With the widespread mosquito borne diseases such as Dengue fever and Zika virus in American Samoa, Rep. Vesi Talalelei Fautanu Jr., went searching for another type of mosquito repellant with DEET product, to help local residents protect themselves.

And the Manu’a lawmaker found the ‘BugBling’, which is described by the maker, New Mexico-based Energy Related Devices, Inc., in a brochure as an “affordable effective mosquito repellent”.

The BugBling mosquito repellant band, which comes in different colors, is worn on the person’s wrist or ankle or clipped on to a backpack or clothes. The product comes in a clear-plastic-type bag, which is sealable, to put the BugBling inside when not in use.

Vesi is working on making a presentation to local government agencies, such as the Health Department and the American Samoa Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA), about this new mosquito repellent product and its importance to local residents to protect themselves from Zika virus, dengue fever and other mosquito borne diseases.

Vesi also hopes that a local distributor or agent will be able to bring the product to American Samoa, once endorsed by ASG officials.

“It’s very important for me to make an official presentation to our local officials about this new product. I’m not the agent for this great product, I’m just trying to get it introduced first to local officials — (showing) that there is an alternative to mosquito repellent products such as spray and mosquito coils,” Vesi told Samoa News.

He said he came across “BugBling” while conducting research several weeks ago on what other types of mosquito repellant products are available in the US for import to the territory and this was during the time that there appeared to be a shortage of mosquito coils on island.

And at the same time, “we are faced with various types of mosquito borne diseases, such as Zika virus, and the latest increase in the number of dengue fever cases,” Vesi said, adding that he also found during the research that he knows the family who is involved with the BugBling product and contacted them.

He met with the family during a recent visit to the US to gather more information, and brought back from the US mainland the BugBling products, brochures and other information that he will use as part of his presentation to local ASG officials.

“I just wanted to help our people protect themselves from all these diseases caused by mosquitos,” the faipule said, adding that he isn’t interested in being a local distributor or agent for the product because of his many other responsibilities, such as being a lawmaker, not only representing his constituency of Manu’a District No. 1 but all residents of American Samoa.

Of interest, said Vesi, is that he was informed recently by health officials that Manu’a is still free of the Zika virus.

Health officials in American Samoa and the US, as well as the World Health Organization have all strongly recommended that people use mosquito repellent containing DEET during the fight against diseases such as Zika and dengue.

“We have discovered a synergistic combination of scents with DEET that are more effective than DEET alone and are able to deliver them at a steady effective rate for 800 hours in a wearable device called BugBling,” the maker of the product claims on its website (www.bugbling.net).

According to the New Mexico publication, Albuquerque Journal, the inventor of BugBling is Robert Hockaday from Tucumcari, New Mexico.

On Aug. 15, 2016, a story published by the newspaper says Hockaday, is a physicist, mechanical engineer and all-round inventor. And the patented device, BugBling, uses a combination of chemical and botanical repellents, can be worn as a wrist or ankle band, or can be clipped onto clothes, providing up to 800 hours of continuous protection against mosquitoes.