The greed of humans..capitalism at its best : an example..

Why do we re invent the wheel?

One of my family members contracted headlice from school,
and was recommended a medication which contains dimeticone.

www.ehealthme.com...

How dimeticone works

www.biomedcentral.com...

Background

Treatment of head lice using physically acting preparations based on silicones is currently replacing insecticide use due to widespread resistance to neurotoxic agents. It has been postulated that some products act by asphyxiation, although the limited experimental evidence and the anatomy of the louse respiratory system suggest this is unlikely.

So basically it has been assumed that the product works by clogging up the insect and suffocating it but this is unlikely. The article goes on to detail experiments on the lice to turn this assumption into scientific fact.

Observation over several hours of lice treated using 4% high molecular weight dimeticone in a volatile silicone base showed that, although rapidly immobilised initially, the insects still exhibited small movements of extremities and death was delayed. One common effect of treatment is inhibition of the louse's ability to excrete water by transpiration through the spiracles. Inability to excrete water that is ingested as part of the louse blood meal appears to subject the louse gut to osmotic stress resulting in rupture. Scanning electron microscopy coupled with X-ray microanalysis to detect silicon showed dimeticone lotion is deposited in the spiracles and distal region of the tracheae of lice and in some cases blocks the lumen or opening entirely.

So they use a silicone based clogging agent to kill the insects. The rational behind this is that insects become resistant to insecticides and they will not become resistant to this. (Another assumption?)

However, check this out (Natural treatments for head lice)

"http://hcasaludinternacional.com/your-health/index.dot?id=21867&lang=English&db=hlt&ebscoType=healthindex&widgetTitle=EBSCO%20Health%20Library%20Inde x"
www.rmbarry.com...

Notice tea tree oil + lavender works almost 100% also in their study. They also use a "suffocation agent like the dimeticone " and this happens to be "lavender oil."
Tea tree oil is an insecticide and we assume that the insects would become immune to this eventually by their argument. Tea tree oil has possible side effects.

Question yourself "Is Lavender oil patentable by big pharma? Does it work the same way as dimeticone ?"
Same for tea tree oil.

So there you have it there is a perfectly natural effective means and also a corporate one. Capitalism at its best.

www.hedrin.co.uk...

Hedrin’s efficacy is a result of its active ingredients, Dimeticone (Hedrin 4% Lotion and Hedrin Once) and Activdiol (Hedrin Treat and Go). All formulations are patented and have been shown to be effective at killing head lice in clinical trials and even work on lice that have developed a resistance to traditional pesticide treatments.

www.biomedcentral.com...

Sample size and Randomisation
Previous studies conducted in the UK have demonstrated efficacy rates for dimeticone 4% lotion of around 70% and no newly emerged nymphs have been found on approximately 50% of participants after first treatment [1,3].

So natural treatment seems to work 100% approx of the time whereas the pharma treatment 70%

Which is safer?
.
Limbo[