Yes, and yes.
DEET (N,N-dimethyl-meta-toluamide) is one of the most effective insect repellents known, an important weapon in the fight against West Nile Virus and other diseases spread by mosquitoes and ticks.
Some people still fear DEET because of 14 potentially-DEET related seizures over 40 years. But both the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics now say that DEET can be used safely by adults and children over two months old. The two groups base their recommendations on safety studies by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Doctors used to think that children should use DEET only at low (10 percent) concentrations. Now they say that, for both adults and kids, it is just as safe and more effective to use the 30 percent concentration of DEET, which protects for more than 5 hours, much longer than the lower concentration, said Dr. Michael Shannon, chief of emergency medicine at Children’s Hospital in Boston and chair of the Committee on Environmental Health at the academy of pediatrics.
DEET should be used sparingly on exposed skin (not on skin under clothing). It should not be spread near the eyes and mouth, on the hands of young children or on cuts or irritated skin. Skin should be washed after returning indoors.
In April, the CDC announced that two new repellent ingredients – picaridin and oil of lemon eucalyptus – are comparable to DEET at certain concentrations. But it’s less clear whether the two new ingredients are as effective as DEET against ticks, warned Shannon.
Picaridin has long been available in mosquito repellents elsewhere in the world. This year for the first time, it is available in the US as Cutter Advanced insect repellent, though it will not protect for as many hours as 30 percent DEET, said Emily Zielinski-Gutierrez [cq], a behavioral scientist at CDC.
Oil of lemon eucalyptus is a plant-based repellent that is available in a variety of formulations in the US. A 30 percent solution of oil of lemon eucalyptus is equivalent to a 10 to 15% concentration of DEET.