Insect Shield® FAQ
Technology That Doesn’t Bite.
You shouldn’t have to choose between comfort and safety when you’re spending time outside. Thanks to Insect Shield® Repellent Technology you don’t have to. Insect Shield is an ingenious and effective tool in the battle against bugs and the dangerous diseases many carry, including the West Nile virus and Lyme Disease.
Haeleum clothing is treated with Insect Shield, providing you with effective, odorless protection against mosquitoes, ticks, ants, flies, chiggers and midges. Want to learn more about this innovative technology? Read on:
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Insect Shield?
Insect Shield products provide long-lasting, effective and convenient personal insect protection. Following years of research and testing, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency granted registration of Insect Shield Insect Repellent Apparel in July 2003, making it the first-ever, EPA-registered insect-repellent clothing. The EPA has also granted Insect Shield extended durability claims for its apparel registration, through 70 washings. Insect Shield apparel and gear products combine the Insect Shield process with a proprietary formulation of the insect repellent permethrin, resulting in effective, odorless insect protection that lasts the expected lifetime of a garment.
What does EPA registration mean?
The EPA registration process is designed to evaluate a proposed product to ensure it will not have adverse effects on people or the environment. Insect Shield products have been rigorously evaluated on multiple levels, including its chemistry, the application process and the final consumer product.
Are warning labels required on Insect Shield products?
No. During the registration process, the EPA issues a consumer labeling rating for each product. Insect Shield has been rated a category IV product by the EPA—the most favorable rating possible. No warning labels are required on category IV products.
Can Insect Shield repellent apparel and gear be worn by children, infants and pregnant women?
Yes. Use of Insect Shield products by children of all ages and pregnant women is consistent with the EPA registrations of both Insect Shield apparel and gear.
Which insects does Insect Shield repel?
Insect Shield® Repellent Apparel has been proven and registered to repel mosquitoes, ticks, ants, flies, chiggers and midges (no-see-ums). The EPA requires extensive effectiveness data to prove a product's ability to repel insects.
How much protection is provided by Insect Shield repellent apparel?
A small item of Insect Shield clothing provides less repellency than a larger one. You may need to adjust the amount of Insect Shield apparel you wear, depending on the number of biting insects that are present. For example, you might prefer to wear pants instead of shorts in certain situations, long sleeves instead of short, or add a hat and socks. Topical repellent can be used for exposed skin, and is especially recommended for heavily infested locations.
Does the product have an odor?
No. Insect Shield protection is invisible, odorless and colorless, and does not change the feel of the garment.
What are the benefits of Insect Shield versus other forms of insect protection?
Insect Shield apparel puts insect repellency near your skin, instead of on it, and the protection is odorless and invisible. Also, the repellency is long lasting, so no re-application is needed, which is not only convenient, it can also help alleviate concerns about overuse and misuse of repellent.
Is Insect Shield responsible insect protection?
The Insect Shield process is designed to prevent loss of active ingredient outside the system, and once applied, Insect Shield repellency is so tightly bound to fabric fibers that garments retain effective repellency through 70 launderings. Compare this to insect-control methods that require fogging or spraying, and traditional topical repellents that last just a matter of hours and readily wash off in water.
How do you care for Insect Shield apparel?
Normal home laundering is recommended. Insect Shield® Repellent Apparel can be bleached, starched, pressed, etc., without effect on the repellent quality. However, it should not be dry-cleaned because dry cleaning removes some of the active ingredient—which reduces the insect repellent quality of the apparel.
Who recommends permethrin-treated apparel?
The following agencies recommend insect-repellent apparel:
- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- The World Health Organization (WHO)
- The American Academy of Family Physicians, http://www.familydoctor.org
- The Public Health Agency of Canada, http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/www.phac-aspc.gc.ca
All of the above agencies actively encourage at-risk individuals to use permethrin-treated clothing as a protective measure against insect-borne diseases.
Why does the Insect Shield label say “dispose of in trash after use”?
This indicates that Insect Shield products can be simply deposited in the trash and require no special disposal process. In the case of Insect Shield-treated apparel, the “after use” can last for years in the used clothing market since many people donate their clothing. Eventually, the repellency becomes exhausted through wearing and laundering.
Do Insect Shield products require special storage?
No. And the repellency has a long shelf life. Insect Shield-treated garments stored for 10 years have shown no loss of repellent effectiveness.
What is permethrin?
Permethrin has been successfully used in the United States as an EPA-registered product since 1977, with an excellent safety record. Permethrin is used in lice shampoos for children, flea dips for dogs and various other products, some of which are regulated by the FDA.
The Insect Shield process uses a proprietary formulation of permethrin in a patent-pending system designed by our researchers. The system is specifically for creating Insect Shield products, and the proprietary formulation that is used is quite different from permethrin-based technologies employed in other industries.