Like it or not, we get chemicals on our skin all the time. Antibacterial soaps, fabric softeners & laundry detergents, scents, and best of all, sunscreen! The world's had far more trouble arising from mosquito bites than it's ever had from using mosquito repellant. Similarly, I'd rather slather SPF 30 on my skin now than deal with skin cancer later. That said, I can respect your desire to minimize your contact with chemicals. I've not tried these myself, but supposedly lots of vitamin B12 taken a day or two before exposure to mosquitoes makes you smell bad to them, and some kind of Avon product (I think it's called "SkinSoSoft") is also touted as having repellant properties. I've no personal experience with either, I've just heard of them. I do know that nothing to date is anywhere as effective as DEET. You can buy it straight 100% in squeeze bottles from REI and similar outlets, or get it in more dilute mixtures from products like OFF! and Cutters. I think spritzing one's self with a bit of DEET-laced OFF! is a heckuva lot less of a health risk than all the nasty chemicals that skeeters inject into you while sucking you dry. Happy scratching! Seth -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces+sjarvis=slco.org@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+sjarvis=slco.org@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of astrodeb@charter.net Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 12:34 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Mosquito Repellants Hi, I was reading in my book "Introduction to Digital Astrophotography" and I came across the section about Mosquito Repellants and Traps. I'm concerned about the the safety of using these products due to a health condition I have. Let me quote what the author Robert Reeves says about the safety of using repellants that use the chemical DEET. "However, the safety of DEET has been questioned, leading the Environmental Protection Agency to review the product. Their conclusion was that "normal use of DEET does not present a health concern to the general U.S> population." DEET has been classified as less toxic than many people believe and adverse effects are traced to gross overuse of the product. But still, the wisdom of slathering yourself with a chemical that is toxic enough to be offensive to other living beings is debated with some vigor. Logic suggest that if the chemical is that potent, it can't be good for the person wearing it either." I've come to the conclusion that I do not want to put any chemicals on my skin. Therefore I'm looking for a more natural substitute to protect myself from mosquitos. Last July, I got over 50 bites while observing at BlackRock Rd in AZ. Hence, I'm wondering how to safely protect myself. Any ideas? Debbie _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com