BUGZ BE GONE INSECT REPELLENT
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Get superior protection without DEET!
BUGz Be Gone, a 100% natural insect repellent derived from a proprietary blend of essential
oils, provides a safe alternative to the harsh chemical repellents containing DEET (the toxic
compound used in most commercial insect repellents).  BUGz Be Gone has been successfully
tested around the world in mosquito havens like India, Vietnam, Thailand, South America and
the wilds of Canada. Safe for adults, children and pets, and an added benefit, it has a pleasant
scent.

Better, natural ingredients:
BUGz Be Gone contains a blend of 6 essential oils, including Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus and
Catnip.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus is
the only plant-based insect repellent recommended for protection against mosquitoes that may
carry the West Nile Virus. Testers for Consumer Reports found that an Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus
spray prevented bites by an aggressive mosquito species for four to seven hours, and more
than 12 hours by a tamer type, outlasting DEET-based repellents.  

In addition, Entomologists at Iowa State University have reported the chemical constituent in Oil
of Catnip, nepetalactone, is about 10 times more effective at repelling mosquitoes than DEET.  
Besides Lemon eucalyptus and catnip, BUGz Be Gone contains other essential oils with
historical anecdotal uses against mosquitoes, black flies, fleas, ticks, chiggers and no-see-ums.

Combating a changing climate:
The National Resource Defense Council states the latest scientific data confirm that the earth’s
climate is rapidly changing.  The consequences of these climate changes are warmer
temperatures, heat waves, drought, wild fires and, in some areas, intense rainfall.

One of many health concerns related to this climate change is disease carrying mosquitoes are
spreading as rising temperatures allow them to survive in formerly inhospitable areas.  
Mosquitoes carrying dengue fever viruses were previously limited to elevations of 3,300 ft. but
recently appeared at 7200 ft. in the Andes Mountains of Columbia.  Malaria has been detected
in new higher elevation areas in Indonesia.

BUGz Be Gone is available in a 4 oz. paraben free lotion and in its original pure concentrate
form.  The concentrated version offers consumers the option of adding it to their own lotion or
oil, sun screen or a spray bottle of water which may be used to spray on clothing, in the hair
and on pets. It may also be used in an aromatherapy diffuser.

Bad news for campers -- the trait that makes some mosquitoes tolerate the smell of one of the most effective repellents available is dominant and can be passed on to more than 50% of offspring in a single generation. DEET is believed to work by somehow blocking the olfactory receptor neurons that allow mosquitoes to 'smell' human sweat - something they're very attracted to.

When DEET is present, those neurons are blocked, the mosquitoes don't smell the person and they don't attack. A small percentage of mosquitoes have always been known to be able to ignore the presence of DEET. Writing in today's edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists in England and Sweden found a sensory neuron on Aedes aegypti antennae that responds to the repellant in a dose-dependent manner.

The bad news is that the trait seems to be heritable. When they bred female mosquitoes known to be DEET-insensitive with males whose sensitivity wasn't known, the proportion of DEET-insensitive mosquitoes went from 13 percent to more than 50 percent in just one generation. The researchers don't have any immediate suggestions for what alternatives there might be for humans beset by these evolutionarily-enhanced blood-suckers.

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