Using alcohol as mosquito spray

Q. I wanted to thank you for a recent Q&A about a safe way to get rid of mosquitoes in the house. The suggestion about 90 percent isopropyl alcohol was a great idea.

My husband was at the computer, saw two mosquitoes and sprayed them. They died instantly. We had been trying to find a way of spraying something in the house that would be safe.

A. We are pleased the alcohol spray worked so well, but we were taken to task for leaving out a very important warning: “I am very concerned about the advice you gave about killing mosquitoes using isopropyl alcohol. You wrote, ‘Put some [isopropyl alcohol, which is labeled FLAMMABLE on the container!] in a plastic spray bottle and adjust the nozzle until you get a fine mist, and then you say to spray the mosquito when it lands.

“This advice is a formula for disaster, especially in a cabin or camping situation. In an unmarked bottle, the alcohol could be confused with water. If that mist came in contact with an open flame or any ignition source (camp lamps and fires, or electrical equipment like space heaters), it would act like a flamethrower, and someone would get hurt.”

We had not imagined the possibility of spraying the alcohol near a flame. We agree that isopropyl alcohol is indeed very flammable and must NEVER be sprayed near any ignition source.

Q. I am a breast-cancer survivor and have heard that some sunscreens contain estrogenlike compounds. I cannot have anything that contains estrogen in or on my body, so I would like to know any brands to avoid and which brands are safe.

A. Benzophenone-3, also known as BP-3 or oxybenzone, has estrogenlike activity. We suggest looking for sunscreen that has physical blockers such as titanium dioxide or zinc oxide. These have no known hormonal activity.

For more information about sunscreen safety and a list of our favorite products, we are sending you our Guide to Skin Care and Treatment. Anyone who would like a copy, please send $3 in check or money order with a long (No. 10), stamped (61 cents), self-addressed envelope to: Graedons’ People’s Pharmacy, No. S-28, P.O. Box 52027, Durham, NC 27717-2027. It also can be downloaded for $2 from our Web site: www.peoplespharmacy.com.

Q. My husband has COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and suffers when he retains water. It seems to us that when the water retention is at its worst, the diuretic Lasix just doesn’t work.

I started thinking about diet and what foods might work as a diuretic and remembered that when we went on a low-carb/high-protein diet, we immediately lost a lot of water weight. We tried it for three days, and it was miraculous.

Now when he is retaining water, we do three days of strict Atkins, and he’s back to normal. Why don’t doctors recommend this?

A. Perhaps they don’t know about it. We checked with Dr. Eric Westman of Duke University Medical Center, who has done research on the Atkins diet. He told us that both sodium restriction and carbohydrate restriction have a diuretic effect. Most people don’t know that insulin leads to sodium retention, which leads to water retention. Dietary carbohydrates make insulin rise, so a high-carb diet leads to sodium and fluid retention.

According to Dr. Westman, “Both the low-sodium Rice Diet and the low-carb Atkins Induction diet will lead to water loss during the first week or so.”

XIn their column, Joe and Teresa Graedon answer letters from readers. Write to them in care of The Vindicator or e-mail them via their Web site: www.PeoplesPharmacy.com. Their newest book is “Favorite Home Remedies From The People’s Pharmacy.”

2009 King Features Syndicate Inc.