[Pollinator] Fwd: Question to pass on_NAPPC - Bee repellent?

[Ladadams at aol.com]

Anyone have ideas for Robin?
  
____________________________________
 From: robin_eisman at yahoo.com
To: Ladadams at aol.com
CC:  steve at thebeeworks.com
Sent: 7/28/2011 9:23:02 P.M. Pacific Daylight  Time
Subj: Question to pass on_NAPPC



 
Dear Laurie,


Hope you're doing well - and that you remember my name.  I  co-chaired the 
Consumer Outreach TF for a while, but "dropped out" of NAPPC a  few years 
ago because of overwhelming commitments.  I'm hoping you can  direct me to the 
right person to answer a couple questions, which may also be  useful for 
others.  I've discovered that I'm allergic to one or more  hymenoptera, after 
ending up in the ER a couple of weeks ago with severe  anaphylaxis after a 
sting.  This is pretty devastating for me, given that  I occasionally do 
field work in remote areas (and garden at home and volunteer  in/manage a couple 
local parks/gardens, but those are at least close to major  hospitals).  So 
here are the questions that I'm hoping to get  professional advice on - 
lots of items on the Web, but I don't trust much of  that.  



- for personal protection (until I can - hopefully - start  desensitization 
therapy and reach maintenance dosing in ~6 months) - is there  something I 
can use on myself as a repellent to bees/wasps?  ie,  something non-toxic 
that's a true repellent.


- are there any native bees with venomous stings?  My allergist can  test 
for and provide desensitization therapy for the following:  vespids  
(yellowjackets / Vespula spp, white-faced and yellow hornets / Dolichovespula  spp); 
honeybees; fire ants; and paper wasps (Polistes spp).  These  apparently 
account for most but not all insect stings - so I'm trying to  figure out how 
much risk I'm at in terms of other venomous insects, and  whether there's 
any chemical similarity among these species'  venoms (if  so, desensitization 
to these other species could provide partial protection,  I'd guess).  



I did check out the info on the NAPPC/PP website for gardeners, which had  
useful info on avoiding attracting bees/wasps, but nothing on  repellents.  
I imagine lots of people have similar questions.  I  don't plan to change my 
planting of natives for pollinators, either at my  house or the small 
public garden I manage, but I do need to be more  careful.   And I'd be happy to 
be a "poster child" for someone w/a  serious allergy to stinging hymenoptera 
who's still pollinator-friendly   - though if one of them kills me, that 
approach could backfire...   ;  )        (I'm in black-humor mode, having  
visited the allergist today and coming away pretty depressed.)


Thanks for passing this on, and I'll happily disseminate any info to my  
allergist and local nature centers, env'l groups, etc.


Best,


Robin Eisman



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