Insect repellent company warns people not to use products against coronavirus amid 1,000 per cent surge in interest

‘This needs to be thoroughly tested. In the meantime, everyone should continue to use hand gel,’ says company boss

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A company that makes insect repellent is warning customers not to use its products as protection against coronavirus.

Pyramid Products, which manufactures products designed to protect against insect and water-borne diseases, has reported more than 1,000 per cent increase in interest in its bug sprays over the last 24 hours.

The surge comes after new research, conducted by the Ministry of Defence, suggested an ingredient found in an insect spray called Mosi-guard Natural Spray could help kill the Covid-19 virus.

After the study’s preliminary findings were published on Wednesday, Pyramid Products said that the number of daily enquiries for its range of tick and midge repellents increased by more than 10 times its usual rate.

Now the company, which is owned by Scotmas Group, has issued a statement urging people not to use its products for anything other than protection against insects.

“We have absolutely no interest whatsoever in profiting from unproven research,” said Alistair Cameron, managing director of Scotmas Group.

“During a Scottish summer, sales of our insect repellent are always strong, but these last 24 hours have been unprecedented.”

He continued: “While we are in full and complete support of scientific research in this area, the results of preliminary findings being issued only feeds into the overwhelming sea of misinformation which can have a detrimental impact on the world’s fight against the coronavirus.

“This needs to be thoroughly tested. In the meantime, everyone should continue to use hand gel, which has been proven to be effective.

“Hopefully this doesn’t begin a trend and we start to see people wearing mosquito nets instead of face masks.”

Pyramid Products also confirmed that its Trek Natural repellent, which contains Citriodiol – the active ingredient listed in the study – has been removed from its online shop.

However, it added that even products that do not contain the ingredient have experienced a rise in sales, with daily web impressions also increasing from 2,000 to more than 13,000 since the study was published.

The research, which was conducted by the UK's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, saw scientists apply Citriodiol directly to the virus as a liquid drop and separately as a spray on synthetic latex skin.

According to the findings, in both experiments the insect spray was able to kill the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

However, scientists stressed that the research paper is preliminary only and that they hoped it will act as the basis for other investigations.