Even if you are not living in South Carolina, you may have that issue with those little critters that come out in the evenings and hunt your blood. While our family seem to not having too many issues with mosquitoes, they can still be pretty annoying when you are trying to enjoy an evening BBQ. I noticed some of them are already out and about at this time of the year.
We have always been very concerned about insect repellent and most lights and swirly smoky thingies do not seem to have much effect, particularly when windy. The contents of most insect repellents are scary – surely they will repel or kill insects but it would seem that it may kill yourself or your kids too…
Dr. Mohammed Abou-Donia of Duke University studied lab animals'
performance of neuro-behavioural tasks requiring muscle co-ordination. He found that lab animals exposed to the equivalent of average human doses of DEET performed far worse than untreated animals.
Children with DEET toxicity reported lethargy, headaches, tremors, involuntary movements, seizures, and convulsions though the amount that led to this toxicity was unreported, according to the CDC.
Oil of lemon eucalyptus [active ingredient: p-menthane 3,8-diol (PMD)], a plant- based repellent, is also registered with EPA. In two recent scientific publications, when oil of lemon eucalyptus was tested against mosquitoes found in the US it provided protection similar to repellents with low concentrations of DEET.
Source: CDC Confirms Lemon Eucalyptus Oil as Effective as DEET : TreeHugger
