> A homegrown catnip lotion has proven “just as effective as Deet” as a mosquito repellant in trials carried out in Uganda.
While this is good news...a quick realty check, for those unfamiliar:
Malaria, which is transmitted by mosquito bites, kills ~16,000 Ugandans per year. That is a profoundly different social and economic situation from what mosquito repellents face in most of the world.
Also, the research is aimed straight at local, low-tech production in Uganda. Criteria like "shelf stable", "no unpleasant odor", and "doesn't stain clothing" could be very low priorities.
This also has domestic use too. People with small children and pets that are sensitive to things like DEET, I have two parrots and must be careful to not expose them to DEET as its very toxic to them.
While this is good news...a quick realty check, for those unfamiliar:
Malaria, which is transmitted by mosquito bites, kills ~16,000 Ugandans per year. That is a profoundly different social and economic situation from what mosquito repellents face in most of the world.
Also, the research is aimed straight at local, low-tech production in Uganda. Criteria like "shelf stable", "no unpleasant odor", and "doesn't stain clothing" could be very low priorities.
EDIT: Fixed mortality number, added source:
https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/country-profil...
Note the >10M annual cases. Malaria is really not a nice disease, and Uganda's population is only about 50M.