Amazing Results from Clinical Trial on Tick Repellant
by Geno Print Corporation
by Dr. Toby Watkinson
Tick-borne disease is spreading at an alarming rate and much of the needed attention is upon the treatment as we all know is important. However, we would all agree much more needs to be done for prevention and public awareness.
With this very thought in mind, I attacked the prevention aspect of the disease as an outgrowth of my seeing Lyme cases in my office sent by physicians who had exhausted their approaches.
It seems many more people could avoid tick bites if there was a product which did not smell bad and was safe for pets and small children.
Alternatively, there are many natural bug repellent products on the market too but very few, if any, specific to ticks.
Present products break down into two types: ones that are chemically based and ones which are from natural ingredients.
Some of the chemical products are suspected to cause cancer. Others of these pesticides are bio-pesticide and others are titled as not probable to cause cancer. Many of these products contain chemical which can damage plastics, clothing and cause eye injury. Some will migrate into the blood stream of the user. Many of these products are not suitable for use on small children.
The natural products are made from herbs and strong smelling scents which may repel insects but again are not specific for ticks. Here again these products often contain oils as carriers of the scents and some products may stain clothing as well.
In looking at all these products, both chemical and natural, I realized if there was a less toxic non-oily fragrance-free product on the market, more people might use a repellent and thus avoid tick bites and therefore avoid disease including
Lyme.
I surveyed the mechanism of action of the presently available products, both chemical and natural. I purchased samples of products, read labels and spent hours reading EPA test data. At the end of an exhaustive literature search and bench-testing of products, it was clear a new product needed to be tick specific, without fragrance, without chemicals or even natural poisons and should be non-toxic and utilize some new and different mechanism of action.
With these stringent product design requirements in place, I set out to understand the tick and how it tracks its blood meal. I looked at the mechanism of action of the current tick repellents, as well as common complaints and negative reactions. It seemed there were few easy possibilities for a unique design yet realizing there had to be a solution to the many problems posed by my design requirement, I pushed forward.
Realizing nature has its own unique systems to balance "good" against "bad", I began to match as many polar opposites as possible. When I landed upon a potential solution, the mechanism of action was purely theoretical and difficult to prove. We had certain data which supported our theory but the only way to prove it was to test it in a small pilot study.
Subjects were recruited from my patients and because all the ingredients were considered consumables and were even registered as dietary supplements there was no risk of reaction, especially figuring we were going to spray them on the skin.
Our test subjects were members of three large families. The objective was to see if the product would protect people who were not users of tick repellents currently but who were at very high risk of tick exposure. It was important to have people who were active outdoors, playing sports, going to summer camp and playing with the family dog.
Many of the subjects already had confirmed cases of tick-borne illness and some were currently being treated for Lyme disease. They were not users of repellents because of all the very reasons which had driven the design of my product. This was also important because they would be the worst critics of a product which had any aggravating properties at all.
In all the test families, the Mom became the trial coordinator keeping me advised of usage, any reactions, and any important issues I should be informed about. They were also in charge of the completion of the test questionnaires.
The trials took place over a two year period which included the peak tick seasons during both years. At the end of this period, questionnaires were completed and returned to our office for review by my staff.
The results were amazing … not one tick contact was experienced by any test subject where previously there were body tick sightings, in some cases on a weekly bases and sometimes more. There were no known bites during the tick trials either. The product review was equally successful. The product was shipped as a concentrate and diluted for use. Everyone thought the dilution process was easy and not a problem for a final product. No one complained about the lasting effects of the product or need for reapplication. There were no complaints about any smell or irritation of any kind from the product.
So I would imagine you are asking why is it I am going to conduct another study. It is simple: I want to be sure. I want to test it with a larger group of subjects. I want to do it through a governmental agency so the results are monitored and all the compliance requirements are met and verified before entering the market. Bottom line, I want to be sure the product really works and a larger trial is the only way to have the confidence.
If you would like to be considered as a participant in the upcoming clinical trial please go to the website
www.GenoPrintCorp.com and sign up. We will send you a pre-qualification questionnaire and a human subject release form to complete. The study is targeting late winter 2011 as the expected start date for the trial to begin.
