An Invisibility Cloak, of sorts

Read this piece on NPR late last week about a new patch that claims to make wearers completely invisible to mosquitoes for up to 48 hours. My dreams come true!!

Wait, what's that screeching sound? That's me, putting the brakes on. I consider nothing now without complete cynicism, so I decided to snoop around the Internet for more information.

The Kite Patch, as it's called, received a nice round of press last week, not just from NPR, but many other big outlets (HuffPo covered it here, as well as CNN). Seemingly the push was timed for a round of fundraising, as the product has financial backing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and National Institutes of Health (NIH) but is still seeking funds for the final stages of product development and field testing. All of this is according to the Q&A on the website.

The Kite Patch has been developed by a company called The Olfactor Laboratories, Inc., based in California (I think?). Here's how OLI describes the Kite Patch:

"Kite Patches are designed to work everywhere, for everyone. From Alaska to Zimbabwe, Kite is designed to be rugged, simple, and effective. When you wear it, you also signify your stand against mosquito-borne diseases.

Kite uses powerful, non-toxic compounds that are FDA approved for harmless human contact. No more toxic sprays or lotions, and no more silly, ineffective ingredients that don't work.

Kite blocks mosquitoes' ability to track humans. Kite is a small, colorful patch applied to clothing that provides protection against mosquitoes for up to 48 hours. Giant breakthrough, small patch."

Wow. If I'm anyone from Deep Woods OFF! (owned by SC Johnson), them's fightin' words. Except for one little thing. OLI doesn't say what these powerful, non-toxic compounds are. Sure, patent-pending blah blah blah proprietary blah blah whatever, but I still need to know a little more about how this thing works. Is it REALLY non-toxic?

"The Kite Mosquito Patch utilizes active ingredients that are approved and considered safe by the United States Food and Drug Administration for human consumption. Safety for children -- the hardest-hit segment by malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases -- has been at the center of our product development efforts."

Sounds nice, really, but I think we're all learning just how the FDA handles (or doesn't) toxic substances in consumer products. Is it possible that Kite is different, effective without all the chemicals? Sure. Do I want it to be different? You betcha.

I'm going to stay tuned. As excited as I want to be about this product (and not just because of my inner geek, but because of a lifetime of too many horribly reactionary bug bites), I need to know more. This skeptic isn't fully convinced -- yet.

-- Jazzy