Dozens of essential oils-based products on the market claim to kill or repel insects, but a previous Rutgers University study showed that few actually work against bed bugs. Gondhalekar and Gaire analyzed 15 essential oil compounds that are present in various aromatic plants for their toxicity to bed bugs and their ability to disrupt the insects' nervous system function. Their findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports.
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All of the chemicals were effective when applied directly to the bed bugs, though the amount needed to kill them varied. Carvacrol, derived from oregano and thyme; thymol (thyme); citronellic acid (lemongrass); and eugenol (clove) were most effective.When tested as fumigants, thymol, carvacrol, linalool (common in basil) and camphor (camphor tree) were most effective. Four of the compounds did not kill bed bugs over a 24-hour period.
It took about 70,000 times more of the most effective compound to kill a bed bug by contact than a control synthetic insecticide. With fumigants, this difference was only 400 times. That doesn't mean plant essential oil compounds are ineffective, Gondhalekar said. Now that toxicity levels are known, effective products can be formulated.
Hmm, using enough essential oil could kill bedbugs, but will you then stick to your furniture?
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Wednesday March 13 2019, @10:49PM (4 children)
Wouldn't oils make you slide? Think of how much easier it would be to just slide out of bed. =)
And then the benefits of sliding in oil would also be great with a partner...
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @11:01PM (1 child)
A 5-foot tall anthropomorphic bed bug.
(Score: 3, Funny) by sjames on Thursday March 14 2019, @03:45AM
Is that a lesser known sequel by Franz Kafka?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 14 2019, @12:26AM
And don't forget the fire hazard.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday March 14 2019, @01:27AM
Except I am not sleeping directly on the furniture, you insensitive clod.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday March 13 2019, @11:45PM
All of them are fed to us. Here is the one I didn't not know about...
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/carvacrol [nih.gov]
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Thursday March 14 2019, @12:06AM (7 children)
When you can toss in tomatoes, rosemary and garlic and fry up my famous pasta sauce?
compiling...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MostCynical on Thursday March 14 2019, @12:45AM (1 child)
Cooking Pudding in bed:https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-2533191/RACHEL-RICKARD-STRAUS-Is-cooking-bed-answer-lowering-energy-bills.html
Or "cooking" in bed: https://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Bed-Recipes-Making-Love/dp/198682974X [amazon.com]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Saturday March 16 2019, @01:22PM
Gonna have to try that one of these days...
compiling...
(Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday March 14 2019, @01:28AM (4 children)
That's the thing with these woo-woo cures, it's from plants and organic and wholemeal and tree-hugging so it's got to be a good thing right? I don't want some random mixture of plant extract that may or may not, as a coincidental side-effect, make some insects feel a bit uncomfortable, I want something that a mad scientist in a lab has cooked up specifically to kill the little bastards, and that does the job effectively and efficiently.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by sjames on Thursday March 14 2019, @04:05AM (3 children)
The research confirmed that these cures are NOT woo. The term woo generally referrs to claims with no scientific evidence, especially when they are couched in pseudo-scientific terms.
When you have controlled experiments with quantitative measurement and sufficient documentation to reproduce, it's not woo.
I wouldn't say it HAS to be a good thing or that choosing a combination randomly is a good idea, but there is something to be said for using a substance where we have centuries worth of evidence for human safety.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by driverless on Thursday March 14 2019, @06:54AM (1 child)
It really depends on how you define woo-woo, but when the controlled-experiment results show that the very best essential oil used as a contact insecticide (the standard way to kill insects, think fly spray) was seventy thousand times less effective than a generic synthetic, then claiming that essential oils are useful as insecticides is woo-woo. Even the study agrees, "results of this study indicate silicone oils and paraffin oil have the potential to be used as safer alternative bed bug control materials", not essential oils. So you're spraying your bed with C5-20 paraffin, more commonly known as mineral oil, i.e. petroleum distillates, to kill bedbugs. I'll take cypermethrin, imiprothrin, phenothrin, or tetramethrin, which are known to have little to no toxic effect on humans (inherent low toxicity to humans, and once in the body they break down so quickly there's not even an easy way to test for them), over dousing my bed with mineral oil.
The press release for the study is another classic example of a university PR department trying to goose up a minimal-result study to make it newsworthy. "Study identifies essential oil compounds most toxic to bed bugs" should really read "Study identifies essential oil compounds mostly ineffective to bed bugs, alternatives paraffin and silicone less ineffective", but that doesn't get any news coverage. In the researchers' defence, the actual study, not the Purdue Uni PR form, is neutral, merely "Toxicities of Selected Essential Oils, Silicone Oils, and Paraffin Oil against the Common Bed Bug". If I was citing that, it'd be as a reference to the fact that essential oils don't work for dealing with bedbugs.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Thursday March 14 2019, @07:12PM
I wouldn't say that makes it woo, but it does say it's considerably less effective.
Claims of equal effectiveness OTOH are woo.
(Score: 2) by Nobuddy on Thursday March 14 2019, @12:59PM
if the effective way to kill them with the oil is drowning- it is not effective.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 14 2019, @03:51AM (2 children)
These new oils will need to be tested extensively for unintended results and being a danger to pets. Someone could spray their entire living space with some oils only to find out they poisoned their pet in the process. So be careful with "magical" new chemical products.
(Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Thursday March 14 2019, @04:49AM (1 child)
Essential oils are already well-established as being toxic to dogs [petpoisonhelpline.com], cats [petpoisonhelpline.com], and other small animals, causing anything from mild nausea up through death, depending on the kind/size of the animal and dosage. The problem is increasing due to new high-concentration formulas, people using nebulizers or ultrasonic diffusers, and people trying to use it to treat medical problems "naturally."
That said, I have no idea how toxic artificial bed-bug treatments are to pets, so it might be a moot point.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by driverless on Thursday March 14 2019, @07:03AM
Not very toxic, if used in appropriate quantities. The same synthetic pyrethroids are used to flea-treat dogs and cats by direct application onto their skin, and in pet bedding spray where they'll be in contact for extended periods of time. Dogs are mostly impervious to them, cats are the most at-risk, being particularly susceptible to them because they can't metabolise them easily. Even then though, when used as a contact insecticide (think fly spray), your cat would have to go in and lick the bed frame down before the pyrethroid has time to break down naturally in order to be affected, and even then with the low concentrations involved I'm not sure whether there'd be much effect.
Fish are a particular issue, but that just means don't have a fishtank in your bedroom when you spray.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday March 14 2019, @05:58AM
Thymol and eugenol are *nasty* in purified form. I'm a bit surprised carvacrol is that high on the list, but glad to see it there. And citronella oil was a little bit of surprise; I'd always heard it's good against mosquitoes, but didn't think bedbugs were affected. Interesting.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 14 2019, @06:19AM (2 children)
Has anyone found anything to be effective?
(Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday March 14 2019, @07:07AM
Amiton [nih.gov] is very effective, but that was withdrawn from sale some time ago when some woosy tree-hugging hippies decided it was too dangerous.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by leftover on Thursday March 14 2019, @02:17PM
Birds in the wild use ants for their formic acid. Try searching for "anting".
Bent, folded, spindled, and mutilated.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 14 2019, @08:57AM
If you decide to play around with essential oils, be mindful of the fact that they're concentrated way beyond what you'd find if you just had a plant.
If you apply them to your skin, use a carrier oil such as jojoba. Dilute the essential oil with the carrier. Recommended dilutions are out there, typically 1:10 essential:carrier. If you're allergy prone, maybe just avoid it altogether and if you're not allergy prone just test a small patch the first time.
I got into this with orange oil to see if it would repel ants. It didn't, but I enjoy it as a mild cologne and hair/skin conditioner when mixed with jojoba. It smells nice, but it won't stop pests.
Standard disclaimer: not a doctor.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday March 14 2019, @05:27PM
Spread bay leaves around the affected room. They're attracted to them and get stuck on them and you can throw them away or flush them.
Bay leaves also repel flies.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org