I live in Winnipeg, and I know a few things about mosquitos and what works
to repell them.

1.    Skin-so-Soft working as a mosquito repellent is a wive's tale. It has
a very small effect, and it wears off very quickly. That's been proven. Avon
just took advantage of this popular myth to promote the product.

2.    There's been a lot of work done in scientifically evaluating mosquito
repellents, because of the danger of West Nile virus, which is transmitted
by mosquitos. The main thing to look for, is the highest fraction of DEET
possible in your product of choice.

There is a product in Canada that is almost pure DEET, and it really works
and works well!

Just don't get any on a painted surface, as it is a strong organic solvent.

Marshall Ruskin
----- Original Message -----
From: "ron 'coyote' lussier" <rlussier@LENSCRAFT.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2004 11:01 AM
Subject: Re: [Syncro] BUG repellant

> On Apr 1, 2004, at 11:01 AM, mark lortie wrote:
>
> >  AVONS Skin-So-Soft lotion
> >
> > we buy it by the case for our fishing camp ( &  i've heard all the
> > jokes
> > & rude comments allready , thanks !!) .
> >
> > I have no idea why it works but it does, explaining the smell to the
> > wives & girlfriends back home is another story ; )
>
> The U.S. Army did a study against skin-so-soft and concluded that it
> worked by masking the odor of the human body (and the carbon dioxide
> given off.)  It's perhaps not as nasty as DEET, but it *is* an
> industrial solvent.
>
> For Caravana Pan Americana, we used 3M Ultrathon, a time release DEET
> formulation.  Seemed to work.
>
> coyote
>
> ---
> ron lussier / lenscraft                           fine art photography
> rlussier@lenscraft.com                              67 crescent avenue
> AIM coyote@mac.com                                sausalito / ca 94965
> http://www.lenscraft.com/                              +1 415.331.3687