About
Dust Mites &
DeMite
DeMite History
DeMite Laundry Additive was created in the mid-1990s by Larry and Shirlee Kalstone as a response to studies showing that dust mite allergic patients should wash all bedding in very hot (140° or hotter) water to eliminate the source of allergens – the dust mites. Around that same time, there were also studies that indicated that adding benzyl benzoate to the wash water would accomplish the same thing but without the need for extremely hot water.
The Kalstones knew what most homemakers know about washing fabrics in very hot water. They knew that fabrics both fade and degrade in hot water washing and that turning your hot water heater to temperatures as high as 140° could also cause scalding. Additionally, it is very expensive to keep water heated to 140° in your home. However, without hot water or a laundry additive, more than 90% of dust mites remain on bedding after a wash and dry cycle.
The goal was to create a product that would accomplish the elimination of dust mite allergen and the source of that allergen in any temperature wash water so that hot water was not an essential element in reducing mites and their allergen in bedding – sheets, pillowcases, blankets, and other top-of-bed covers.
The result was one of the most effective and popular allergen avoidance products – DeMite Laundry Additive – (second only to allergen barrier mattress and pillow encasings) available to dust mite allergic patients and their families.
THE PROBLEM: DUST MITES
Dust mites and their allergens are probably the world’s greatest cause of indoor allergies and are significant triggers of asthmatic attacks.
Dust Mites and Allergies
Estimates are that as high as 20% of the earth’s total population is allergic to dust mites and that they are responsible for 25% of all allergy diseases and 50% to 80% of asthmatic diseases. Symptoms can include bronchial congestion, stuffy, runny, or itchy noses, red runny eyes, and sneezing.
The inhalation of these allergens by hypersensitive asthmatic individuals, especially when in bed, very frequently results in acute attacks of bronchial asthma accompanied by wheezing and shortness of breath.
A recent study has suggested that allergic and asthmatic individuals would do well to rely on a broad program of interventions, like the frequent laundering of clothing, bedding, and blankets; using mattress and pillow encasings; air conditioning instead of humidifiers; and strictly limiting exposure to allergens from cigarette smoke, perfumes, etc.
Dust Mite Allergens
Dust mites are approximately 250 to 300 microns in size, invisible to the naked eye with a translucent body (many hundreds can fit on the head of a pin). It would take at least a 10x glass to see them.
Dust mites are not parasitic and are not capable of biting or stinging humans. Their importance is due to the powerful protein allergens contained in their discarded fecal matter, exoskeletons, and secretions.
The protein fecal material, exoskeletons, and secretions that are being constantly deposited on your pillowcases and sheets become a major concern to your well-being because they are so deeply inhaled into the airways of your lungs as you sleep. Your face is always in actual or proximate contact with your bedding and virtually every breath that you take is saturated with them, frequently triggering asthmatic attacks.
Bedrooms & Bedding
Your bedroom, but especially your bed is the most important area of your home to allergy-proof first. It is this room that contains the greatest number of dust mite particles that directly affect you. It has been estimated that one untreated double bed may contain hundreds of thousands to millions of dust mites and billions of their waste particles.
All of this makes your bed and bedroom the best places to start reducing dust mite allergens.
1 dust mite can produce 250 or more allergens
. . . and a typical bed contains from hundreds of thousands to millions of them along with billions of their allergens.
Their allergens are continually deposited onto your sheets, pillowcases, and blankets to affect your health if you suffer from asthma or allergies. See a video of live dust mites above.
You spend 1/3 of your life in your bed . . . the dust mite spends all of it there. It is the palace of the dust mite who thrives on the food of your dead skin cells, the moisture your body emits, and your body heat . . . everything it needs to sustain a comfortable, beautiful life and to multiply.
Most asthmatics have their most difficult time when trying to sleep. Dust mites are millimeters away from their face. During the eight or so hours of sleep each night, virtually every breath taken is saturated with them and deeply inhaled through the air passages into the lungs.
If there is ever to be an expectation of resolving this specific aspect of dust mite control, these allergens must be dramatically reduced or eliminated before entering the lungs.
Encasings
Encasings are an absolute necessity to control the existing colonies of dust mites already inside the mattress and pillows. However, the encasement’s only function is to contain these mites and prevent their escape to your bedding above. Because of this, the weave should be the critical criterion in selecting encasings. If too large, the mites will not stay contained.
While encasings are an important factor, much more important to you is controlling the dust mites on your sheets and pillowcases once you have installed encasings. These are the mites that you inhale with every breath as you sleep. These are the millions of dust mites and their waste that live on top of the bedding that covers your encasings.
Except for using 140 degrees F water* which is considered to be unsafe by the U.S. Product Safety Commission, the only certain way to eliminate virtually all of these particles is by adding DeMite Laundry Additive along with your normal detergent to your wash using COOL, WARM or HOT water.
* Federal regulations now require the following label to be prominently posted on all hot water heaters: “DANGER: water temperature over 120° F can cause severe burns instantly or death from scalding. Children, disabled and elderly are at highest risk of being scalded.”
The U.S. Product Safety Commission also urges users to set their water heaters at 120° F
THE DEMITE SOLUTION
How DeMite Laundry Additive Can Help
DeMite is so effective, that we guarantee it to eliminate virtually all dust mite waste.
Dust mites are the major cause of indoor allergies. However, the problems that they create are not from the dust mite itself, but from its waste product, the powerful proteins contained in its fecal droppings, secretions, and exoskeletons (cast-off body parts) that are shed as the mite grows.
Dust mites and their waste particles are everywhere in your home, but your most serious problems come from those that live on your pillowcases and sheets. Your bed is the single largest concentration of dust mites and their particles in your home.
Your need is to virtually eliminate this single most important component to your health and well-being from your bed . . . dust mite particles.
Presently, there is only one practical way to do this . . . DeMite Laundry Additive. Its active components have been formally tested with the results published in professional journals.
It’s easy to use . . . just add to your wash load along with your regular detergent. Use it with COOL, WARM, or HOT water.
DeMite Testing
DeMite: A benzyl benzoate, tea tree oil, and methyl salicylate laundry additive to control dust mite allergens
Several papers and abstracts have been published in recent years on the clinical testing of benzyl benzoate and its effect on reducing dust mite populations.
Two of them, both relating to its use as a laundry additive and published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology are:
“The Effectiveness of Benzyl Benzoate and Some Essential Plant Oils as Additives for Killing House Dust Mites”
by Lindy G. McDonald and Euan Tovey
“Low Temperature Washing with Mite Contol Additives:
1. Does it Provide a Temporary Mite Prophylaxis Against Domestic Mites?
2. Elimination of Living Mites on Clothing”
by A. Fisher, F.M. Kneist, E.R.C. Bischoff