Insect Repellent Bracelet

It sounds like such a good idea: Use a “natural” mosquito repellent, with an active ingredient like clove or lemongrass or rosemary oil, and avoid the ones containing chemicals such as deet.

These wearable repellent devices are marketed as being safer because you don’t have to rub anything on your skin.

But scientists who have tested these products have found them to be ineffective. In a 2017 study in the Journal of Insect Science, researchers found they had no significant effect in repelling mosquitoes. (Past CR tests of these items have found similar results.)

“It’s not that they don’t contain mosquito repellents,” says Immo Hansen, PhD, an author of the study and professor of biology at New Mexico State University. But “wearing a bracelet to protect your whole body from mosquitoes,” he says, is just not enough.

In 2016, the Federal Trade Commission fined one wristband maker, Viatek, $300,000 for deceptive marketing of its Mosquito Shield Bands. The commission says the company’s claims that the bands protect against mosquitoes were not backed by scientific evidence.

Ultrasonic devices are claimed to emit high-frequency sounds that are too high for humans to hear but are just the right frequency to drive pests, including mosquitoes, away. The trouble is, there’s no proof that they work.

The FTC has investigated several sonic repellent makers for false advertising. In 2016, the New York Attorney General’s Office sent cease and desist letters to the makers of two specific brands of sonic repellent—STAR Ultrasonic Pest Repeller and iGear iGuard 2.0 Ultrasonic Insect Pest Repeller. “Numerous scientific studies show that [these devices] don’t repel mosquitoes and may even attract mosquitoes,” the attorney general said.

Despite the popularity of citronella candles as an area repellent, there’s little evidence that they’ll provide solid protection against mosquito bites. “They give you a nice smell in your backyard, but they are not going to protect you from mosquitoes,” Hansen says.

And other types of candles aren’t a great bet either. In 2018, the the FTC charged one company, Mikey & Momo, with deceptive marketing of mosquito-repellent products. The company claimed its scented “Aromaflage” candles were as effective as a 25 percent deet spray. The agency said the claims weren’t supported by any evidence.