While camping this weekend, I got to mind a very cute 7-month-old baby. She was super social, giggly and sporting a patch that inspired this article. As she laid her head on my shoulder, I noticed a pink patch on the back of her shirt collar. I asked her grammie what it was, and she said that the babyâs mom makes her wear this âmosquito patchâ to keep the bugs away. My immediate thought was, does it actually work?
Those around the baby that day kept insisting that it did. That they barely saw a mosquito approach them while holding her. Maybe thatâs why she was being passed around from person to person around the lunch table (not just because she was adorable, I guess). What they failed to realize is that it was 2:30 pm, not a prime time for mosquitoes. But I didnât mention anything until I had all the facts. This called for some research.
The Dreaded Itchy Bumps
No one likes mosquito bites. Often you donât even realize you have gotten bit until the day after, when you look down to see 12 burning bumps on your ankle. If you feel like you get bit more than others, that may be true. Mosquitos approach people based off different factors like . My mom has always claimed her blood is âsweeterâ than everyone elseâs to explain why she gets bit more than my brother and I when we sit outside. I finally get to debunk that with real facts. Sorry mom!
Jokes aside, mosquitos are the . They spread pathogens and diseases like itâs nothing. Obviously, we want to protect ourselves and our loved ones from these bites but Iâm afraid that thereâs a lot of marketing ploys in the repellent industry.
Patchy Science
Many different mosquito repelling items are sold these days. Iâve seen bracelets, necklaces, socks, t-shirts, hats and now patches. What are these patches made of? That depends.
Most brands are marketed towards the parents of young children that insist on an all-natural approach. These patches are supposed to contain essential oils that have been used as mosquito repellent âfor hundreds of yearsâ. That is the claim of , a company that produces a variety of patches for children ranging from . While digging through their site to see the science behind their patches, I found a short blurb that says a whole lot of nothing. Their Buzzpatch uses a ââ to repel mosquitos. What is this method? They ââ. A noble idea but as with most product websites, they fail to mention how.
They do however mention a . By whom? We donât know. What did they do? Also, no info. What we do know is that the Buzzpatch was claimed to be ââ. In the study conducted on 18â53-year-olds, the patch provided 43.6 minutes of ââ. Letâs break this downâŠ
The claim to be better than most products tested in the study is unfounded, it is actually worse than most others. Whatâs more, their site says, ââ. As we have learnt, âmayâ is just as easily replaced with âmay notâ.
Next, it seems a bit weird that a product designed for children was mainly tested on adults. The company prides itself on the safety of its natural products, yet it recommends that . Curious.
As for the efficacy, the âstudyâ claims 43.6 minutes of protection. Yet I found that when you go to add the patches to your cart, they recommend ââ. On another page of the site the claim is ââ. Someone messed up.
This is typical of these âall naturalâ patches. Most of them contain essential oils such as citronella or oil of lemon eucalyptus. Citronella oil has been proven to not be effective for reducing mosquito attraction. In a , a citronella candle actually attraction when placed near a human target, as compared to the attraction to the human subject alone. , a patch with oil of lemon eucalyptus was proven to be inefficient for mosquito repulsion. So, for the case of most of these wearable âall naturalâ mosquito repellents they are more deceptive than protective.
DEET isnât the Enemy
So, in the end, these all-natural patches seem to be scented medical tape bought by those who are victims of chemophobia. I took time reading the reviews on the Nat Pat website. The most striking being ââ. I assume they are referring to , a commonly feared insecticide. This fear is unwarranted considering the , found no risks of concerns for humans or the environment associated with the use of DEET. As long as it is used correctly, . As for the use on children, the recommends using products containing DEET sparingly on children younger than 2 years old. The real danger lies in turning away from DEET out of fear when it is the .
If I havenât convinced you, thatâs okay. It is a good thing also sells bite relief patchesâŠ
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Angelina Lapalme is a BSc student majoring in Bio-Organic Chemistry at șÚÁÏÉç.
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