Avon Skin So Soft functions as an effective mosquito repellent.
the verdict
CONTESTED
contested - the weight sits with the supporting side
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
3 sources for · 0 against
Studies indicate that Avon Skin-So-Soft provides only limited and relatively short-lived protection against biting insects compared to traditional chemical repellents.
Repellents and other personal protection strategies against Aedes albopictus.
Five chemical repellents, a controlled-release repellent formulation, Avon Skin-So-Soft bath oil and permethrin-impregnated clothing fabric were assayed for personal protection against bites of Aedes albopictus. On skin the chemical repellents provided significant (P = 0.05) protection from biting; however, Ae. albopictus was more sensitive to the repellents than the standard, Ae. aegypti. Two experimental repellents provided 6-7 h protection from bites, 25% deet in ethanol provided greater than 8 h protection, a controlled-release formulation containing 35% deet provided greater than 10 h protection, and the Avon product provided 0.64 h protection from bites. Permethrin-treated fabric provided complete protection from mosquito bites through 0-5 washings. Repellent products containing greater than or equal to 12% deet should provide satisfactory protection against Ae. albopictus; the use of permethrin-impregnated clothing should provide additional protection.
Published in Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association (1989)
Repellency of two deet formulations and Avon Skin-So-Soft against biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) in Honduras.
Two U.S. military issue deet repellent formulations (75% deet liquid and 33% deet lotion) and Avon Skin-So-Soft were tested against ceratopogonid midges under field conditions in Honduras. Test subjects were U.S. military personnel deployed to Honduras for training. Culicoides furens accounted for 96.3% of all midges collected. The liquid and lotion formulations of deet and Avon Skin-So-Soft provided 97.9, 95.9 and 71.4% protection, respectively, compared with the untreated control. Both deet formulations provided significantly better protection (P less than 0.05) than Avon Skin-So-Soft. The latter provided protection by trapping the midges in the oily film and not by repelling the insects as did the deet formulations.
Published in Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association (1991)
DEET remains one of the most effective repellents against a wide variety of insects. Although adverse reactions have been reported in the medical literature and magnified in the press, the compound is remarkably safe and has been used by hundreds of millions of people over the past 40 years. Permethrin is a better deterrent of ticks and, like DEET, is remarkably safe. Concomitant use of these two agents provides superior protection. Citronella and a bath oil, Avon Skin-So-Soft, also provide limited protection against some types of flying insects. The promise of new agents or protective strategies is on the horizon. Recently it was shown that retroviral vectors could be used to integrate and express foreign genes in the malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae. Conceivably, a genetically engineered mosquito that is resistant to malaria and other transmissible diseases may one day be developed, obviating some of the need for repellents. Almost certainly, future research will yield additional agents to further protect against mosquitoes.
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