Stupidly Simple Bug Oil

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Ascobis

Forager
Nov 3, 2017
141
75
Wisconsin, USA
Tl;dr: pine tar is carcinogenic.

Oh, dear. One of the 19th century north American bushcraft authors included a similar recipe in one of his books. Chimney sweeps ("Chim chimeny chim chimeny chim chim cheery") got groin-region cancers from the coal tar residues in their workplaces.

A possible essential oil in the product under discussion is Pennyroyal. Mentioned in olden time herbals as a contraceptive, Pennyroyal zaps insects and is toxic to humans also. (Yes, this might be a straw man argument as I do not know the actual ingredients of the product. Let it stand as a general advisory.)

We had this discussion in another thread. Just because it's "natural" does not mean you want to put it on your skin.

Bushcraft on-topic content: Neem oil is good. Permethrin, properly applied to one's gear, not oneself, is good. Wild garlic or onion works on mozzies. Clay-rich mud makes a physical barrier the little bilghters can't handle. Shemagh, long sleeves, and light gloves block both mozzies and UV. (I dribble neem oil around the inside hem of my kilt.)

I don't know what HMG calls it, but over here we have OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the FDA, "Food and Drug Act", which has megamouse problems, but is basically sound. MSDS, Material Safety Data Sheets, are available for the googler. Why would one put ^H^H^H^H stuff on one's body that is carcinogenic? (Btw, California Prop 65 is utter garbage. "Known" does not equal "asserted by ignorant people". [Sigh. You lot in the UK have sharps-fearing weenies, we have every other flavor of knucklehead.])
 

xylaria

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Tl;dr: pine tar is carcinogenic.

Oh, dear. One of the 19th century north American bushcraft authors included a similar recipe in one of his books. Chimney sweeps ("Chim chimeny chim chimeny chim chim cheery") got groin-region cancers from the coal tar residues in their workplaces.

A possible essential oil in the product under discussion is Pennyroyal. Mentioned in olden time herbals as a contraceptive, Pennyroyal zaps insects and is toxic to humans also. (Yes, this might be a straw man argument as I do not know the actual ingredients of the product. Let it stand as a general advisory.)

We had this discussion in another thread. Just because it's "natural" does not mean you want to put it on your skin.

Bushcraft on-topic content: Neem oil is good. Permethrin, properly applied to one's gear, not oneself, is good. Wild garlic or onion works on mozzies. Clay-rich mud makes a physical barrier the little bilghters can't handle. Shemagh, long sleeves, and light gloves block both mozzies and UV. (I dribble neem oil around the inside hem of my kilt.)

I don't know what HMG calls it, but over here we have OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the FDA, "Food and Drug Act", which has megamouse problems, but is basically sound. MSDS, Material Safety Data Sheets, are available for the googler. Why would one put ^H^H^H^H stuff on one's body that is carcinogenic? (Btw, California Prop 65 is utter garbage. "Known" does not equal "asserted by ignorant people". [Sigh. You lot in the UK have sharps-fearing weenies, we have every other flavor of knucklehead.])

Pine tar and coal tar are different things entirely. Creosote is present in raw pine tar is removed from the pine tar that is sold in EU. The pine tar soap that is made in the USA is also creosote free and completely safe. Pine tar is on the EU list of permitted ingredients.

http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/722257/PINUS_PALUSTRIS_WOOD_TAR/#.WxuBso5ErIU

this is a EU data sheet.

https://www.greensfarmsupplies.co.uk/attachments/pages/17298/Battles Stockholm Tar-UK Data Sheet.pdf

Not a suspected carcinogen but dont drink it, and smell can make you quesy

I dont use pennyroyal.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,964
4,616
S. Lanarkshire
Pine tar is low hazard while coal tar is very high hazard. Different beasts entirely.

Pennyroyal is a traditional water purifier, grows well around old wells, kind of thing, but not a good idea for fertile females unless taken with intent and quantity.
It used to be a common herb, it's well known within Roman and Medieval Roman recipes.
Personally I quite like it.

M
 
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Sundowner

Full Member
Jan 21, 2013
891
341
70
Northumberland
Don't know much about it. But since I began to use it this year , I only had 2 bites, that was the day I left it in the house
And before I forget. I love the smell of SS
 

Tonyuk

Settler
Nov 30, 2011
933
81
Scotland
Never heard of it, interesting to see its reviews.

I use smidge up here, along with 3m's ultrathon which seem to help. Sometimes however theres nothing that beats a proper headnet etc.. especially when they're thick like a cloud.

A diet strong in anti-histamines keeps the itching away.
 

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