How to Select an Effective Bug Spray – With or Without DEET
Choosing a safe but potent insect repellent to protect against mosquito- and tick-borne diseases such as Lyme disease, West Nile Virus and dengue fever can be challenging due to the many products on the market.
Only repellents containing either the active ingredients DEET or picaridin have research to back their effectiveness. While DEET's safety has been debated through the years, the Environmental Protection Agency deemed in 1998 and again in 2014 that, if used according to directions, it does not pose a danger to human health.
August 8, 2024
Courtenay Harris Bond
Courtenay Harris Bond is the staff writer covering health for PhillyVoice. She enjoys writing about behavioral health, maternal health and inequities in the healthcare system, as well as human rights and criminal justice. A veteran daily newspaper reporter, Courtenay has also written for national outlets, including KFF Health News, Undark Magazine and Filter. She was a 2018 Rosalynn Carter Fellow for Mental Health Journalism and has master's degrees from Columbia Journalism School and the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education.
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