A New Plant-based Insect Repellent

Keeping mosquitoes and ticks at bay is about more than avoiding itchy bites. These bugs sometimes transmit serious infections such as West Nile virus and Lyme disease as well as Zika, malaria, and other tropical diseases. If you’re hesitant about using synthetic insect repellents such as DEET, you could instead try nootkatone, a compound found in grapefruit skin and Alaskan yellow cedar trees. Nootkatone is already used around the world as a food flavoring and a fragrance. The Environmental Protection Agency registered it last summer as an insect repellent, paving the way for new products to hit shelves as early as next year. Unlike other plantbased repellents such as citronella, which wear off quickly, nootkatone’s effects can last for several hours.