Hi All

Being an expat Aussie living on the east coast of the US, and heading into summer here, I read the other thread on mossie repellents with lots of interest.

I'll be heading down to Cape Fear on the east coast for the summer, and I'll guarantee that already the local bities are planning a party for their new host.

Having travelled, camped, and fished right around the east coast, across the top and halfway down the west, I can only agree with all the comments, but I'll tell you they're just as savage any where on this planet, and I for one have never been acclimatised enough to not suffer.

One of the interesting things that I turned up was a comment by an associate professor at Rutgers University that the effectiveness of mineral oil based compounds is in the barrier effect of the oil on the skin-not the other ingredients, the insects biting parts have trouble biting through the barrier. This supports the comments about motor oil, and in part WD40 spray.

Here's a very interesting link to an article by the American College of Physicians, it give a interesting information on DEET, read it, follow the links and make up your own mind.

The aticle also mentions and discusses effectiveness of other repellents.

This is the link:

http://www.acponline.org/journals/an...8/mosquito.htm

But I'll quote from it:

"In summary, DEET has had a remarkable safety profile during more than 40 years of use by millions of people worldwide. Careful product choice and application of the repellent according to EPA guidelines will greatly reduce the possibility of toxicity. Conservative use of low-concentration DEET products is most appropriate for children."

The article also mentions permethrin, quote...
"Permethrin should be applied directly to clothing or other fabrics (such as tent walls [102] or mosquito nets [103]), not to skin. The spray form is nonstaining, nearly odorless, and resistant to degradation by heat or sun and maintains its potency for at least 2 weeks, even through several launderings (104, 105). The combination of permethrin-treated clothing and skin application of a DEET-based repellent creates a formidable barrier against mosquito bites (19, 106, 107). In a field trial conducted in Alaska, persons wearing permethrin-treated uniforms and a polymer-based 35% DEET product had more than 99.9% protection (1 bite/h) over 8 hours, even under conditions of intense biting pressures; unprotected persons received an average of 1188 bites/h (108)."

Read it with interest.