I thought you might like to read about the latest stuff to be "registered" for head lice control.  The article is entitled:  

Head lice update: Scratch some remedies.

The battle against head lice has seen some developments, not entirely encouraging, since our February 1998 report.  First, it's been confirmed that lice have become resistant to the relatively safe insecticide used in the most popular over-the-counter remedy.  Second, a prescription-only treatment is again on the market—and actively promoted among pediatricians and school nurses—even though its safety for young children has never been established.

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health recently reported that head lice collected from children in Massachusetts and Idaho are no longer killed by permethrin, the active ingredient in Nix, the nation's best-selling lice shampoo. The researchers didn't test pyrethrum, the active ingredient in other over-the-counter lice shampoos, but it's likely that lice are growing resistant to it as well because it's so widely used.

Capitalizing on this development, a prescription-only lice remedy called Ovide was recently relaunched after having been discontinued in the early 1990s. Ovide's active ingredient is malathion, a neurotoxic insecticide that's readily absorbed through the skin and through mucous membranes.

The malathion contained in a single Ovide treatment can be up to 30 times the recognized safe one-time dose for a young child.  Yet according to the product's label, no tests have been done to measure how much of the malathion is absorbed through the scalp, nor is it known whether Ovide is safe for children under 6.

Based on animal tests, the Food and Drug Administration estimates that skin absorption is low enough to make the product safe for older children, says martin Okun of the agency's Division of Dermatology and Dental Drug Products.  If more than 50,000 prescriptions a year are written for children 6 and under, the agency will consider asking the manufacturer to do additional tests, Okun said.

So where does this leave the families of the 10 million school-age kinds who get lice each year?  Consumer Reports agrees with Richard Pollack, lead researchers on the Harvard study, that parents should use one of the over-the-counter products as an initial treatment, following the package instructions.  But if that product doesn't kill the lice, they're probably resistant, and further treatments will do no good.

We can't recommend Ovide, because of the lack of information on safety for young children. The active ingredients in the over-the-counter products are much less toxic to the nervous system than malathion and are not readily absorbed through the skin.  Based on prior testing, the FDA labels Nix as safe for use on children older than 2 months, the other products specify no minimum age.

The safest and surest method of getting rid of lice remains the one we recommended in 1998: daily removal of lice and nits with a fine-tooth comb.  It's tedious, but it's effective if you keep at it.

But before you go to the trouble, make sure your child actually has lice.  Pollack reported that two-thirds of the specimens brought to his lab for testing turned out not to be lice at all, but rather debris and other insects.

Consumer Reports, February 1998, page 62.  February 2000 Consumers Reports 49

I would also note that malathion is an organophosphate (OP) poison, malathion is a suspect mutagen and teratogen, it is a delayed  neurotoxin, it causes allergic reactions, behavioral effects, ulcers, gastrointestinal inflammation, damage  to eyesight, abnormal brain waves and immunosuppression - malathion has diethyl fumarate as an ester that is synergistic (makes it more dangerous) with malathion and above 77 degrees fahrenheirt (which is obviously too cold to wash hair with ) there are transformation products formed - only one of which is malaoxon which is a known carcinogen and it too causes ulcers.  OPs can easily enter your body through the nose, skin or mouth.   The CRC Human Toxicology of Pesticides by Kaloyanova and Batawi copyrighted in 1991 noted on page 5 that the scalp allowed 32% of the OPs applied to that area to be directly absorbed through that area of the body, but noted malathion penetration was lower. They did not discuss how much malaoxon/malathion you would also breathe in or consider you would purposely put this stuff on your child's head and then leave them there for an extended period of time!

Consumer's Report once again did not take into consideration that I and now many others do not believe it is possible to remove all the head lice only by combing.  For several reasons, first, the lice are very fast , second no "real person" has the time to do all of the necessary combing and lastly the nits are only removed by pulling out most of the infested hair shafts by the roots!  The magazine also failed to note there are safe and far more effective alternative lice controls that are currently being sold over-the-counter - these safe and effective alternatives do not contain ANY POISONS, e.g. Not Nice To Lice and Lice R Gone,  I field tested these products on over 15,000 children so far and have never seen it to fail - children can be and are reinfested, but there is no reason why if you follow the directions you can not safely and effectively eliminate any lice infestation problems whenever you need to; even on new-born babies or pregnant women.  Just keep the enzymes out of your eyes - the same way you keep contact lens cleaners and/or soap out of your eyes.

I wrote a chapter on Human Lice and on their safe and effective eradication.  Using this Chapter many thousands of additional people have safely and easily and effectively controlled their own (even resistant) head lice infestations.   My Chapter on Human Lice can be downloaded for free at: The Best Control.

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