UKC

Hello,

Bit of a random question but I was wondering if anyone knew where I could find research papers about DEET? I'm looking to find out more about its possible toxicity to humans at different concentrations & its effectiveness at different concentrations against mosquitoes.

I've found lots of bits of information on the Internet starting with "research says" about DEET but I want to read some of it myself.

If you're wondering it's just for my own knowledge not for anything else and I'm asking here as I'm sure I've seen people ask for research papers on UKC before & get responses. Other than asking on Internet forums I don't even know where to start looking.

In reply to ElBarto:

A place to start looking is Pubmed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/) or Google Scholar - try terms such as "deet toxicity" and similar - although you will be swamped in results!

In reply to climbwhenready:

Thank you, found a few things now and I at least know where to start looking.

In reply to ElBarto:

Let us know what you find.

In reply to ElBarto:

In Thailand, my ex and I bought some 95% Deet stuff from their Boots. It melted flip-flops to my feet (well I guessed I kind of deserved that) and her leg stuck to the lacker on the wooden bed. When pulling her leg off the bed, the lacker came with it!!

In reply to ElBarto:

Well the first 'hit' I got on Google scholar was 'Acute manic psychosis associated with dermal application of DEET'... I will definitely be sticking with 'skin so soft'. Interestingly there are also a few studies comparing skin so soft to deet in effectiveness.

In reply to SAF:
After deciding that people in the Victorian era and before probably just learnt not to scratch as a way of stopping bites from going into the 'itching like anything and driving you mad' phase, I've found that can help in dealing with mosquito bites.

It doesn't always help, but it's quite a good discipline of mind test, in not giving in to the urge to scratch, almost meditative or something, in disconnecting oneself from the itch...

In reply to mh554:

I remember spilling some 'Jungle formula' onto the bonnet of a Landrover & finding that it was very efficient as paint-stripper - I think that's 50% DEET

In reply to ElBarto:
agh! for leg
and again agh! for spelling - Lacquer!

for info - 50% deet does nothing for sandflies in newzeland, they land on the still wet spray and bite anyway

In reply to ElBarto:

I was splashing the stuff all over in Borneo last summer, when someone pointed me to a BBC article where it said DEET was totally ineffective on mozzies. It was the smell they didn't like, but got used to it after a few days and then it was business as usual. Can't find the article now.

In reply to owena:




Leg was sore. I thought that 'lacker' didnt look correct. But as I was told in English exams, "if you spell it wrong once, us the same spelling throughout."

In reply to Timmd:



The problem is that, in some countries, mosquitos carry diseases which ya don't want to catch. So stopping them biting you is quite important. I don't think the UK has any Mosquitos though?

In reply to SAF:

Yes, and the first sentence of the report was: "Extensive animal testing and 30 years of human experience have established the general safety of DEET when applied episodically to skin or bedclothes". So presumably the manic psychosis is a rare side effect.


And they presumably concluded that Skin so Soft doesn't work whereas DEET does.

I shall definitely be sticking with DEET (because it works).

In reply to ElBarto:

For human health try the hse, their chemicals regulations directorate will publish any reviews they have. Similarly, if a review has been done for efsa, that should be available via their website.

These documents should also hale both human health and environmental risk assessments.

In reply to Robert Durran:

I find skin so soft works very well for me, against midges (not used it abroad). Just have to apply it very frequently, which can be a bit of an inconvenience.

In reply to Removed User:


You're right, I'm thinking of midges.

In reply to Timmd:
>

Just like tickling, I trained myself not to be tickly
( Simple really you can't tickle yourself, so if someone else tickles you just imagine that you are doing it to yourself.)

In reply to Removed User:

Really!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14613140

In reply to Removed UserJim C:


There, I fixed it for ya.

In reply to Jim C:


I can tickle my own feet, though, I'll start and have to stop again. Don't ask me. ()

Edit: It works on the left foot, but my right foot is still a bit ticklish even if it's myself doing the tickling.

In reply to ElBarto:

Skin So Soft is used quite widely by Scottish Dykers (drystone wallers) for keeping mozzies and midges at bay.

In reply to mh554: I bought some of that 95% stuff in Thailand. I could feel it burn when I applied it, and I still got eaten alive belaying! No adverse affects really though.

In reply to ElBarto: The new Smidge developed recently appears to work better than them all. Tick, mozzie and midge "proof" or the USA Skin so soft expedition strength got through Amazon. Different recipe from Uk skin so soft .Research done personally !

In reply to ElBarto:

Deet comes out in your urine for 48 hours after you've applied it.