Kite Mosquito Patch

Do you often set out to enjoy a BBQ or camping trip only to find yourself trading in the anticipated revelry for a full-scale, hostile, bug-obliterating offensive? OK, well do you tend to step outside on a pleasant summer evening, and then begrudgingly do a 180 and go back in because the night's blood-sucking insects are descending upon you like a gold digger on an octogenarian billionaire on dialysis? OK, well would you just kinda like to keep mosquitos the F out of your personal space for 2 days straight using nothing but a 1-1/2" square sticker? Because the Kite, a non-toxic patch for clothing or other personal gear, has been proven to thwart mosquitos' ability to track and detect humans for up to 48 hours a pop.

Mosquitos primarily scout their blood meals by sniffing out humans' carbon dioxide "exhaust". Kite compounds serve as a spatial repellent that masks the carbon dioxide, thereby blocking the suckers' detection of it. The patch is safe for use by adults, children, even babies. It's affixed to clothes or other nearby non-living items--backpacks, tents, strollers--but not to the skin itself, so there need be little contact with the patch's contained cauldron of ingredients. That said, all of those (active) ingredients have been approved by the USFDA for human consumption, so storing, handling, and sniffing a Kite will not be harmful. Probably you shouldn't pin down your little brother and make him lick one though.

Kite runs as an Indiegogo campaign through August 29, 2013. Pledge to reserve yours, but keep a couple of things in mind:

1. Kite is still in the research phases, so will likely not be available for public purchase and use for another 12 to 14 months. Indiegogo backers (US residents only) will obviously be in the first batch of consumers to try them out.

2. More importantly, Kite creators Grey Frandson, Dr. Michelle Brown, and Torrey Tayanaka conceived and developed the patch as a means of helping citizens in less developed countries plagued by mosquitos carrying infectious diseases, particularly malaria. Project funding will go towards the first line of patch production, further research in Uganda, and then optimization for global distribution. Those who back the project on Indiegogo will have the option of pledging patches for field tests in Africa, or pledging equal numbers of patches to receive themselves and to send to Africa (in quantities of 10, 25, 30, 75, etc.)

Muchas danke to Laughing Squid.

January 2014 Update: Kite emphatically achieved its funding goal, and its initial production run and delivery of backers' patches is still in the works. Follow the link below to the Kite Website for further information and updates about future availability to the general public.