| Everyone I know is looking forward to summertime. | | | | Liston mosquitoes more effectively than DEET in |
| Swimming all day, outdoor barbecues for dinner and | | | | laboratory bioassays and it also repelled blacklegged |
| sitting outside in the evening to watch the fireflies | | | | ticks and lone star ticks as effectively. It can be |
| are the classic summer activities we all love. It's all | | | | easily synthesized from inexpensive turpentine oil |
| perfect and fun until the mosquitoes come along to | | | | feedstock so it's both cheap and safe. While we wait |
| join you. And I am one of those fortunate enough to | | | | for this stuff to become available, you may want to |
| have a small bite turn into a big red swollen welt. | | | | check out oil of Citronella which is also great as a |
| That's why I am so excited about the recent | | | | repellant. |
| discovery of isolongifolenone, a natural compound | | | | You could also use a combo of these oils in grain |
| found in the Tauroniro tree (Humiria balsamifera) of | | | | alcohol and make up your own at home: basil, cedar, |
| South America, that's been found to deter biting of | | | | citronella, juniper, lemon, myrrh, palma rosa, pine, rose |
| mosquitoes and even to repel ticks, both of which | | | | geranium and/or rosemary (available at health food |
| are known spreaders of diseases like malaria, West | | | | stores). If you are bitten by a nasty bug, I have |
| Nile virus, and Lyme disease. This derivatives of this | | | | found a direct application of tea tree oil to work. |
| chemical have been widely and safely used as | | | | Others have mentioned fresh lemon to me as a |
| fragrances in cosmetics, perfumes, deodorants, and | | | | remedy and others say-meat tenderizer. I have also |
| paper products for some time, and it's about as | | | | heard that catnip, believe it or not is a great remedy |
| cheap to produce as DEET. | | | | for nasty skin bites and twice as effective as DEET. |
| Researchers recently found that isolongifolenone | | | | I would love to hear what works best for you. |
| deters Aedes aegypti (L.) and Anopheles stephensi | | | | |