CDC Backs DEET-Free Mosquito Repellents
After years of promoting the chemical DEET as the best defense against West Nile virus-bearing mosquitoes, the government for the first time is recommending the use of two other insect repellents.
Repellents containing the chemical picaridin or the oil of lemon eucalyptus offer “long-lasting protection against mosquito bites,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in Atlanta.
Picaridin repellents are more pleasant to the skin and don’t have the odor that DEET repellents have. Oil of lemon eucalyptus is a natural ingredient.
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