is that Avon one an icaridin formulation? I’ve been trying to get hold of that because I hate DEET - it’s vile stuff (although have to use something while I’m working outside or I get eaten alive). So far I haven’t seen anything in Taiwan that actually contains icaridin.[/quote]
I’ve tried it Finley. Doesn’t work.
I went to an open day at my friend’s work (Rothamstead Agricultural Research Station) and visited the exhibition on mosquito repellent research. They had a plastic sphere full of mosquitos with two short tunnels leading out of it. The tunnels had mesh at the sphere end but were open to the air if you see what I mean. You had to put your hand over the end of one of the tunnels to tell how attractive you were to mosquitoes. Yes, in the great lottery of life the creatures most attracted to me are mosquitos.
I chatted for a while with one of the researchers. She said that the most effective thing is DEET, which she didn’t actually think was that bad. She said, okay, it does melt plastic but human skin isn’t plastic. They were working on finding out what combination of skin chemicals were least attractive to mosquitoes, as there are some people that actively repel them. Once they’d found this special formula they would create an artificial repellent based on the chemicals we produce naturally. Which will be a great thing when it comes, but unfortunately these things take years.