"Head lice are Mother Nature's early warning signal"
The Boston Globe Magazine
PO Box 2378
Boston, MA 02107-2378
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2008/03/23/letters/
March 23, 2008

We at the National Pediculosis Association see the meaning of head lice
differently than the portrayal in your article. Head lice are Mother
Nature's finest and tiniest epidemiologists - her early warning signals
that our public health guard is down and that children are at risk. Children
have been seriously harmed by exposure to chemical lice treatments. And no one
can guarantee that blood-sucking head lice are incapable of carrying
diseases. There are profits in the absence of prevention, which is why the
information on head lice is vigorously marketed to accommodate a
hit-or-miss approach. Families and communities not informed in advance will
predictably misuse and abuse pesticide products on children. Parents should be
encouraged to screen and detect head lice and their eggs and remove them
as early as possible.

Deborah Altschuler
President, National Pediculosis Association
Newton