These products are used to protect against bites from hematophagous insects such as common mosquitoes, stinging mosquitoes, tropical mosquitoes, horseflies, sandflies, and ticks, whose bites create discomfort, redness and itching. Almost all haematophagous arthropods, in addition to the great annoyance induced by their parasitic activity, are potential vectors of pathogens that can cause viral, bacterial and parasitic infections in humans.

No. These products have active ingredients that disturb the insects and make them move away from the source of the disturbance. They act on the insect's nervous system, create disorientation, trigger the self-preservation mechanism and induce it to move away. In contrast, insecticidal substances aim to kill the insect. They cannot be used for protective purposes on human skin.

No, they can only be used on people. To protect pets, specific products (powders, liquids, collars) are available for specific uses.

DEET is the most widely used insect repellent molecule in the world. It is estimated that it has been used in the last 50 years with 8 BILLION doses. Excellent performance in terms of protective effectiveness. The concentration of DEET varies from product to product. Concentration only affects duration of protection: higher concentration, longer duration of protection. DEET is effective against both mosquitoes and ticks. ICARIDIN: a molecule developed in 1990 and widely used since 1998. It performs very well in terms of protective efficacy and has the advantage of being very compatible with plastics and is not oily like DEET.

This substance was discovered in 1901. It is characterised by a strong lemon odour. It was used extensively in repellents until the 1940s and is still used for protection purposes today, albeit with much shorter protection times than synthetic insect repellents. The repellent effect of this oil is due to the compound's interference with the olfactory receptors of mosquitoes

An insect-repellent product must be chosen in relation to certain variables, such as: 1) age of the person to be protected, any pathologies, any previous allergies to insect-repellent substances, geographical area where the product is to be used, group of insects to be protected against. Insect repellent products that are registered as medical-surgical aids and biocides provide effective, albeit very variable protection, documented by studies in the dossier submitted for registration with the Ministry of Health. So-called "natural" products provide partial protection that is not shown on product labels.

This is the time frame in which the active substance (e.g. icaridin) exerts its repellent effect on a target species. This information is very important when making the right choice and for effective protection. Protection times on product labels are obtained through laboratory testing.

It is recommended to apply sunscreen first and insect repellent second.