11-17-2007, 06:42 PM
Hi Kapohocat!
Your note regarding Cuban oregano as a natural locally garden-grown repellent more effective than chemical repellent against the mosquitoes in Puna is indeed intriguing.
One instance of this outcome could be chance, of course, yet if this is the common experience with many replications on different subjects (such as a whole crew of teens hunting prawns ...or among diverse Punaweb mosquito discussion thread readers) then the evidence would be compelling. Nothing like a replicated experiment to provide solidly confirmed evidence.
Next month I will be over in Puna for ten days and look forward to testing this tip out myself while there, if I can locate some Cuban oregeno. On some days I will apply DEET mosquito spray to clothing on one side and rub Cuban oregano on the other. As a variation, some days while tromping about I will use all DEET or all Cuban oregano, one or the other, and compare those all-DEET day bite counts versus all-Cuban oregeno day bite counts.
In your post I suspect you meant DEET rather than DDT as the active ingredient in the chemical applied to one side of your teen subject, as DEET (N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide) smells dreadful nasty and is hard on plastics and some fabrics but not all that toxic to humans --in a relative sense-- if applied only to clothing rather than directly to skin (many people seem to miss that potentially significant point: DEET is intended for application to clothing, not directly to the skin, especially to sunburned, scratched, or irritated skin). By contrast, DDT (Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) was phased out of use in the USA for the most part soon after 1972 and is considered moderately toxic/hazardous (as with the link between DDT exposure early in life and a later much higher risk of breast cancer), though DDT's ecologically persistent effects as it accumulates through food webs and biomagnifies are those which have had the most attention (eggshell thinning in birds, especially).
It is ironic that while DEET smells like outright chemical death in a can and will actually melt plastics and polyesters on contact it is DDT --which does not smell like much of anything and is still added to soap in some countries (it is very effective against lice and suchlike)-- that is actually thought to be the more toxic and potentially carcinogenic of the two (though if too much DEET is applied directly to the skin of a sensitive individual then there may be seizure problems, and likewise if absorbed into the body then DEET may be associated with an elevated risk of testicular cancer).
Of course, while my results in Puna next month with the DEET-on-clothing versus Cuban oregano trial will be of great interest to me personally (especially if the mosquitoes are thick while we are out locating property pins!) the outcome of just one or two experiences probably would not really nail the fundamental truth of the matter down definitively. Ideally, for an experiment to be scientifically valid --in the sense of having real testable statistical reliability-- there would be a number of different people (35 or more would be best) in the trial ...and for it to further be a genuinely fair test in the practical sense, those 35+ people would be drawn of both sexes and a variety of ethnic backgrounds (diet appears to have something to do with how much mosquitoes are attracted to one, as do soap and perfume scents and physiology -as pog noted in his comment). How light or dark is one's color of clothing, or, presumably, skin, may also be a factor in to whom mosquitoes are drawn. If a big and diverse bunch of people all tried this out and had essentially the same results then the Kapoho Myth Busters would deserve huge credit for the early testing and identification of a potentially significant finding (and maybe even a commercially viable product).
Thanks for the tip!
-AlaskaSteven
Your note regarding Cuban oregano as a natural locally garden-grown repellent more effective than chemical repellent against the mosquitoes in Puna is indeed intriguing.
One instance of this outcome could be chance, of course, yet if this is the common experience with many replications on different subjects (such as a whole crew of teens hunting prawns ...or among diverse Punaweb mosquito discussion thread readers) then the evidence would be compelling. Nothing like a replicated experiment to provide solidly confirmed evidence.
Next month I will be over in Puna for ten days and look forward to testing this tip out myself while there, if I can locate some Cuban oregeno. On some days I will apply DEET mosquito spray to clothing on one side and rub Cuban oregano on the other. As a variation, some days while tromping about I will use all DEET or all Cuban oregano, one or the other, and compare those all-DEET day bite counts versus all-Cuban oregeno day bite counts.
In your post I suspect you meant DEET rather than DDT as the active ingredient in the chemical applied to one side of your teen subject, as DEET (N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide) smells dreadful nasty and is hard on plastics and some fabrics but not all that toxic to humans --in a relative sense-- if applied only to clothing rather than directly to skin (many people seem to miss that potentially significant point: DEET is intended for application to clothing, not directly to the skin, especially to sunburned, scratched, or irritated skin). By contrast, DDT (Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) was phased out of use in the USA for the most part soon after 1972 and is considered moderately toxic/hazardous (as with the link between DDT exposure early in life and a later much higher risk of breast cancer), though DDT's ecologically persistent effects as it accumulates through food webs and biomagnifies are those which have had the most attention (eggshell thinning in birds, especially).
It is ironic that while DEET smells like outright chemical death in a can and will actually melt plastics and polyesters on contact it is DDT --which does not smell like much of anything and is still added to soap in some countries (it is very effective against lice and suchlike)-- that is actually thought to be the more toxic and potentially carcinogenic of the two (though if too much DEET is applied directly to the skin of a sensitive individual then there may be seizure problems, and likewise if absorbed into the body then DEET may be associated with an elevated risk of testicular cancer).
Of course, while my results in Puna next month with the DEET-on-clothing versus Cuban oregano trial will be of great interest to me personally (especially if the mosquitoes are thick while we are out locating property pins!) the outcome of just one or two experiences probably would not really nail the fundamental truth of the matter down definitively. Ideally, for an experiment to be scientifically valid --in the sense of having real testable statistical reliability-- there would be a number of different people (35 or more would be best) in the trial ...and for it to further be a genuinely fair test in the practical sense, those 35+ people would be drawn of both sexes and a variety of ethnic backgrounds (diet appears to have something to do with how much mosquitoes are attracted to one, as do soap and perfume scents and physiology -as pog noted in his comment). How light or dark is one's color of clothing, or, presumably, skin, may also be a factor in to whom mosquitoes are drawn. If a big and diverse bunch of people all tried this out and had essentially the same results then the Kapoho Myth Busters would deserve huge credit for the early testing and identification of a potentially significant finding (and maybe even a commercially viable product).
Thanks for the tip!
-AlaskaSteven
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Astonishing skill! This archer is a real-life Legolas and then some!
http://geekologie.com/2013/11/real-life-...rs-anc.php
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
Astonishing skill! This archer is a real-life Legolas and then some!
http://geekologie.com/2013/11/real-life-...rs-anc.php
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(