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American Morning
Firsthand Look At How Some Mosquito Repellents Work
Aired July 11, 2002 - 08:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, we're going to get a firsthand look at how some mosquito repellents work, and how some don't.
Joining us now from West Palm Beach Mosquito expert, perhaps the most interesting guest I'm going to talk to this morning, mosquito expert Dr. Roxanne Rutledge, and she has with her, her brave volunteer mosquito tester Anne Heskel, who's going to be lending her arm for a demonstration this morning.
Good morning, ladies, how are you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning.
HARRIS: All right, first off, let's start, doctor, with the question that most people have, what is it that attracts mosquitoes in the first place? We've heard every single theory you can imagine. We heard it's sweat. We heard it's carbon dioxide. We heard it's how fat you are. You give us what is it in your medical and professional opinion, what is it that attracts mosquitoes?
ROXANNE RUTLEDGE, MOSQUITO EXPERT: Well, we know there are at least three things that are attractive for mosquitoes. Every time we exhale, we breathe out carbon dioxide. That's one of the primary cues for the mosquito to know there's a host in the area that she might be able to feed on. Also body temperature and moisture. There are some other components of the human body, just basic metabolism that are probably attractive for mosquitoes, but we don't know what all those are yet. We still haven't isolated everything, but primary would be carbon dioxide, and heat and moisture.
HARRIS: All right, so if you go outside, just don't breathe and don't be wet.
RUTLEDGE: Exactly.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm holding my breath already.
HARRIS: Exactly, but let me ask you about something Paula mentioned earlier. She's talked about vitamin E supplements that change the way your body smells. Does that work at all?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There haven't been any studies published that show that anything taken orally makes you more repellent for a mosquito.
ZAHN: Bummer. I've been taken that for nothing.
HARRIS: You have nice nails and hair.
ZAHN: That's for to you judge. I have no nails.
HARRIS: Anne, I've got to ask you this, as I understand it, you volunteered to come into these labs and just get eaten alive here? What do you get out of this?
ANNE HESKEL, MOSQUITO TESTER: Well, I'm not actually a volunteer. I am paid to do this, so it makes it a little bit better.
HARRIS: That means you are smarter than I thought you were. That's great. What do you get out of this then?
HESKEL: Well, it's not a bad summer job, as summer jobs go. I get a little research opportunity. I got a nice letter of recommendation. I get to see how the other half is, testing these products we get to use.
HARRIS: Let's see it now. This is what we've all been waiting for. Let's see this demonstration. I want to see you stick your arm in this box of mosquitoes. What do you have here, doctor?
RUTLEDGE: OK, approximately an hour ago, I applied to my left arm a 10 percent citronella and 2 percent peppermint repellent, and Anne applied a 6.6 percent deet product. So now we're going to both stick our arms in the cage to and look at what's happened after an hour of these being on our arms, to see how repellent they actually are.
HARRIS: All right, let's see it.
RUTLEDGE: Go ahead.
ZAHN: The drum roll, please.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Look, free food.
HARRIS: Tell us what it is you are expecting to have happen here.
RUTLEDGE: Well, in the test we do in the lab, after we apply a product, we stick our arm in the cage every five minutes for a total of one minute. During that one minute period, you count how many mosquitoes land on the protected part of your body and start to feed, and you can see on my arm here, it's been less than a minute, there are at least four or five mosquitoes that have landed. This product has failed.
HARRIS: Have they bitten you?
RUTLEDGE: They're biting right now.
HARRIS: OK. How about with you, Anne?
HESKEL: None at all.
HARRIS: None?
HESKEL: They're all up on the side of the cage, not even coming near me.
HARRIS: And you have the deet on your arm, correct?
HESKEL: Yes.
HARRIS: Can you tell us what product it is that you actually are wearing, what the name of it is?
HESKEL: Can I say? All I have the Off Skintastic on my arm.
HARRIS: You have Off Skintastic. There you go, folks, there's a clear demonstration that there's something that works. Most of the people think it is that deet.
Is there anything dangerous associated with this deet, because I hear people talk about the deet quite a bit, doctor.
RUTLEDGE: Well, there are some precautions that you want to take. The Environmental Protection Agency has stated that normal use of the product doesn't propose -- doesn't pose any kind of general health problems for the general public, but you want to apply these according to the label. If it says only apply it every two hours, then only apply it every two hours. This is not a case where more is better. You want to be sure to keep it out of your eyes, away from your mouth, and if you're using any of these products on children, you want to have the adult apply them to the children. Put the product in your hand, put it on their body. Don't put it on their hands, because their hands will likely go into their mouth or eyes at some point.
But in over 40 or 50 years of use of this product, it's had a very good safety profile.
HARRIS: Speaking of public health issues, Anne, let me ask you this one, since you're the person that just comes in here and just sticks your hand in there just for the heck of it, and for a little money, too -- aren't you a bit concerned about getting some of these mosquito-borne illnesses that we reported all the time in the news, like West Nile virus or something? Everyday you go to work, there might be a risk of something like that?
HESKEL: Not at all. These are mosquitoes we've had in our lab for generations and generations. I'm seen them in the larvae-pupae stage. I know they're fine.
HARRIS: You guys go way, way back then. Old friends that are biting you. That's great.
Anne Heskel, and Dr. Roxanne Rutledge, thanks very much for the demonstration and for the education. We sure do appreciate it. Have a nice summer. Hope you don't get bitten too badly, all right. Have a good one.
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