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Handmade Organic Mosquito Repellent (HOMeR)
The abandoned ricefields in our valley breed hordes of fierce mosquitoes, and at dusk they attack in force. But it's hard to tell which is worse, the mosquitoes or the commercial repellents.
The mosquitoes are horrific -- they're highly aggressive, you can be bitten hundreds of times without protection, it's torture, impossible to bear.
Two weeks earlier we cut this lemon grass to the height of Midori's hand
But the commercial repellant sprays mostly use diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET), a nasty chemical that can cause rashes, swelling, eye irritation, and worse problems, though they're unusual -- including brain swelling in children, anaphylactic shock, low blood pressure, and one report of death. It hasn't had any of those effects on us (yet), but it's horrible stuff to have on your skin -- and with these mosquitoes you have to cover every single square inch of exposed skin. They'll even bite you right through a T-shirt or socks.
The alternative is incense coils, which you burn -- they fill the air with smoke containing insecticides. And indeed the mosquitoes keep away. We think this is very wise of them -- we don't like the coils any more than they do.
We tried all the herbal preparations, but they just don't work -- these mosquitoes are fierce!
So what to do? It's both an immediate problem and a longer-term one for us -- Journey to Forever will be travelling through many mosquito-infested and malarial areas.
We've found one good answer. We planted three stalks of Thai lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus) we got from the local supermarket, and after a few months they'd grown into a composite clump about 15" across. We used a lot of stalks for cooking, but the clump didn't seem to get any smaller. We cut the tops every couple of weeks because it shaded out the other herbs in the herb bed (lots of green stuff for the compost), but it quickly grew back. And we found it keeps the mosquitoes away. It contains citronella oil, a safe and natural insect repellent that's just as effective as the commercial chemical products, especially when it's fresh. In fact lemon grass contains more than just citronella oil and is more effective than true citronella.
Rubbing the long, grassy leaves on the skin worked well, but the stalk worked even better. Take one stalk of fresh lemon grass (grip it near the ground and give it a sharp sideways tug to break it off from the clump), peel off the outer leaves, snap off the grass blades behind the swollen stem at the base. Bend the stem between your fingers, loosening it, then rub it vigorously between your palms so that it fractures into a kind of fibrous juicy mass, and rub this mess over all exposed skin, covering thoroughly at least once. Pleasant on the skin and effective: 98% protection at the Beach House at sundown, 100% any other time, and the effect lasts about 4-5 hours. In most places, where the mosquitoes are less fanatical, you can use less and it'll last longer.
We tried making tinctures so we could spray it, and this worked just as well.
To make HOMeR
- sustainable: made entirely from locally available renewable resources
- empowering: processed entirely by the end-user as needed
- eco-friendly: won't boil the planet or blow a hole in the sky.
Chop up the cores of five or six stalks of lemon grass and put them in a blender with a tumblerful of spirits, blend thoroughly. Can be further diluted by adding up to half as much water.
We used whatever booze we could find in the booze cupboard (we hardly drink at all, but people keep giving it to us), and strained it into a sprayer. The extremely cheap Chinese brandy went first, the Absolut Swedish vodka worked even better and we didn't smell quite as much like winos, and then we used London Dry Gin. When we get round to distilling fuel ethanol, we'll use that.
The only problem is that it goes stale after about a week and loses effectiveness -- does anyone know why, or how to prevent it going stale?
Can you find a better way? Young scientists in schools can really help us with this -- and it's not just for our sake (see below).
These are some of the kinds of preparations you can make with herbs:
- tinctures
- infusions
- decoctions
- fluid extracts
- essential oils
See below for further details.
Magic herb
Lemon grass is also an effective herbal anti-fungal medicine (lemongrass tea) and in Puerto Rico people use the fibrous stalks as a natural toothbrush! Clean and tingling fresh! (Try it!)
This large clump of lemon grass grew from three small stems
According to the CRC Ethnobotany Desk Reference by Tim Johnson, lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus) is traditionally used in various parts of the world as an antiseptic, antispasmodic, carminative, cyanogenetic, dentrifice, diaphoretic, diuretic, emmenagogue, expectorant, pectoral, preventative (cold), stimulant, sudorific, and tonic, used to treat common cold, consumption, cough, depurative, dyspepsia, elephantiasis, fever, flu, gingivitis, headache, hypertension, insecticide, leprosy, malaria, mouth sores, neuritis, pneumonia, pyorrhea, rheumatism, sprains, and toothache.
The Aromatic and Medicinal Plants Index at the Purdue Guide to Medicinal and Aromatic Plants has a lot of information on lemon grass, also listing it as an insect repellent and a medicinal plant, and says it's used in food and confections, in perfumes and cosmetics, soaps and creams, as a flavouring in soft drinks, and as a mask for industrial bad smells.
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/med-aro/factsheets/LEMONGRASS.html
An altogether interesting plant -- like most plants, if not all of them. Other plant oils mosquitoes don't like are citronella, jojoba, neem, witch hazel, tea tree oil, peppermint, lemon basil, lemon oregano, lemon geranium, catnip, eucalyptus and pennyroyal.
Dr James A. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases lists lemon grass among 252 plants traditionally used as insecticides, 436 for malaria, 439 toothache, 58 for gum inflammation, 42 mouthwashes, 89 dentifrices, 15 for gum disease.
http://www.ars-grin.gov/duke/index.html
Three-quarters of modern medical drugs are plant-based. Most plant species haven't yet been studied for their potential medical benefits. Meanwhile thousands of plant species are lost forever each year because of deforestation and industrialized farming methods.
The mosquito menace
Deforestation and industrialized farming are also two of the factors causing an alarming increase in the range of mosquitoes.
The World Health Organization says global warming is also expanding the range of mosquitoes that carry malaria, yellow fever, and dengue fever, putting millions more humans at risk. Malaria mosquitoes are appearing in upland areas where they've never been seen before.
A child dies of malaria every 12 seconds, mostly in the Third World.
"In the history of the world, more people have died from diseases transmitted by mosquitoes than from all the fighting in all the wars," says appropriate technology company Jade Mountain.
"The world's most dangerous animal is the mosquito," according to a BBC World Service health program: malaria now infects approximately 110 million people annually, causing 2-3 million deaths, and with increasing drug resistance, the problem is worsening, while attempts to control the mosquitoes with pesticides have proved ineffective.
Malaria Poses Bigger Threat Than Previously Believed -- For more than 50 years, the mantra of "one million annual deaths due to malaria" has been cited by scientists and journalists. This estimate had gone unexamined in regard to its accuracy and economic implications. A new report, ""The Intolerable Burden of Malaria: A New Look at the Numbers", has found that at a minimum, between 700,000 and 2.7 million people die each year from malaria, more than 75 percent of them African children. Environment News Service, AmeriScan, August 2, 2001.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-02-09.html
The pesticides issue hit the headlines when an attempt to ban the use of the noxious and persistent insecticide DDT hit opposition from Third World countries which cannot afford the much more expensive alternatives.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/sep99/1999L-09-07g.html
More about mosquitoes:
http://www.ag.usask.ca/cofa/departments/
hort/hortinfo/pests/mosquito.html
Mosquito Information -- informative article by Tom Floore, American Mosquito Control Association, with illustrations: Mosquito Life Cycle, Mosquito Control, Mosquito-borne Diseases and more.
http://www.mosquito.org/mosquito.html
Alternatives
So, everywhere, the search is intensifying for safe, cheap, effective, locally available alternatives to pesticides and to the malaria drug treatments that no longer work. In other words, plants.
Chinese scientists extracted an anti-malarial drug from the Artemisia annua fern, traditionally used against malaria for hundreds years. It is being used in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa and is proving effective against drug-resistant forms of malaria.
In India, a homemade mosquito repellent is proving particularly effective against the Anopheles mosquito which spreads malaria. It's made from low-cost neem oil from the amazing neem tree (Azadirachta indica, the "Village Pharmacy") mixed with coconut oil in concentrations of 1-2%.
http://www.theoriginalneemcompany.com/Misc/insectrepellent.asp
Neem is also proving effective against malaria itself, not just the mosquito that carries the parasite.
http://www.theoriginalneemcompany.com/usespages/page2/malaria.htm
One active component of the plant, gedunin, is said to be as effective as quinine on malaria-infected cell cultures.
http://www.theneemtree.com/medicinals4.htm
The Neem Tree - A Tree for Solving Global Problems
http://www.theneemtree.com/
Also in India, researchers have found that peppermint oil could be a new, cheap weapon in the fight against mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, filariasis, dengue fever and West Nile virus. The oil not only repels adult mosquitoes but also kills the larvae. It was particularly effective against the Anopheles culicifacies mosquito, which is responsible for around three-quarters of malaria transmissions in the northern plains of India. -- BBC News, November 17, 1999
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_524000/524811.stm
Another promising candidate is catnip.
Catnip Repels Mosquitoes More Effectively Than DEET -- Researchers report that nepetalactone, the essential oil in catnip that gives the plant its characteristic odor, is about ten times more effective at repelling mosquitoes than DEET -- the compound used in most commercial insect repellents... A patent application for the use of catnip compounds as insect repellents was submitted last year by the Iowa State University Research Foundation. Funding for the research was from the Iowa Agriculture Experiment Station. -- American Chemical Society, 28 Aug 2001
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010828075659.htm
But: "I can't escape the idea that something is fundamentally wrong with these scientists. I learned about the mosquito repellant properties of catnip (Nepeta cataria) from my grandmother when I was a mere babe. Now these scientists have patented this century-old common folk knowledge." -- John, Organic Gardening Discussion List, 29 Aug 2001
What old folklore does YOUR grandmother know that might turn out to be more scientific than the scientists?
Biocontrol Network -- Biocontrol Reference Center, Products, Pest Guide, Discussion Board, FAQs -- Beneficial Insects and Organisms, Fly Control, Botanicals, Disease Control, Traps & Lures, Crawling Insect Control, Flying Insect Control, Bird Control, Creature Control, Soil Testing, Organic Fertilizers & Plant Foods, Composting, Seeds & Cover Crops, Lawn Care / Weed Control, Tools & Equipment, Pond and Septic Treatments, Home Care, Personal Care, Pet Supplies.
http://www.biconet.com/index.html
Forms of Medicinal Preparations
Infusions
These preparations are generally made of ground or bruised roots, barks, herbs, or seeds, by pouring boiling water over the drug, letting it stand for half-an-hour, occasionally stirring, and finally straining the clear liquid carefully off. Sometimes cold water may be used, as in the case of a few bitters, such as Calumba, Quassia, &c., when the ground drug will be found to yield its properties to water without heat. The usual quantity of drug to a pint of water is 1 ounce, but in a few cases where the drugs contain very active principles, less is sufficient. The dose of most infusions varies from a tablespoonful to a wineglassful or a teacupful.
Decoctions
As a rule decoctions are made by pouring cold water upon the cut, bruised, or ground drug, the mixture being boiled for twenty minutes to half-an-hour, cooled, and strained. Roots and Barks are generally treated in this manner, as they need longer subjection to heat to extract their virtues. Decoctions are generally made in a strength of 1 ounce to the pint, but, as the water boils away, it is best to use a pint and a half, and the decoction should then when finished measure 1 pint. The length of time depends upon the readiness with which the drug gives up its active principles to the liquid. The dose varies from two teaspoonfuls to a wineglassful or two.
Fluid Extracts
These are most popular and convenient preparations, inasmuch as they, if properly made, are the most concentrated fluid forms in which vegetable drugs may be obtained. Fluid extracts are made in a variety of ways -- evaporation by heat, in vacuo; cold percolation; high pressure, &c. -- each drug being treated in that manner by which its properties may be best extracted and held in concentrated solution. The strength of a Fluid Extract is 1 in 1, or 1 ounce fluid represents 1 ounce of crude drug -- for instance, 1 ounce of F1. Ext. Golden Seal would represent the medicinal value of 1 ounce of Golden Seal Root. Fluid Extracts are daily becoming more popular, and, as they may be easily obtained, bid fair to rival the Tinctures and Preparations which have made Homoeopathy so popular with those who seek an easy way of keeping a household stock of domestic remedies.
Solid Extracts
Are prepared by evaporating to the consistence of honey the fresh juices or strong infusions of vegetable drugs. They may also be manufactured by a spirituous process, in which case the alcohol is recovered by means of distillation from a strong tincture of the drug. Solid extracts are employed chiefly in the manufacture of pills, plasters, ointments, and in more recent years also for compressed tablets.
Tinctures
Are spirituous preparations made with pure or diluted spirits of wine of drugs containing gummy, resinous, or volatile principles, or of any drugs rendered useless by the application of heat in any form, or of the great number of drugs which will not yield their properties to water alone, as their active principles are more readily extracted by spirit, better held in solution and preserved from deterioration.
Tinctures are generally made in a strength of 1 or 2 ounces of drug to the pint. The dose varies according to the active principles contained in the drug.
Concentrations
Are a class of medicinal resins or resinoids obtained from medicinal drugs by precipitation from their alcoholic preparations, either by water, distillation, or other suitable means.
Those at present in use contain one or more, but not always all the therapeutic virtues of the drugs from which they are made, and in many cases are only powdered extracts.
-- from "Potter's Cyclopaedia of Botanical Drugs and Preparations", by R.C. Wren, F.L.S., Potter & Clarke, London, 2nd Edition, circa 1890.
