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NEWS RELEASE FROM THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL
SOCIETY:
Catnip Repels Mosquitoes More Effectively Than
DEET"
CHICAGO, August 27, 2001 — Researchers
report that nepetalactone, the essential oil in catnip that gives the plant its
characteristic odor, is about ten times more effective at repelling mosquitoes
than DEET — the compound used in most commercial insect repellents.
The finding was reported today at the 222nd national
meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific
society, by the same Iowa State University research group that two years ago
discovered that catnip also repels cockroaches.
Entomologist Chris Peterson, Ph.D., with Joel
Coats, Ph.D., chair of the university’s entomology department, led the effort
to test catnip’s ability to repel mosquitoes. Peterson, a former post-doctoral
research associate at the school, is now with the U.S. Department of Agriculture
Forest Service, Wood Products Insects Research Unit, in Starkville, Miss.
While they used so-called yellow fever
mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti) — one of several species of mosquitoes found in the
United States — Peterson says catnip should work against all types of
mosquitoes.
Peterson says nepetalactone is about 10 times
more effective than DEET because it takes about one-tenth as much nepetalactone
as DEET to have the same effect. Most commercial insect repellents contain about
5 percent to 25 percent DEET. Presumably, much less catnip oil would be needed
in a formulation to have the same level of repellency as a DEET-based repellent.
Why catnip repels mosquitoes is still a
mystery, says Peterson. “It might simply be acting as an irritant or they
don’t like the smell. But nobody really knows why insect repellents work.”
Peterson says nepetalactone is about 10 times
more effective than DEET because it takes about one-tenth as much nepetalactone
as DEET to have the same effect. Most commercial insect repellents contain about
5 percent to 25 percent DEET. Presumably, much less catnip oil would be needed
in a formulation to have the same level of repellency as a DEET-based repellent.
Why catnip repels mosquitoes is still a
mystery, says Peterson. “It might simply be acting as an irritant or they
don’t like the smell. But nobody really knows why insect repellents work.”
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