How to Bite Back

A wave of antimosquito products have hit the market. Do they really work?

A rainy spring this year produced a bumper crop of mosquitoes, making for a very buggy summer. The good news: whether you are concerned about the West Nile virus or just want to enjoy the outdoors bite-free, there is a fresh crop of products out this year that promise to fight mosquitoes. There are candles, sandalwood sticks, zappers, and traps that emit carbon dioxide (part of what attracts mosquitoes to humans). A Korean cell-phone maker is selling a ring tone that it claims will repel blood-thirsty bugs. The bad news is that the effectiveness of some of these new offerings is...

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