DEET - Neurotoxic Poison or Mosquito Magnet? DEET is BOTH!

Mosquitoes suck.  That is true - they do not bite, they suck.  NOBODY likes mosquitoes as they take our blood, leave behind itchy welts, and make people miserable.

Traditionally, the solution to mosquitoes has been toxic, synthetic pesticides like DEET.  Granted, mosquitoes can carry Dengue Fever, West Nile Virus, Malaria, etc. which you do not want.  But the use of these scary man-made pesticides has all the hallmarks of DDT - they are neurotoxic poisons that affect the brain, respiratory, digestive, or reproductive systems of pests... and also of humans who absorb, inhale or ingest them.  

The worst offender is DEET.  Talk about a nasty, dangerous chemical - it can melt plastic!  Yet even the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) instructs people to use DEET to repel mosquitoes.  It is mind boggling that the CDC - the leading health agency charged with preventing diseases - says to use DEET since using it is directly tied to health issues like seizures, nausea, tremors, etc. and even death.

So, DEET is rising to the surface in the minds of the public to be the Mac Daddy, Top Drawer, If-you-really-want-to-repel-mosquitoes-go-to option.  If a product is 10% DEET and another is 50% DEET - by all means the 50% is the best, right?

Well, NO!

Not only is DEET unhealthy to use, but now research is showing it to actually be a mosquito magnet.  It attracts mosquitoes!  What?!

Scientists at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA and at the University of Tours in Tours, France have done extensive research on DEET and mosquitoes and the findings are remarkable!

Get this - Mosquitoes possess the cognitive ability to link the smell of a repelling agent (DEET) with the positive experience of a blood meal.  Using classical conditioning, (just like the Pavlov's dog experiment), after only four training trials, nearly 60% of the mosquitoes attempted to feed when presented with the scent of DEET alone.

And it gets crazier!  According to a report in USA Today, when given a choice between human hands, trained mosquitoes were drawn to the DEET-treated skin, while untrained mosquitoes avoided it!  Now we know that using DEET can attract mosquitoes.

If you want to effectively repel mosquitoes, do not use toxic pesticides like DEET.  Instead, Greenbug all-natural pest control products can control mosquitoes using ingredients from Nature herself.

The active ingredient in Greenbug is Cedar - just like cedar chests and cedar closets where you never see a bug.  That is because cedar is deadly to pests yet harmless to humans, pets, the environment and important pollinators. Cedar to mosquitoes is like ammonia to humans - it is overly offensive and too much is deadly so they avoid it at all costs.  Always.

Next time you want to avoid mosquitoes and the itchy, miserable welts they cause - use Greenbug! Greenbug controls mosquitoes while DEET attracts them!