- The EPA has a new ingredient, nut cotton, approved for use in insecticides and insects.
- Nutcatone is effective in repelling and killing mosquitoes, ticks and other biting pests.
- The chemical is nontoxic to humans and is used in perfumes and foods for its aroma of grapefruit.
- The introduction of a new insect-absorbing ingredient could help slow resistance to insecticides.
- Visit the Insider website for more stories.
The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday approved a fragrant and relatively safe chemical as a defense against ticks and mosquitoes.
The chemical, nut cotton, smells and tastes like grapefruit and is found naturally in the bark of the fruit, as well as in Alaskan yellow cedar trees.
Nutcatone protects against bug bites at similar rates as insecticides currently on the market and has a longevity of up to several hours, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found. It is the first new chemical approved for this purpose since 2009.
The newly added insect repellent shows promise as a protector against breeding in particular, expert toxicology expert Joal Coats told Insider. Compared to synthetic chemicals like DEET, nut cotton is just as effective at repelling mosquitoes, but much better at repelling signs.
Nutcracker has superior staying power and efficiency compared to other natural repellents
Although nut cotton is toxic to insects, it is not chemically toxic to humans and other mammals, so much so that it is often used in perfumes, foods and beverages.
Other essential oils derived from plants such as peppermint and lemongrass have been found to have some insect-absorbing properties but poor lasting strength. Those oils disappear after an hour or two, but Coats estimated that nut cotton can last up to three times longer.
Nutcatone is also more effective at killing ticks than other natural products, public health entomologist Thomas Mather told Insider. In an evaluation of low-risk natural insecticides, he found that nutcatone was 83 percent effective – compared to the synthetic standard – while most other natural products failed.
If biting insects develop resistance to products on the market, nut cotton could offer an alternative
The introduction of a new insect repellent comes at a time when pike are developing resistance to commonly used chemicals and insect-borne diseases are on the rise.
A CDC report found in 2018 that diseases caused by ticks, mosquitoes, and meat – such as Lyme disease, West Nile, dengue, and Zika – in the United States have tripled.
Adding some variety to the arsenal of insect killers and repellents will slow down the development of resistance and help in fighting insect diseases.
The discovery of nut cotton makes use of naturally occurring compounds that plants use to protect themselves, Coats added.
“Terpenes, as natural compounds found in plants, have a lot of importance from a chemical ecology perspective,” Coats said. “They sit in plants as some sort of defense strategy to prevent insects from attacking those plants, so it’s great that we’re starting to learn how to use them more and more to our advantage.”
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