Toronto Sportsmen’s Show: Insect Defend Patch

One of the coolest products at the Toronto Sportmen’s Show this weekend, that’s not a fishing lure, reel, or rod, is the Insect Defend Patch. This patch is 100% deet free, totally safe and natural. The patch contains thiamine (vitamin B1) which when applied to the skin is absorbed, and then later through your own body’s chemistry, is excreted through your sweat glands producing an invisible protective barrier against mosquitoes. Totally safe for kids as young as one year old!

I picked up three of these patches for 5 bucks, they normally sell for about 2 bucks each plus tax. I will be testing them throughly this spring and summer, and should they work I hope to have them in our opensky store as a possible order stuffer. They weigh almost nothing, so I figure we might be able to work something out where you can get them cheap on top of an existing order. We’ll see how it goes.

Another interesting fact about these is that apparently vitamin B1 is really good for you if you have a hang over. Yes, I’ll be testing that part too! I also just found out that Korsakoff syndrom, a disease caused by alchohol abuse, is caused by a lack of vitamin B1. These could have many medical uses in the future, not just bug repellant.

Some of these photos were all taken by Brandon Seibel, one of my friends and co-workers, on his Canon 50D.