Weird but wonderful? Catnip lotion as effective as Deet at repelling mosquitoes, study finds

[usonian]

Kitty gonna love it.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jul/07/catnip-lotion-as-effective-as-deet-at-repelling-mosquitoes-study-finds

In a study presented at the Society for Experimental Biology conference in Florence on Tuesday, a team working between Uganda and Wales found mosquitoes seeking a blood meal were less likely to land on people wearing lotions made from catnip.

Dr Simon Scofield, a senior lecturer at Cardiff University, said: “We found that a 6% catnip oil was just as effective as Deet, and the 2% catnip oil was only marginally less effective than that.

“Deet is out of the price bracket for most rural Ugandan subsistence farmers, so buying commercially available mosquito repellents is just not practicable.

“We wanted to make a repellent, which is highly efficacious, but also allows local people to be involved in the production cycle so that it costs a minimal amount of money,” he said.

The study link gets the entire conference abstracts ... 238 pages