Determining dangers of DEET

DEET may be safe to spray on your skin, but not to swallow in drinking water.

To see how safe or unsafe it is, the Minnesota Department of Health has picked the popular insect repellent ingredient as the first of seven "chemicals of emerging concern" to assess during the next year.

"We shower, it goes down the drain, and it ends up in wastewater that goes into rivers," said state toxicologist Helen Goeden.

Like many compounds, there are no state or federal standards for DEET, yet it has been detected in water samples nationwide, including Minnesota.

Examining DEET is part of a broader state effort to track dozens of chemicals in the environment, such as synthetic hormones, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and personal care products. Little is known about their potential effects on the environment or human health, so researchers must piece together whatever information is available, chemical by chemical.

For DEET, they will assemble data about where it has turned up in Minnesota waters and at what concentrations.

Goeden said there's no evidence of DEET in drinking water here, but it may be only a matter of time.

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