Do you spend a significant amount of time landscaping the yard in summer? Then you know that insect bites are a fact of life. Such awareness could well save your life in this age of the West Nile virus, when insect bites can be deadly. But if you're concerned about the long-term health consequences of applying chemicals to your skin, then the use of natural mosquito repellants may be your solution to the challenge posed by West Nile virus. If we take "natural mosquito repellants" in the broadest sense, a number of options present themselves.
Natural Mosquito Repellants:
- Plant oils: e.g., from citronella, castor bean plants (which also discourage moles) or catnip plants
- Certain bath oils, such as Avon's "Skin-So-Soft"
- Devices such as the Mosquito Magnet
- How you dress: avoid dark clothing
- Attacking the problem at the source: mosquito-larvae control
Citronella products are widely used natural mosquito repellants. Some people burn citronella in a candle, while others apply it to the skin as a topical oil. In the latter case, citronella is sometimes used in concert with other oils, derived from plants such as castor bean or catnip. Avon's "Skin-So-Soft" is among the most popular "natural" mosquito repellants used topically.
You've probably heard of high tech's answer for natural mosquito repellants: the Mosquito Magnet (and similar products). It's a device that gives off a gas simulating human breath, whereby it lures mosquitoes into its death chamber. To learn more, read my review of the "Mosquito Magnet".
Even how you dress can influence whether you suffer insect bites. Mosquitoes are drawn to dark-colored clothing. So while not technically "natural mosquito repellants," clothes that are light-colored can certainly be viewed as weapons in your mosquito-control arsenal.
As we'll see on Page 3, attacking the problem at the source (namely, mosquito larvae) is another effective supplement to natural mosquito repellants. But before addressing mosquito-larvae control, let's have a closer look at West Nile virus itself -- the subject of Page 2. West Nile virus has given a new sense of urgency to mosquito control, whether through chemicals or natural mosquito repellants...
