance and providing the tools to help them get it
right."
Consumer Reports Magazine's recent update on lice remedies (Feb/2000)
states that the safest and surest method of getting rid of head lice remains
the one the magazine recommended in 1998: daily removal of lice and nits.
Over half of NPA's calls come from frustrated parents that rightfully do
not want their children to be infested. The NPA website (http://www.headlice.org)
averages 25,000 hits a day and visitors are clearly searching for help. Many
of these parents have also tried and failed with newer products marketed via
the Internet.
While the Internet marketed lice products, many without FDA approval, are
touted to be safe, natural, non-toxic and "totally effective" in killing or
destroying lice and nits, these are pesticidal claims nonetheless.
Professor of Nonprescription Products and Devices at Southwestern Oklahoma
State University, W. Steven Pray, Ph.D., R.Ph., warns about a general lack of
safeguards. He advises against unregulated head lice remedies until
sufficient data proving safety and efficacy is provided and approved by the
FDA.
Jay Feldman, Executive Director of the National Coalition Against the
Misuse of Pesticides, agrees with the NPA's approach to give parents the
option to use the non-chemical manual method. Feldman emphasizes that
children unfortunately have more than their fair share of pesticide insults in
their food, air and water. He states that, "This is a perfect opportunity to
avoid a direct exposure of a pesticide to a child."
As the LiceMeister comb gains momentum, the same industry that wasn't
interested in developing combing tools is already attempting LiceMeister comb
knock-offs. When asked what the NPA thinks of this, Altschuler says, "The NPA
can't lose. Either way, we just keep raising the standards. It's our job."
Susan Rogers, President of School Health Corporation calls the LiceMeister
comb the "gold standard" featuring it on the home page of their web site and
on the back of over 100,000 catalogs just mailed to school nurses across the
country.
Proceeds from the comb help support and expand the NPA's programs of
education, prevention and research. LiceMeister combs are provided to the
disenfranchised, orphanages and other charities in the U.S. and around the
world. Thousands of combs were recently donated to children in war-torn areas
in Europe where louse-borne diseases are not uncommon.
The NPA sponsors the All Out Comb Out, which annually kicks off its
September Back-to-School Head Lice Prevention Campaign, which continues
throughout the year.
The NPA's new campaign poster says it best:
"Because it's not about lice, it's about kids.(TM)"
Issuers
of news releases and not PR Newswire are solely responsible for the
accuracy of the content.
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