CLM20-2 full issue-1 - Flipbook - Page 42
ON THE GROUND
ON THE GROUND contains product updates and handy tips; in fact, anything that will help you get
work done on the ground. If you have information about a new product or a good idea for improving
the management of land for conservation, then ‘On the ground’ is the place to share it with other
land managers.
Chris Evans christopher.evans@naturalengland.org.uk
Jack Simmons Jack.Simmons@naturalengland.org.uk
As vectors of various diseases, ticks are a hazard for countryside workers. Philippe Garcelon (CC BY 2.0)
Anti-tick clothing
and treatments
Most countryside workers will
know the hazards of ticks and
Lyme disease. The risks seem
to increase each year and, with
greater awareness of them,
technology and treatments
are also keeping up, with new
prevention options continuing to
be developed.
Within the market there are
several types of protection, most
of which involve insecticides or
repellent being impregnated or
washed into clothing, providing
protection from ticks and biting
insects.
Rovince
Since 2009, Rovince has been
developing and producing
clothing that provides protection
against tick bites.
The clothing is treated
with Permethrin, a synthetic
pyrethroid that mimics a naturally
occurring insecticide found in
chrysanthemum flowers.
The treatment produces the
so-called ‘hot feet effect’, whereby
ticks that come into contact with
the clothing become paralysed
almost immediately and fall off.
Website: www.rovince.co.uk
Swedteam Antibite™
Antibite™ is a technique for
treating textiles with insect
repellent. The base ingredient of
Antibite™ is IR3535, a substance
that has been on the market
for more than 30 years and is
based on a natural amino acid. A
research group at the University
of Minho, in Portugal, has found
a way of using nanotechnology
to impregnate clothing with
IR3535. This technique is known
as Antibite™.
IR3535 emits a scent signal that
warns insects to keep away. As
Antibite™ is designed to repel
rather than eradicate, the insects
40 Conservation Land Management Summer 2022 | Vol. 20 No. 2
do not develop any resistance
to the substance. It is also not a
reproduction-inhibitor, unlike most
traditional insect repellents.
Website: www.swedteam.com
Bushwear wash in
Bushwear NO Tick Wash in
Repellent can be washed into
any garment once, to get
season long protection from
ticks, midges and mosquitoes.
The repellent is simply added
to the fabric softener draw of
a washing machine as part of a
normal wash cycle, during which
IR3535 is bound to the fabric
by using nanotechnology. The
liquid will treat 1kg of clothing per
10ml of solution, so the 250ml
sachet will treat 25kg of clothing
(typically five loads of washing
in a standard machine). Once
treated the clothing will provide
protection for approximately 20
more washes.
Website: www.bushwear.co.uk
