Picaridin and Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has recently released new guidance for MOSQUITO repellents with two new active ingredients - picaridin and oil of lemon eucalyptus. These are in addition to the previous recommendations for DEET. Attached is the press release from CDC and a list of repellents that have been registered with EPA.

Some items to be aware of:

Picaridin is said to be colorless and odorless and is not a solvent to synthetics and plastics.

Repellents containing picaridin are reportedly as effective as DEET with similar concentrations of active ingredients.

Picaridin, at the concentrations currently available in USA (7%), are not recommended for use against ticks. Higher concentrations will most likely prove to be effective but are not currently available.

As a general rule - Repellants containing oil of lemon are roughly half as effective as repellants containing similar concentrations of DEET or picaridin (need 30% oil of lemon eucalyptus to get same results as a 15% DEET or 15% picaridin repellent).

Oil of lemon eucalyptus is not approved for children under the age of three.

Oil of lemon eucalyptus (30%) is reported to be effective against mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas.

http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/transcripts/t050428.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/toolkit/DEET.pdf