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glatt · 06-28-2005, 07:48 AM

The best bug repellants contain DEET, the active ingredient in OFF. I've seen a chart, I can't remember where, that showed the delay before first bite after sticking your repellant covered arm into an enclosed space with bugs. All the "alternative" repellants like Avon's Skin So Soft, etc. gave you like a minute or two before the first bite. Products containing 20% Deet gave you something like an hour, products with 40% Deet gave you something like 3 hours, and products that were 100% Deet gave you something like 4 hours before the first bite. I don't remember the exact numbers, but I do remember that the basic lesson of the experiment was that a product containing 25%-40% of Deet was the best trade-off for keeping the bugs away without completely bathing in funky chemicals. Deet is probably harmless, but I understand there have been a few isolated cases of people having serious reactions to it after bathing in the 100% Deet for weeks at a time without ever washing it off.

With the spread of West Nile virus, I think the possible risks of some sort of chemical poisoning through Deet are much lower than the risks of being bitten by a virus carrying mosquito.

In my experience, once you get bitten by a bug, you're gonna itch, no mater what you do.

06-28-2005, 07:48 AM	#2
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	The best bug repellants contain DEET, the active ingredient in OFF. I've seen a chart, I can't remember where, that showed the delay before first bite after sticking your repellant covered arm into an enclosed space with bugs. All the "alternative" repellants like Avon's Skin So Soft, etc. gave you like a minute or two before the first bite. Products containing 20% Deet gave you something like an hour, products with 40% Deet gave you something like 3 hours, and products that were 100% Deet gave you something like 4 hours before the first bite. I don't remember the exact numbers, but I do remember that the basic lesson of the experiment was that a product containing 25%-40% of Deet was the best trade-off for keeping the bugs away without completely bathing in funky chemicals. Deet is probably harmless, but I understand there have been a few isolated cases of people having serious reactions to it after bathing in the 100% Deet for weeks at a time without ever washing it off. With the spread of West Nile virus, I think the possible risks of some sort of chemical poisoning through Deet are much lower than the risks of being bitten by a virus carrying mosquito. In my experience, once you get bitten by a bug, you're gonna itch, no mater what you do.