Sorting Through Insect Repellents
Insect repellents are applied to the skin to keep bugs away and, with them, the diseases they carry.
But, warns The Early Show medical correspondent Dr. Emily Senay, you need to treat these products with respect, and use them with care.
They come in spray form, rub-on form, or even towelettes, Senay points out, but the biggest difference among them involves their active ingredients.
The one that's in most of bug repellents you'll find on your store shelf is DEET. It's considered very effective at keeping bugs away, and government agencies say it's safe if used as recommended on the package.
If DEET isn't to your liking for whatever reason, two other active ingredients for insect repellents were endorsed about a year ago by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
One of them, Picaridin, is a chemical compound whose effectiveness as a repellent is considered equivalent to that of DEET. The other, oil of lemon eucalyptus, has gotten attention from people who say they want natural ingredients rather than manmade chemicals.
If DEET in low concentrations does the job for you, then tests cited by the c-d-c say the eucalyptus product should be a good substitute.
But if the time you spend outdoors, or the numbers of insects in your environment demand products with higher concentrations of DEET, close to 25 percent, then oil of eucalyptus and other so-called natural ingredients may not offer enough protection.
While helpful, Senay stresses, these repellents can also be dangerous, so care must be taken in applying them.
The Environmental Protection Agency has published a series of guidelines.
They include using these products only on exposed skin or on clothing. It should not be on skin under clothing. The products should not be applied to cuts, wounds, or on irritated skin. Don't spray these products directly on your face. Put some on your hands, then dab it on your face with your fingers, so it doesn't go in your eyes or mouth. And when you go indoors, don't leave these products on your skin. Wash them off with soap and water. That's particularly important if you plan to apply more insect repellent the next day. Your skin should have a fresh start.
As for using bug repellents on kids, the CDC says that's safe, as long as you take additional precautions: Don't let your child handle or apply the product. Put it on your own hands and apply him or her as you would to your own face. And Avoid applying it to a child's hands, because they often windup in their mouths. But if you take that extra care, the American Academy of Pediatrics says you can put insect repellent on a child as young as two-months.
Senay added that the CDC says it's safe to use insect repellent and sunscreen together if DEET is the active ingredient. The agency says it hasn't yet evaluated whether insect repellents containing Picaridin or eucalyptus oil also combine well with sunscreen. More testing needs to be done.