From: Mike Linksvayer (ml@gondwanaland.com)
Date: Mon Jul 01 2002 - 10:36:43 MDT
Also, last week's New Scientist
http://www.newscientist.com/inprint/previous/20020622.jsp had a
newsbrief (not online in the free archive) titled "Tomato, the perfect
insect repellent". Ah, found similar at
http://www.globaltechnoscan.com/19thJune-25thJune02/mosquito_repellent.htm
"A substance produced by tomatoes repels mosquitoes and other
insects more effectively and is safer than DEET, the chemical most
commonly used in insect repellents, a North Carolina State
University scientist has discovered.
[...]
"I was listening to a scientific presentation about protein mimics
as a diet pill for the control of mosquito larvae," Roe said. He
realized that the compounds being discussed were similar to a
compound found in wild tomatoes that Roe and another NC State
entomologist, Dr. George Kennedy, also a William Neal Reynolds
Distinguished Professor, had studied a number of years earlier.
[...]
He found that it not only repelled mosquitoes, but ticks as well.
Bennett said subsequent testing has shown that the substance also
repels fleas, cockroaches, ants and biting flies, as well as insects
that are agricultural pests such as aphids and thrips.
[...]
Roe said the compound is already used to make cosmetics, so its
toxicity has already been studied.
[...]
While it is impossible to tell how long the approval process will
take, Bennett said he is hopeful IBI-246 will win EPA approval by
the end of the year."
Maybe next summer will be better.
Speaking of which, anyone who spends time in the sun may find a recent
thread concerning sunblocks on the calorie restriction list helpful.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crsociety/message/21485 claims that UVA
protection is more important than UVB protection for aging and that most
sunblocks are designed for burn protection, caused by UVB, and are very
poor at protecting your skin from UVA.
-- Mike Linksvayer http://gondwanaland.com/ml recommends http://antiwar.com http://bitzi.com http://calorierestriction.org http://eff.org
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