Today's paper (I think it was in the "Parade" magazine, for those of you here
in the U.S.) had a short blurb on the best mosquito repellants. DEET wins
hands down, with "protection" up to 3 hours. Second-best were the citronella
oil formulations, providing protection to about 1 hour. The rest were as
little as 20 minutes. The new formulation organic stuff is good for about an
20 minutes to an hour, too.
By the way, most "Off" and "Cutter" formulations contain some percentage of
DEET. The higher the percentage, the longer the protection.
Standard advice about DEET is to wash it off as soon as you can, too...
something about brain damage and/or other side effects. Probably not so much
a risk to adults, but to kids. Don't think I'd use it at all on kids. I
would use something less toxic, and smear 'em up every 1/2 hour or hour or
so. One source I read says adults can safely use formulations up to 30%
DEET, children up to 15%, and infants shouldn't get ANY exposure to DEET.
I too, hate smearing myself with anything (sunscreen included), but prefer
that to wearing long sleeve shirts in summer sun (might make an exception to
that for the intense sun in the Grand Canyon -- maybe dress like Lawrence of
Arabia for that, but still ride a mule, not a camel -- doesn't make much of a
romantic picture though, does it?).
Rich
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