Barcon
Well-Known Member
Finally, someone got it : )
Insect bites
- Thread starter frothy
- Start date
ChicagoBlue
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- 10 Jan 2009
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The Best Bug Repellents
Our repellent recommendations are EPA approved, backed by experts, and tested by us.
www.nytimes.com
All the news that’s fit to print!
No surprises: High DEET or Picardin content (20+%) are best, with Picardin not using the issues DEET has.
ChicagoBlue
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 10 Jan 2009
- Messages
- 18,299
If you’d prefer an AREA bug repellent, rather that dipping yourself in Deep Woods OFF, then this is your best bet:
https://a.co/d/8DKdd86
https://a.co/d/8DKdd86
ChicagoBlue
Well-Known Member
- Joined
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- 18,299
Lastly, as a mosquito magnet (hot bodied, mouth breather!), I noticed there are some fallacious claims on this thread already, so I went to a very reputable source: THE AMERICAN MOSQUITO CONTROL ASSOCIATION.
ENJOY in good health!
What attracts mosquitoes to me?
Why some people seem to be more attractive than others to mosquitoes is the subject of much repellent (and attractant for traps) research being conducted nationwide.
Carbon dioxide is the most universally recognized mosquito attractant and draws mosquitoes from up to 35 meters.
When female mosquitoes sense carbon dioxide they usually adopt a zigzagging flight path within the plume to locate its source.
Once in the general vicinity of a potential host, other cues predominate, including body odors (sweat, lactic acid, etc.) and heat.
Odors produced by skin microflora also play a part in inducing the mosquito to land. Over 350 compounds have been isolated from odors produced by human skin. Either singly or in combination, many of these compounds may be attractants - and many may be repellents.
As you can see, the situation is complicated and will require many years of testing before it can be sorted out.
Visual stimuli, such as movement, also factor into host-seeking. What can be safely stated, though, is that ingestion of garlic, vitamin B12 and other systemics has been proven in controlled laboratory studies to have no impact on mosquito biting. Conversely, eating bananas did not attract mosquitoes as the myth suggests, but wearing perfumes does. People drinking beer have been shown to be more attractive to mosquitoes. Limburger cheese has also been found to be attractive. Scientists have theorized that this may explain the attractancy some mosquitoes find for human feet. ;-)
Which repellent works best?
N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (DEET) remains the standard by which all other repellents are judged.
DEET was developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and was registered for use by the general public in 1957.
It is effective against mosquitoes, biting flies, chiggers, fleas, and ticks. Over 25 years of empirical testing of more than 20,000 other compounds has not resulted in another marketed chemical product with the duration of protection and broad-spectrum effectiveness of DEET although the recent additions of picaridin and oil of lemon eucalyptus are remarkably close in effectiveness to DEET.
The American Academy of Pediatrics says that all family members over the age of two months can use DEET-based repellents with up to 30% concentration with confidence.
DEET-based repellents have been around for more than 50 years but that hasn't kept the folks who make these products from innovating with new fragrances, new formulations, new product types, and, best of all, products that feel nice when applied.
The DEET-based repellent fragrances are pleasant to use and range from fruity to woodsy neutral scents.
Unscented products have a slight alcohol odor (there's alcohol in the formulation) until they dry on the skin. Folks who tend to be allergic to fragrances should try the unscented products.
Today's products start out at a concentration of 5% (lasts 90 minutes or so) and range up to 100% (for approximately 10 hours of protection from bites).
Pick one that matches your activity. For an outdoor family barbecue in the evenings, a 10% product is fine. It will help protect from bites for approximately 90 minutes to two hours. Products are available in aerosols, pump sprays, lotions, creams and even towelettes. These are individually packaged and are also sold in a handy plastic container that allows the towelettes to pop up one at a time. There are water resistant and water repellent products. One brand uses a microencapsulation process that helps the DEET release over time after you have applied it. Another goes on dry from an aerosol can, just as powder antiperspirants do.
For those who are in tick country, it's important to use a product with at least a 20% concentration. Lower concentrations of all EPA-registered repellents are not effective at warding off ticks.
Most apparent repellency failures with DEET are due to misapplications, so care should be taken to apply it thoroughly (avoiding the eyes and mucous membranes) and to reapply when necessary. This is crucial to maintain the DEET vapor barrier above the skin.
New polymerized 30% DEET cream formulations provide excellent protection not significantly exceeded by higher DEET concentrations.
Physicians recommend that a formulation of no more than 10% DEET be used on children, but formulations of over 30% can be used in areas of high disease incidence if label directions are followed.
In April of 2005, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began recommending two new active ingredients as safe, effective repellents.
The first of these is picaridin, a synthetic developed by Bayer Corporation in the 1980s. This repellent is the most widely used repellent in the world outside of the United States and is marketed as Cutter Advanced.
Picaridin is odorless, has a pleasant feel and doesn't plasticize like DEET. Studies have shown it to be as fully repellent to mosquitoes as DEET and can also be applied on infants as young as 2 months. The 15% picaridin formulation, Cutter Advanced Sport, is also an effective repellent for ticks.
The other repellent, often the choice of those wanting a natural product, is oil of lemon-eucalyptus, sold as Repel®. Repel is a 40% formulation of naturally-derived eucalyptus and has a pleasant scent and feel without any plasticizing properties. It is also effective at repelling ticks.
EPA has further registered 2 additional repellents, Metofluthrin, a spatial repellent, and a catnip formulation (not marketed as yet).
Metofluthrin is currently sold as OFF! Clip-Ons, a battery-operated system that allows the metofluthrin to volatilize from a wicking substrate and utilizes the battery to blow the substance around the body, providing the protection.
Efficacy studies are underway at present, so I can’t speak to its effectiveness yet in a field setting. In the laboratory, metofluthrin both repels and kills flying insects.
Catnip has been noted for years as possessing repellency against mosquitoes. However, only recently has its efficacy been demonstrated to the extent it could be registered by the EPA.
DuPont has engineered a catnip formulation that exhibits the traits of a commercially effective repellent and has registered the product with the EPA. A commercial version is not yet available, though. Catnip products currently available through internet suppliers do not possess an EPA registration that validates its efficacy.
Mosquito coils and Therma-cell devices can also provide some protection. Both utilize a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide that has repellent properties, but are most effective in situations of little wind, where the repellent mixture remains in place in the air column surrounding the body. The Therma-cell is a favorite among hunters.
Another option may be to obtain and wear clothing impregnated with permethrin.
Marketed under the name of Insect Shield, these clothing articles employ a process of impregnating permethrin into fabric that will retain its repellency through 70 washings.
The Department of Defense utilizes this process to impregnate battle dress uniforms for the operational forces in order to protect the troops from arthropod-borne diseases overseas.
This method is extremely effective at repelling all flying insects in addition to ticks and mites. The EPA has registered permethrin for this use and this method of repellency is endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
ENJOY in good health!
What attracts mosquitoes to me?
Why some people seem to be more attractive than others to mosquitoes is the subject of much repellent (and attractant for traps) research being conducted nationwide.
Carbon dioxide is the most universally recognized mosquito attractant and draws mosquitoes from up to 35 meters.
When female mosquitoes sense carbon dioxide they usually adopt a zigzagging flight path within the plume to locate its source.
Once in the general vicinity of a potential host, other cues predominate, including body odors (sweat, lactic acid, etc.) and heat.
Odors produced by skin microflora also play a part in inducing the mosquito to land. Over 350 compounds have been isolated from odors produced by human skin. Either singly or in combination, many of these compounds may be attractants - and many may be repellents.
As you can see, the situation is complicated and will require many years of testing before it can be sorted out.
Visual stimuli, such as movement, also factor into host-seeking. What can be safely stated, though, is that ingestion of garlic, vitamin B12 and other systemics has been proven in controlled laboratory studies to have no impact on mosquito biting. Conversely, eating bananas did not attract mosquitoes as the myth suggests, but wearing perfumes does. People drinking beer have been shown to be more attractive to mosquitoes. Limburger cheese has also been found to be attractive. Scientists have theorized that this may explain the attractancy some mosquitoes find for human feet. ;-)
Which repellent works best?
N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (DEET) remains the standard by which all other repellents are judged.
DEET was developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and was registered for use by the general public in 1957.
It is effective against mosquitoes, biting flies, chiggers, fleas, and ticks. Over 25 years of empirical testing of more than 20,000 other compounds has not resulted in another marketed chemical product with the duration of protection and broad-spectrum effectiveness of DEET although the recent additions of picaridin and oil of lemon eucalyptus are remarkably close in effectiveness to DEET.
The American Academy of Pediatrics says that all family members over the age of two months can use DEET-based repellents with up to 30% concentration with confidence.
DEET-based repellents have been around for more than 50 years but that hasn't kept the folks who make these products from innovating with new fragrances, new formulations, new product types, and, best of all, products that feel nice when applied.
The DEET-based repellent fragrances are pleasant to use and range from fruity to woodsy neutral scents.
Unscented products have a slight alcohol odor (there's alcohol in the formulation) until they dry on the skin. Folks who tend to be allergic to fragrances should try the unscented products.
Today's products start out at a concentration of 5% (lasts 90 minutes or so) and range up to 100% (for approximately 10 hours of protection from bites).
Pick one that matches your activity. For an outdoor family barbecue in the evenings, a 10% product is fine. It will help protect from bites for approximately 90 minutes to two hours. Products are available in aerosols, pump sprays, lotions, creams and even towelettes. These are individually packaged and are also sold in a handy plastic container that allows the towelettes to pop up one at a time. There are water resistant and water repellent products. One brand uses a microencapsulation process that helps the DEET release over time after you have applied it. Another goes on dry from an aerosol can, just as powder antiperspirants do.
For those who are in tick country, it's important to use a product with at least a 20% concentration. Lower concentrations of all EPA-registered repellents are not effective at warding off ticks.
Most apparent repellency failures with DEET are due to misapplications, so care should be taken to apply it thoroughly (avoiding the eyes and mucous membranes) and to reapply when necessary. This is crucial to maintain the DEET vapor barrier above the skin.
New polymerized 30% DEET cream formulations provide excellent protection not significantly exceeded by higher DEET concentrations.
Physicians recommend that a formulation of no more than 10% DEET be used on children, but formulations of over 30% can be used in areas of high disease incidence if label directions are followed.
In April of 2005, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began recommending two new active ingredients as safe, effective repellents.
The first of these is picaridin, a synthetic developed by Bayer Corporation in the 1980s. This repellent is the most widely used repellent in the world outside of the United States and is marketed as Cutter Advanced.
Picaridin is odorless, has a pleasant feel and doesn't plasticize like DEET. Studies have shown it to be as fully repellent to mosquitoes as DEET and can also be applied on infants as young as 2 months. The 15% picaridin formulation, Cutter Advanced Sport, is also an effective repellent for ticks.
The other repellent, often the choice of those wanting a natural product, is oil of lemon-eucalyptus, sold as Repel®. Repel is a 40% formulation of naturally-derived eucalyptus and has a pleasant scent and feel without any plasticizing properties. It is also effective at repelling ticks.
EPA has further registered 2 additional repellents, Metofluthrin, a spatial repellent, and a catnip formulation (not marketed as yet).
Metofluthrin is currently sold as OFF! Clip-Ons, a battery-operated system that allows the metofluthrin to volatilize from a wicking substrate and utilizes the battery to blow the substance around the body, providing the protection.
Efficacy studies are underway at present, so I can’t speak to its effectiveness yet in a field setting. In the laboratory, metofluthrin both repels and kills flying insects.
Catnip has been noted for years as possessing repellency against mosquitoes. However, only recently has its efficacy been demonstrated to the extent it could be registered by the EPA.
DuPont has engineered a catnip formulation that exhibits the traits of a commercially effective repellent and has registered the product with the EPA. A commercial version is not yet available, though. Catnip products currently available through internet suppliers do not possess an EPA registration that validates its efficacy.
Mosquito coils and Therma-cell devices can also provide some protection. Both utilize a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide that has repellent properties, but are most effective in situations of little wind, where the repellent mixture remains in place in the air column surrounding the body. The Therma-cell is a favorite among hunters.
Another option may be to obtain and wear clothing impregnated with permethrin.
Marketed under the name of Insect Shield, these clothing articles employ a process of impregnating permethrin into fabric that will retain its repellency through 70 washings.
The Department of Defense utilizes this process to impregnate battle dress uniforms for the operational forces in order to protect the troops from arthropod-borne diseases overseas.
This method is extremely effective at repelling all flying insects in addition to ticks and mites. The EPA has registered permethrin for this use and this method of repellency is endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Saddleworth2
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 27 Jan 2014
- Messages
- 21,703
melts sunglasses, fly lines....fucking dreadful stuff. Worse than the bites. The avon stuff doesnt work either, not against scots midges anyway.
andyhinch
Well-Known Member
Get one of these
doots
Well-Known Member
I reckon she's right.
Coated myself in it last weekend and watched the evil twats land on my ankles and slip off,pretty sure it's no deterrent,more like an obstacle as the fuckers bit me on the back of the neck(where I'd missed).
Barcon
Well-Known Member
The in laws have a couple of these up at the "Trottage". They work well but the inserts aren't cheap (over here at least).
ChicagoBlue
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 10 Jan 2009
- Messages
- 18,299
They always get us with the “subscription”!!
Be nice if you could reuse the strips by dipping/spraying them in the repellent, but that’d be too cheap & easy!!
OccupiedPalestineBlues
Well-Known Member
I’m right with you mate - tried the awful stuff but never again.
They say that it’s safe to use if you ‘follow the manufacturers instructions’ but the manufacturers own safety docs say that it’s a skin irritant, shouldn’t be ingested, and that it’ll fuck your eyes up.
Then they say ‘put it on your skin’ - not me, not ever again.
I go natural now - just do what the locals do, get bit sometimes and deal with the bites appropriately.
There was a time when a mosquito bite would really mess me up. They used to form big itchy lumps that lasted months - sometimes they’d go sort of septic. Ooogh.
Anyhow, I was in SEA and I had a hole in my hand that you could have poked a biro into (puss hole from a putrid mosquito bite) and a bloke said to me “you need to use vitamin B”.
So I did and it worked and I have done ever since when required.
You also get most of your natural vitamin B from red meat, and as I now use a high fat, low carb menu, I get enough red meat into me to not need the pills these days.
Still get bit now and then but the bites clear up quickly.