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Now that it's summer vacation, my four-year-old refuses to come inside at night. His friends were playing outside at 8:00p.m. and I saw him start to swat at mosquitos. I made him come inside. I do have mosquito repellent with deet, but I don't like to use it. I don't know if there's any merit to what I think, but putting all those chemicals on my kids doesn't sit well. I do use it sometimes, but I try to avoid it. However, I don't want him to get the West Nile Virus. That would obviously be worse.
We ran this story on WHOI. It made my fears about safety heightened.
"Deet has been the most commonly used mosquito repellent for the last five decades, but scientists believe they've discovered a better one. Ulrich Bernier and colleagues at the USDA and the University of Florida began their search with a database of more than 40- thousand chemicals.
Using sophisticated software, scientist were able to predict new molecules which might be more effective, and safe. The team then created those new compounds in the lab, and compared them to deet. The research so far predicts good repellency and safety, but the researchers say thorough safety tests must be done before the new repellents can be tested on people."
Why are scientists looking at a "safer" repellent if the ones on the market are safe? Ugh! Do you put bug repellent with deet on your kids? Does anyone use the more natural bug repellents that don't contain deet? Do they work?
-NewsAnchorMom Jen
