Deter Skeeters, Naturally

Summer is bug season, but that doesn’t mean you have to DEET up—unless you’re in areas where Lyme disease and West Nile Virus are a problem. To guard against pesky mosquitoes, some natural remedies employ citronella, which deters bugs—but can also keep away humans who don’t like the scent, either.

Many swear by tried-and-true natural remedies like a daily dose of B1 vitamins and the pleasant perfumes of lavender, coconut or vanilla essential oils to deter bugs without citronella. But the best mosquito repellant might just be in your fridge right now. A UC Riverside professor recently discovered that these bugs stay away from a byproduct of yeast fermentation that’s in beer and wine. His company, ieCrowd, is currently preparing to test bug-repelling patches in Africa. Bottom’s up!

This entry was posted on Monday, July 28th, 2014 at 10:56 am. It is filed under Sustainability and tagged with bug repellant, mosquitoes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.