Entries tagged with “ticks mosquitoes IR3535 vs. DEET” from Bugs in the News
Ever since it's introduction people hailed Avon's Skin So Soft (SSS) as a natural, safe, pleasant smelling insect and tick repellent. The first time I heard of SSS was back in 1988 from a friend who was lucky enough to be hired as a nanny for The Who front man Roger Daltry. She slathered the stuff on his kids until Roger proclaimed "No, love - it just isn't natural".
Surprisingly, Avon never backed such claims of repellency - but they never refuted them, either. In a somewhat ambiguous answer about SSS's repelling properties to its customers, Avon released SSS Bug Guard Plus IR3535®.
IR3535 is well known in Europe (of course - they get all the good stuff first) but has had a slow reception State-side. It was introduced to the US in 1999, still has an unblemished safety record yet remains unpopular.
Surprisingly there have only been about 10 published papers comparing DEET to IR3535. Thankfully, a recent paper published last month in the Journal of Medical Entomology provides a look into the confusing collage of repellents.
A listing on Avon's Web site states "Repels mosquitoes that may transmit West Nile Virus for 8 hours. Provides effective protection against gnats, no-seeums, sand flies and biting midges. DEET-free, dermatologist-tested, hypoallergenic." I think we Americans are still waiting for real, "likely to cause cancer in lab animals" evidence before we will ditch the DEET. I think part of the problem is that IR3535 just doesn't roll off the tongue like DEET.
You might have read from a previous post of mine that DEET is a confusant, not a repellent. That would be the difference between looking at a pizza smelling perfume instead of cheese versus looking at a pizza and smelling poop. The smell of perfume isn't bad, it's just not tasty or what you'd expect. You should NOT want to dig in to a pizza that smells like poop - that's a repellant.
The author compared IR3535 with DEET and with Picardin (lemon eucalyptus oil). The findings left IR3535 a tad behind in performance with DEET and the oil, although there were some surprising results.
For black-legged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) the average test subject (scientific lingo for human) who applied IR3535 in either 10% lotion or 20% pump spray was "invisible" to ticks for 11 hours! No test subjects were bitten by mosquitoes in over 7 hours! These weren't anemic lab-bred ticks and mosquitoes, mind you. They were full-on marsh and field bugs, hungry for blood.
Considering the safety of IR3535 (which I will still apply to clothing only, making my clothes so soft) and the fact that Avon makes an "Expedition Formula" in a hunter green bottle, I may be off of OFF! this year.
Scruffy Dan's photo of Laotian Anti-malaria poster, Laos 2006
Surprisingly, Avon never backed such claims of repellency - but they never refuted them, either. In a somewhat ambiguous answer about SSS's repelling properties to its customers, Avon released SSS Bug Guard Plus IR3535®.IR3535 is well known in Europe (of course - they get all the good stuff first) but has had a slow reception State-side. It was introduced to the US in 1999, still has an unblemished safety record yet remains unpopular.
Surprisingly there have only been about 10 published papers comparing DEET to IR3535. Thankfully, a recent paper published last month in the Journal of Medical Entomology provides a look into the confusing collage of repellents.
A listing on Avon's Web site states "Repels mosquitoes that may transmit West Nile Virus for 8 hours. Provides effective protection against gnats, no-seeums, sand flies and biting midges. DEET-free, dermatologist-tested, hypoallergenic." I think we Americans are still waiting for real, "likely to cause cancer in lab animals" evidence before we will ditch the DEET. I think part of the problem is that IR3535 just doesn't roll off the tongue like DEET.
You might have read from a previous post of mine that DEET is a confusant, not a repellent. That would be the difference between looking at a pizza smelling perfume instead of cheese versus looking at a pizza and smelling poop. The smell of perfume isn't bad, it's just not tasty or what you'd expect. You should NOT want to dig in to a pizza that smells like poop - that's a repellant.
The author compared IR3535 with DEET and with Picardin (lemon eucalyptus oil). The findings left IR3535 a tad behind in performance with DEET and the oil, although there were some surprising results.
For black-legged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) the average test subject (scientific lingo for human) who applied IR3535 in either 10% lotion or 20% pump spray was "invisible" to ticks for 11 hours! No test subjects were bitten by mosquitoes in over 7 hours! These weren't anemic lab-bred ticks and mosquitoes, mind you. They were full-on marsh and field bugs, hungry for blood.
Considering the safety of IR3535 (which I will still apply to clothing only, making my clothes so soft) and the fact that Avon makes an "Expedition Formula" in a hunter green bottle, I may be off of OFF! this year.
Scruffy Dan's photo of Laotian Anti-malaria poster, Laos 2006
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