DEET Is Harmful to Cells in Lab Settings. What's the Significance?

Powerful bug repellant DEET may do more than keep mosquitoes and other biting critters at bay--it might cause neurological damage in mammals, according to a study published in BioMed Central Biology. Developed in 1946 by the U.S. Army, DEET has been used by the public for more than half a century to repel bugs like mosquitoes, along with the diseases they can carry. The new study, however, shows that DEET—aka N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide—may be harmful for a variety of animal cells. In lab tests, it caused damage to