MONDAY 10 August 2020 (HealthDay News) – Beware of bugs: There’s a powerful new insect repellent in the city.
Just approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency and known as nut cotton, the citrus-scented ingredient repels mosquitoes, bushes, bedbugs and meat.
In high concentrations, it can kill these pesky insects and slow down the spread of the diseases they can carry, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which developed nut cotton. In addition, it can work against lice, sandflies, midges and other pests.
Nutcracker, found in Alaska yellow cedar and grapefruit skin, can also kill bugs that are resistant to DDT, pyrethroids and other common insecticides, the CDC said in a news release from the agency.
One proposed use exists in soups that allow people in showered areas to shower, repel and possibly kill ticks that try to attach to them.
“Its use as an insecticidal soap has great potential,” said Duane Gubler, a former CDC chief of vector short disease, The New York Times.
It repels exercises better than DEET than other synthetic chemicals do, and it is equally good at repelling mosquitoes, Drs. Joel Coats, an insect toxicologist at Iowa State University, The time.
And unlike natural bug repellents like citronella, peppermint oil and lemongrass oil, nut cotton does not lose its strength after an hour or so, Coats added.
How does it work? It seems to activate receptors in insects that send electrical impulses from one nerve cell to the next, said Ben Beard, deputy director of the CDC’s division of vector-born diseases, told the The time. Unable to turn off the signal, the bugs literally tweak to death.
Nutcracker can now be used to develop new bug repellents and insecticides for both humans and pets. The licensing partner of the CDC, a Swiss company called Evolva, is in talks with leading pest control companies for possible commercial partnerships, the agency said.
“This new active ingredient has the potential to be used in future insect repellents and pesticides that will protect people against disease,” said Alexandra Dapolito Dunn, EPA’s Assistant Director for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. in the CDC news release.
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