Talk:DEET

Investigations from 2009 on effects on humans
I don't know if this is sowehow trustworthy, but I found this: https://bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1741-7007-7-47 It has an addendum from 2012. Should this be noted here?

Alternatives section does not belong in this article
The article is about DEET. Alternatives should be discussed briefly if at all and fuller discussions in their respective articles.

It would be better integrated into the insect repellents article.122.163.253.2 (talk) 08:54, 10 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Yes, I agree. Unless it's commercially available, it should not be listed. Research use is merely speculative. I'll take a look. --Rifleman 82 (talk) 15:51, 10 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Alternatives to DEET directly relate to the article and are appropriate.  Moreover, the commercial production preference suggested above is arbitrary. Mavigogun (talk) 12:41, 21 May 2016 (UTC)

Science News resource ... regarding Olfaction and insects
Science gets the deets on DEET; Insect repellent appears to repel mosquitoes by confusing them by Rachel Ehrenberg October 22nd, 2011; Vol.180 #9 (p. 10) 97.87.29.188 (talk) 22:52, 1 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Add Brazilian fruit fly Boa Esperanҫa? 99.181.138.228 (talk) 03:23, 2 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Add Insect repellent wikilink? 99.109.125.146 (talk) 01:02, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

Effects on materials
DEET can dissolve leather? really? H870rce (talk) 16:52, 1 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Seems dubious to me. Since it is not supported by any reference, I have removed it.  -- Ed (Edgar181) 17:00, 1 June 2012 (UTC)

Leather is indeed on the fine-print list of materials which my OFF aerosol can warns "DO NOT APPLY ON OR NEAR." Maybe not dissolve but anecdotally ruins the finish of leather upholstery. No personal experience with leather, though leaking DEET has utterly destroyed several other items of mine, and internet search shows I have plenty of company. I came here to see whether this characteristic of DEET was mentioned, and was marginally satisfied to find the understated "Effects on materials" section. A more vivid image is conveyed in the very first sentence of the referenced Nature article. Classic. -- Rairden (talk) 03:32, 28 July 2014 (UTC)

Deet not part of the 4x100 cocktail
This article: http://www.bangkokpost.com/lite/topstories/310348/cocktail-lethal-for-sisters

Points out that: "The cocktail known locally as 4x100 contains cough syrup, cola, ground-up kratom leaves, which are a mild narcotic, and ice."

And that it is thought than "an overdose of DEET was accidentally mixed into the young women's drinks."

I've changed the main article to this effect; this is for the record. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 181.112.4.193 (talk) 00:41, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

Better explanation of DEET's abbreviation?
I've heard "DEET" for years and only just noticed that it's not an abbreviation for the chemical name. Where is the second "E" from? It can't be "di-ethyl-ethyl-m-toluamide", which is clearly incorrect. And if you formulate the name as "ethyl-ethyl-m-toluamide", there's no "D".

I don't otherwise see any other source for the second E, in most any of the potential synonyms (N,N-Diethyl-m-toluamide, N,N-Diethyl-3-methylbenzamide).

I see on ChemID that a synonym is (was?) DET, which makes sense... maybe DEET is just a bastardization of this?

If we can determine where it came from, we should explain this briefly in the History.


 * RedKnight7 (talk) 20:55, 18 September 2013 (UTC)

Wiktionary seems to think it's from D T as initials for Diethyl Toluamide. Sounds like a plausible military type abbreviation to me. If true, however, I'll be mildly annoyed for the rest of my life that it's not spelt "DeeT". 135.0.167.55 (talk) 09:25, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

Dictionary.com (not sure how credible) had listed "Deet" as "a brand of diethyltoluamide", noting that it's a trademark. I don't know if that entry is retracted, but I can only access an archive of that page right now: https://web.archive.org/web/20160406123832/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/deet Also, it appears as "Deet" in in its first mention in this legal document, with a citation that also writes it as Deet. But then only "DEET" appears throughout the rest of the document. https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/ip/boards/bpai/decisions/inform/IPR2013-00124_20140520.pdf

Could you please add a reference for your addition? --Leyo 23:29, 4 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Added two references! --Fernando Trebien (talk) 00:05, 5 June 2023 (UTC)

Transmission via nerves?
I can taste in my mouth 30 seconds after application to the back of my hand. That is all I know. Jidanni (talk) 07:41, 3 September 2015 (UTC)


 * That sounds like blood circulation. The taste is shockingly intense and horrible. It's bitter, fuel-like (especially xylene-like), and strangely electric. 71.46.230.154 (talk) 03:05, 12 May 2016 (UTC)
 * The volatiles in the air are likely reponsible for this, triggering the olfactive (and taste) effects. — Paleo Neonate  – 07:46, 15 July 2020 (UTC)

Expiration Date
I was looking into DEET and there seems to be a lot of discussion about when it expires. There are a few sources like Lonely Planet and Larimer County that say it is stable and doesn't expire but I can't find a reliable source. — Preceding unsigned comment added by CiaranMalik (talk • contribs) 20:43, 25 October 2015 (UTC)

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health effects/safety section
theres a quote in this section (The authors of a 2002 study published in The New England Journal of Medicine wrote, "DEET has a remarkable safety profile after 40 years of use and nearly 8 billion human applications. When applied with common sense, DEET-based repellents can be expected to provide a safe as well as long-lasting repellent effect. Despite the substantial attention paid by the lay press every year to the safety of DEET, this repellent has been subjected to more scientific and toxicological scrutiny than any other repellent substance.") "remarkable safety profile" sounds to me like weasel words not worth of citing.

"with common sense" sounds also somewhat less than an encyclopedically/scientifically acceptable description of the nature and extent of the risks and hazards and how to avoid/minimize them.

"can be expected" is another expression suggesting marketing BS and liability avoidance rather than exact information.

"despite...attention...more...scrutiny than other substances": this reveals nothing about the results of the scrutiny mentioned.

the overall effect of this paragraph is that it conveys an air of dishonesty, maknig one slighly vary about the shady biz behind.

it would do a great service to the article if this para could be replaced by something either fish or fowl. perhaps some data on the nature and extent of the risks could be provided. 89.134.199.32 (talk) 19:49, 12 June 2019 (UTC).

mechanism and effectiveness section
"The prevailing theory was that DEET effectively "blinds" the insect's senses so that the biting/feeding instinct is not triggered by humans or other animals which produce these chemicals." sounds overcomplicated to me, i first misinterpreted the sentence as saying that there are animals that produce DEET to ensure they dont trigger the feeding instinct of mosquitoes. after some thinking it became clear however, that this is not what is written there but instead that the (so far as known entirely synthetic chemical) DEET causes the mosquito feeding instinct normally triggered by sweat compounds produced by humans and some animals to not trigger despite of the presence of the triggering compounds. perhaps this sentence could be rephrased to be more clear.

my suggestion: "The prevailing theory was that DEET effectively "blinds" the insect's senses so that the biting/feeding instinct is not triggered by the chemicals present in the sweat and breath of humans or other animals." 89.134.199.32 (talk) 20:30, 12 June 2019 (UTC).


 * i be bold and rephrased the sentence accordingly. hope its more straightforward now.

89.134.199.32 (talk) 20:51, 12 June 2019 (UTC).


 * I'm intrigued by the different thoughts on DEET,
 * 1. I applied Bushman's tropical strength, the strongest version whilst I was in the Okavango Delta, full of insects and I found that small bugs would be literally dead on my skin, bugs that appeared to be like quite tiny fruit flies (Aus) but likely to be mosquitos or small bugs the likes of a UK midge.
 * I can't give any science to it, but to be very specific, I was travelling via canoe (not fast) and I got to my destination to scrape off dead insects - I know it sounds weird.
 * 2.
 * To be clear this was at night.
 * I randomly applied a DEET product
 * 191g/kg product to myself and figured I'd spray it on my (lack of) garden - I accidentally sprayed in the direction of a (Aus) paper nest wasps - nest a little while later, there were 2 wasps falling out out of the nest unable to control themselves.
 * The nest is now dormant, there was activity previously to this event as I have been monitoring the nest, but didn't have the time or equipment to manage it.
 * Happy for comments etc. 118.210.126.84 (talk) 13:36, 15 December 2023 (UTC)

external link moved
the second external linj: DEET technical fact sheet has been moved to http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/archive/DEETtech.html#toxbox

also this link contains toxicity information that is actually missing from the WP article, pls some editor who's able to make decent looking tables put the toxicity data into the article. that could be more useful than the quotes currently filling up the health effects section.89.134.199.32 (talk) 20:49, 12 June 2019 (UTC).

Dead link
Dead link for citation [21] wrt to study of national park employees with high exposure to DEET.

404 error. Unchecked mail (talk) 21:10, 17 July 2023 (UTC)