While researching this guide, we spoke with Joe Conlon, then the technical adviser of the American Mosquito Control Association, a position he held from 2000 to 2020. Conlon’s experience with mosquitoes is wide ranging and has spanned nearly four decades. Since 1981 he has been a medical entomologist, and in that time he has presented more than 350 invited papers on vector control to various universities, medical and public-health associations, and national, regional, and state mosquito-control groups. In addition, he has conducted vector-control operations or on-site consultations in 34 countries. He has published at least 20 articles on vector control in refereed journals and more than 70 articles in trade publications.
For questions on repellent safety and the EPA’s pesticide approval process, we spoke with Lawrence Feller, a consultant who assists companies with the development and approval of EPA-regulated products. Feller is also a contributor to the Insect Repellents Handbook. He spoke with us on behalf of Thermacell, one of his clients.
Additionally, we spoke with Sonja Swiger, associate professor and Extension specialist at Texas A&M’s Entomology Department, to get her thoughts on repelling mosquitoes. Swiger’s area of expertise is with nuisance insects and their effects on humans and cattle. She also develops educational programs for various municipalities on mosquito control, among other work.
We also read as much as we could on mosquito repellents, traps, and other control products, focusing our attention on information from the AMCA as well as a number of studies, including several found in Acta Tropica, the Journal of Insect Science, and the Journal of Medical Entomology.