How do we take decision and action?  This is complicated.
You want your decision making to be based on a thoughtful analysis of the benefits versus risks of doing - or not doing- an action.

What is the risk of putting on sunscreen vs not?
How about insect repellent?
The evaluation is dependent on personal criteria.

Based on your situation, the benefit ratio may vary.
Are you fair skinned?
Where do you live?
Are you a hiker or surfer?
Are you a man or a women?
You have an infant?
What is your biggest risk?
What’s the risk on your Skin or your endocrine system?
What is your concern?
Chances are that you don’t even know where to begin; and if you know and asked google or Wikipedia you are likely to have as confusing an answer.

Sunscreens can be tricky (see post for more info). We are watching out for NONO ingredients to make sure we use the safest sunscreen products.

Mosquito repellent show another level of risk.
The molecules used to repel insects are known toxins and confirmed skin irritants.
It makes sense. They are made to repel insects not attract them!

We have recently come to evaluate the risk differently.  It’s no longer just the risk upon our personal health or our skin.  It’s also the risk of contracting a disease, potentially deadly.  This is now very present from our mind.  It could come from birds or bats, but also very much from insects.

Lime disease, Leishmaniasis, Malaria, Dengue fever, West Nile virus, to name a few. The list is getting long and the risk varies for each one.
Depending on your region, you can learn about the diseases most likely to affect you and their associated symptoms to recognize them.
This info is fairly easy to find on your region’s infectious disease health authority website.

In some cases the disease can be treated. But preventing infection or insect bites is best.
So what are the options to prevent bites?
Similar to sunscreen, use long clothing (lightly colored preferable – see post on what attracts mosquitoes) with hat, closed shoes and socks.
Tuck your pants into your socks if you are concerned with deer ticks that carry Lime disease (you or your kids will grassy zones or forest- be in long heavily wooded area).
Prevent exposure with the use of screens (for cribs, doors, etc). Oh and USE an insect repellent.

Which repellent product to use?
There is no “safe” compound that does the job fully.  Unfortunately, the efficacy of most natural compound is lower (this isn’t mosquito-industry-lobbying if that ever was on your mind!). And even if it was, although a chemical is natural, as you know, it does NOT imply that it is not irritating.

The essential oils recommended against insects are ALL composed of chemicals listed in the European’s list of allergens to watch for...Citronella, lemon, camphor, geranium, eucalyptus and pine needle oil contains at least one of the following allergenic chemicals: citral, citronellol, eugenol, geraniol, isoeugenol, limonene, linalool. In fact, it is the presence of those molecules in the essential oils that make them repellent to insects.  These molecules are also some of the most allergenic.

If you are allergic to these compounds, you have to stay clear of them and use alternatives.  Which are the chemical listed below.  DEET is likely the one you will turn to. Given its high efficacy and the well-known toxicities and dosage, it may be easier to manage. They are all irritants, so follow the dose and recommendations of use, particularly if you are also caring for a child or infant.

ConsumerReports tests regularly repellent products for efficacy. I am in awe of the determination the test subjects’ display.  They are exposed to rounds of 5 minutes feeding by a multitude of mosquitoes. 4 times during the first active hour and then every hour for a full 8 hours day. Depending on the immediate and long term efficacy of the repellent tested this can mean multiple bites.  It is the counts that determine the efficacy (or lack of bite counts).

And imagine this: the volunteers cannot do anything but watch the insect’s belly change color from the feast!

Many thanks to these subjects, we know that the-most efficacious products contained one on these 3 ingredients: DEET, picaridin and OLE (or PMD).
Again, concentration or dose is key to get efficacy.
For DEET optimal concentration is between 25-30%, not lower than 20 nor higher than 30%.
For picaridin/icaridin, the optimal concentration is around 20% in spray, cream and wipes being less effective.
For the Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus (OLE)and p-menthane-diol, 30% oil seemed sufficient but the concentration is not as clear given it is dependent on the level of refining of this naturally occurring compound...

Finally, even if the risks are evaluated similarly, don’t use products that combine both sunscreen and repellant.  You can and should combine the use of sunscreen and repellent but from 2 different products. You are likely to have to re-apply sunscreen and you don’t want your repellent to become too risky of a business and overdose!

Everything in moderation!

xx