DAVID
KERN'S DISLIKE for the greenhead fly began as a young man spending
his summers in Brigantine, known as the region's (maybe the
world's) greenhead capital. Years later, when Kern was still
fighting them off while enjoying his boat at Longport's Seaview
Harbor Marina, he developed a spray repellent to stop these
biting insects.
Kern's
company, DAK
Pharmaceuticals, is a Philadelphia-based firm that sells
specialty skin-care products. Kern's father, Frank, is a dermatologist
with offices in suburban Philadelphia and Brigantine. The elder
Kern helped research the component parts to make a successful
spray repellent.
David
Kern has always had an interest in using his hands, manufacturing
and the production process, starting with his early love for
cars and boats. He bought his first boat for $1 at age 14, and
worked on rebuilding the rotted wooden vessel throughout high
school.
While
at Emory University in Atlanta,
Kern got a job with Porsche-Kremer
Racing, an organization that "souped up" brand
new Porsches into super-charged racers. "I majored in Porsches
and philosophy, which got me nowhere when I graduated in 1994.
I took a job with LoJack, but found that selling to car dealerships
wasn't for me," says Kern.
Looking
for job satisfaction, Kern took a two-year apprenticeship position
with Franco
Sbarro, a great auto designer, in Switzerland.
Sbarro created attention-grabbing concept cars that the European
manufacturers could show off at the Geneva Auto Show. He taught
Kern his craft. Kern says, "He was brilliant, but it was
clear that he did not want to pay me since there was a real
recession in the mid-1990s."
When
Kern returned to the United States in 1996, he discovered that
American automakers did not have the same type of programs.
Unemployed,
Kern went to Brigantine and began doing odd jobs for local real
estate agent John Moscony, who also owns the Brigantine
Island Journal. "There I was, working outside with
grease on my hands and the greenheads biting me," Kern
says, "and I knew that working outdoors was not very appealing."
With
Moscony's encouragement, Kern got a real estate license in Pennsylvania,
but limited his business to industrial properties. He says,
"I loved to see factories where products were being made,
and knew within a few years that I wanted my own factory."
In
1998 Kern incorporated DAK
Pharmaceuticals. Using his father's expertise in skin care,
Kern's online product line lists 22 specialty skin care products
that are remedies for what Kern describes as "more personal
embarrassing conditions" for men and women.
Kern
believed it was now time to finally develop an answer to the
dreaded greenheads, and his father could help decipher the research
on skin reactions. "I wanted to develop an anti-greenhead
solution for the specific geography here in southern New Jersey.
It took two years, but we perfected our formula 18 months ago,"
says Kern.
The
salt marsh greenhead fly, or the Tabanus nigrovittatus, lives
along coastal marshlands. Adult greenheads emerge annually from
larvae in late spring. Females mate and then lay an initial
egg mass. To produce additional egg masses, the female needs
a blood meal to serve as a rich protein source for egg development.
Older
female greenheads leave the marshlands for nearby wooded or
open areas along the marsh's edge. They wait to attack livestock,
wildlife and people close enough for them to detect. Boaters
and residents living near the marshes become prime targets.
Female greenheads can survive three to four weeks in the uplands,
causing the population to surge in coastal spots.
Rutgers
University has designed several types of traps to capture greenheads
in large numbers during the June through September season. Rutgers
officials claim that their traps have collected more than 1,000
greenheads per hour during the peak month of July.
While
the traps may catch thousands of greenheads, Kern's spray repellent
wards off the thousands that get away. "This year has a
strange twist because of the weather. The more rain and moisture
there is, the worse for us. This year's rainfall would have
been more destructive if the weather had been hotter. Greenheads
need at least one week of 90-plus degree weather to swarm,"
says Kern.
What
is the secret? Kern explains that only one ingredient, called
DEET, is effective as an insect repellent.
DEET works against ticks, insects and
mosquitoes, but greenheads are larger and require a more complex
formula.
However,
Kern states, "Unfortunately, using greater amounts of DEET
does not improve protection although it does last longer. Research
shows that a concentration of DEET above 50 percent does nothing
more than lesser amounts. It is a patented product made by one
company for 40 years."
DEET
works like this -- it is typically mixed with alcohol and put
into a steel aerosol can. The spray is
absorbed into the skin and runs through the bloodstream,
leaving less on the skin.
DAK
developed a spray that combines DEET
with water in a plastic bottle. Kern says it lasts up to eight
hours and is water resistant when swimming. There is no
absorption and it is also safe for clothing and shoes. It
repels the greenheads without any added scent.
It
has proven so successful that a contact at the Philadelphia
USO may have introduced the greenhead repellent to the US
Army engineering unit in Kuwait. They ordered 500 bottles
to use to repel the sand fleas. 
Kern
bought his boat, planning to marina hop to sell his product.
He hopes that one of the "big guys" in pest repellents
will take notice and buy him out in the future.
He
aims to sell 40,000 bottles this year. The greenhead spray is
available locally at several outlets and online at stopbitingme.com.
Kern is offering an online summer special of "Buy
two-get one free" for $19.95, plus shipping.
So,
if a boat passes by with a big banner displayed on the side
advertising the web site, it is David Kern, the man at war with
the New Jersey greenhead fly.
