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[at-l] Fw: [WomenHikers] Natural Human Mosquito Repellent?
- Subject: [at-l] Fw: [WomenHikers] Natural Human Mosquito Repellent?
- From: shellydhale at earthlink.net (Shelly Hale)
- Date: Thu Jan 20 10:00:10 2005
I thought this was way kewl. Wonder if this works if they will figure out how to help us to get our own bodies to produce the needed "chemicals"? Hmmm....
Shelly Hale
----- Original Message -----
From: Amy
To: WomenHikers@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2005 9:07 AM
Subject: [WomenHikers] Natural Human Mosquito Repellent?
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?
tmpl=story&cid=585&e=1&u=/nm/20050120/sc_nm/science_mosquito_dc
UK Scientists Find Natural Human Mosquito Repellent
1 hour, 24 minutes ago Science - Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) - British researchers have found chemicals produced
by the human body that repel mosquitos, which could lead to a
natural, odorless bug spray.
Scientists have long known that some people are more tempting
targets for mosquitos than others.
But until now it was not clear whether those who were better
protected actually produced a natural repellent of their own, or
simply produced fewer of the chemicals that attract the insects,
said James Logan of Britain's Rothamsted Research center.
"Other research groups have assumed that people who were
unattractive (to mosquitos) might just lack attractive chemicals,"
he said. "But we've come at it from a different point of view and
suggested that they may have chemicals that make them less
attractive."
His team tested people to see how likely they were to attract
mosquitos, then collected the chemicals the volunteers' bodies give
off -- their "liquid body odors," Logan said.
The researchers found certain chemicals were more common in people
who were less attractive to the mosquitos. When they sprayed those
chemicals on people who normally did attract mosquitos, the insects
were no longer interested.
"It basically masks the attractive chemicals. This chemical is
telling the mosquito that there's nothing there," he said.
"I'm not saying it's one chemical. We've got several chemicals. It's
likely to have something to do with different ratios of chemicals."
Best of all, the natural bug repellent is not detectable by human
noses, so it would have no smell.
So far, the team is keeping its recipe secret because it wants to
market what could be a new natural bug repellent that has no odor
detectable by humans, Logan said.
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