INSECT REPELLENT
January 1st, 2002
BY MATTHEW BRACE, in Sydney
JUNGLE travellers will soon be donning insect-repellent clothing instead of normal jackets or trousers that need constant re-spraying and are damaged by the toxins. Melbourne's Global Speciality Chemicals has devised a way of binding the insect-repellent "permethrin" to cloth so it remains deadly to insects for months, if not years. In tests most mosquitoes died from the fumes before they even touched the cloth. Healthguard PL, as the smart-textile is known, was still effective after 24 washes.
JUNGLE travellers will soon be donning insect-repellent clothing instead of normal jackets or trousers that need constant re-spraying and are damaged by the toxins. Melbourne's Global Speciality Chemicals has devised a way of binding the insect-repellent "permethrin" to cloth so it remains deadly to insects for months, if not years. In tests most mosquitoes died from the fumes before they even touched the cloth. Healthguard PL, as the smart-textile is known, was still effective after 24 washes.
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