7 Myths and Facts About DEET - OFF!® Repellent

The truth about the active ingredient in some insect repellents. · What is DEET anyway? · MYTH: DEET kills mosquitoes. · FACT: DEET does not kill mosquitoes—it ... Skiptomaincontent Share Home • Education • ActiveIngredients • 7MythsandFactsAboutDEET 7mythsandfactsaboutdeet Thetruthabouttheactiveingredientinsomeinsectrepellents. WhatisDEETanyway?Itsoundssomysterious,butitisn’t!DEETissimplythecommonnameforN,N-Diethyl-m-toluamide.It’sbeeninuseasaneffectiveinsectrepellentsinceitwasdevelopedbytheU.S.Armyin1946. MYTH:DEETkillsmosquitoes. FACT:DEETdoesnotkillmosquitoes—itdetersandrepelsthem. DEETinterfereswithneuronsandreceptorslocatedonthemosquito’santennaeandmouth-partsthatdetectchemicalssuchaslacticacidandcarbondioxide. MYTH:DEETisonlyeffectiveagainstmosquitoes. FACT:OFF!DeepWoods®DryInsectRepellent(25%DEET)provideslong-lastingprotectionfrommorethanmosquitoes. OFF!DeepWoods®DryInsectRepellentprotectsagainstbitingflies,gnats,andchiggerstoo. MYTH:ChildrenshouldnotuseproductscontainingDEET. FACT:Whenappliedcorrectly,DEETisappropriateforuseonchildren. ProductscontainingDEETcanbeusedonchildren.Alwaysreadproductlabelinstructions,andwhenapplyingonchildren,sprayonyourhandsfirst,andthenapplytotheirskin. MYTH:It’sthesmellofDEETthatrepelsmosquitos. FACT:DEETmakesithardformosquitoestolandonyouandbiteyou. ThereareseveraltheoriesonhowDEETworkstorepelmosquitoes,andthesciencecontinuestoevolveonthespecificmodeofaction.Whenappliedcorrectly,DEETformsavaporbarrierattheskinsurfacethatdetersmosquitoesfromlandingontheskin. MYTH:DEETisarelativelynewsyntheticchemical. FACT:DEETwasdevelopedbytheU.S.Armyin1946. DEETwasfirstregistereddecadesago,in1957,afterfirstbeingdevelopedbytheU.S.Armyin1946forusebymilitarypersonnelininsect-infestedareas. MYTH:DEETisthesameasDDT. FACT:Nope!DEETisnotDDT. DEETisnotDDT.InfactDDTwasbannedintheU.S.in1972. MYTH:ThehigherthepercentageofDEET,thebetterprotectedyouare. FACT:ThelevelofDEETinrepellentonlydetermineshowlongtheprotectionlasts. Forexample,OFF!®FamilyCareInsectRepellentIVcontains7%DEETandrepelsmosquitoesforupto2hours,whileOFF!®DeepWoods®SportsmenInsectRepellentIcontains98.25%DEETandrepelsmosquitoesforupto10hours. relatedcontent picaridin:whatitisandhowitworks 5surprisingfactsaboutmosquitoes howtocorrectlyapplyinsectrepellent relatedproductssmall OFF!®FamilyCareInsectRepellentI(Smooth&Dry) OFF!®Active®InsectRepellentI BackToTop browse&compareproducts Findtherightproductforwhenyou'reitchingtogetbackoutthere. ourstory Forover60yearsit’sbeenourgoaltohelpprotectyourtimeoutside.