This means that after DEET, lemon eucalyptus oil has one of the best track records of success against mosquitoes in our tests, says Chris Regan, who leads CR’s insect repellent testing.
PMD can also be an active ingredient in its own right, without being part of an OLE formulation. We tested a product that lists PMD alone as an active ingredient, a spray that contains 10% PMD (about half the concentration of PMD found in 30% lemon eucalyptus oil). It only received a fair mark in our tests.
The labels of lemon eucalyptus oil products in our ratings tend to only mention their effectiveness against mosquitoes, and CR tests only assess how long a repellent keeps mosquitoes away.
Lemon eucalyptus oil also has some effectiveness against ticks, says Joel Coats, PhD, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Entomology and Toxicology at Iowa State University. Still, “it still doesn’t last as long as people would like it to,” he says.
