Pet Flea and Tick Collar Hazards
to Service Members
How are pet flea and tick collars misused by service members?
Care packages with pet flea and tick collars are being sent from well-meaning citizens or civilian groups to service members deployed overseas. Service members are taking these pet flea and tick collars and wearing them over their clothes, boot, or uniforms, or next to their skin around their wrists, ankles, arms, or belt lines to repel insects. There is no evidence that wearing flea and tick collars in any manner prevents insect bites on service members. Pet flea and tick collars are not registered for human use by either the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) or the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is therefore a violation of federal law for service members to use pet flea and tick collars on themselves.
How could pet flea and tick collars cause illness in service members?
Service members may experience severe skin reactions and possible systemic poisoning from wearing pet flea and tick collars. Sweat, which is secreted through pores from glands in the skin, can leach out large amounts of pesticides and other chemical ingredients from pet flea and tick collars. This sudden, massive dose of pesticides can result in direct skin damage, including redness, blistering, chafing, and skin erosion. Pesticides released by pet flea and tick collars can also be absorbed into the body through pores in the skin, causing possible internal damage. Sweat can even draw pesticides from pet flea and tick collars through fabrics, so wearing collars on the outside of pants, socks or boots is not a safe practice.
| 
Large amounts of pesticides are released when flea and tick collars get wet, causing severe skin reactions.
|
What kinds of pesticides are commonly found in pet flea and tick collars?
Pet flea and tick collars contain a wide variety of pesticides that can be absorbed into the skin in toxic amounts. These pesticides include organophosphates (e.g., tetrachlorvinphos), insect growth regulators (e.g., pyriproxifen), pyrethroids (e.g., deltamethrin), and formamidines (e.g., amitraz). Organophosphate pesticides inhibit acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme critical in controlling nerve impulse transmission in humans. Skin exposure to low levels of these pesticides can result in weakness, headache, and gastrointestinal upsets. More severe skin exposure to organophosphate pesticides may result in respiratory distress, hypertension, convulsions, and coma. Human exposure to formamidine insecticides can result in paleness, dry mouth, drowsiness, disorientation, light-headed feeling, slurred speech, and loss of consciousness.
Why are pet flea and tick collars not as hazardous when used on dogs or cats?
Pet flea and tick collars are not as hazardous when used on dogs and cats because these animals do not sweat like humans do. Sebaceous glands in the animals’ skin secrete oils that spread small amounts of the pesticides from the collars across the animals’ skin. This must happen in order for the collars to work; otherwise, fleas, ticks, or other arthropods would have to directly contact the collar to be repelled, and protection would only occur around the collar.
Select the image for more information on the DoD Insect Repellent System.
