New head lice treatment guidelines?

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The long awaited new guidelines from Contemporary Pediatrics for treating head lice is finally available. The new guidelines recommend two treatments of over-the-counter pediculicides (which studies confirm are no longer effective due to the rise in pesticide resistant lice), followed by two treatments of Ovide by prescription, which necessitates leaving the pesticide malathion, a flammable substance, on a child's head for 12 hours per treatment. The effects of this dose of Malathion on children under six has not been studied. According to Consumer Reports "The malathion contained in a single Ovide treatment can be up to 30 times the recognized safe one-time dose for a young child." And a 1989 USC study concluded that home pesticide exposure was "the most consistent finding" distinguishing children with leukemia from those free of the disease.

The new head lice guidelines emerged from a working group conference held at the Harvard School of Public Health, sponsored by the pharmaceutical company Medicis, makers of Ovide (Malathion).

Absent from the list of invitees were the American Head Lice Information Center (headliceinfo.com) and the National Pediculosis Association. Headliceinfo.com teaches a non-toxic protocol using olive oil to smother lice in their book and video, "Head Lice to Dead Lice" winner of the "Freddie" for "Best Community Health Video" from the American Medical Association. The video was also endorsed by former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Koop. Both groups recommend against overusing pesticides on children.

Joan Sawyer, co-author along with Roberta MacPhee of "Head Lice to Dead Lice" comments, "When pharmaceutical companies influence public health policy, it can cause conflicts of interest and credibility problems for consumers. In the end parents must use common sense to decide what is appropriate for their children. The treatment of head lice doesn't warrant an arsenal of pesticides. It's the children who will pay the ultimate price. It's time to get educated."

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