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If you change the way the active ingredient behaves in a drug, you've changed the way the body reacts to it, and you've changed the drug to something new." "It's changing cells to try to make them act differently. "Biotechnology means changing the basic makeup of things at their most fundamental level," Knowles says. After about two years, researchers found a solution that uses biotechnology to make an effective bug repellent that contains only a small amount of the active ingredient DEET and is safe for kids. He founded a small company called LittlePoint. Knowles is a businessman, not a scientist, but he assembled a group of people to study the problem. Knowles started to wonder, "What if I wanted to make an effective insect repellent that could be used on kids?" But the 10-percent-solution repellents on the market didn't work so well at keeping bugs away, Knowles thought. Kids should use repellents only if the product has a small amount of DEET in it - around 10 percent, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. In fact, DEET is so strong that doctors tell parents not to use it on babies. If too much DEET gets into a child's body, it can cause changes in the brain. It keeps bugs away, but in high concentrations it can cause rashes or even scarring on the skin. But the most effective repellent on the market, a chemical called diethyltoluamide (DEET for short), is awfully strong. Knowles wanted protection from Lyme disease. The North Shore is a beautiful area, but there's a problem in the summertime with deer ticks, a problem the Washington, D.C., area shares.ĭeer tick bites can cause Lyme disease, a serious illness. When John Knowles moved to the North Shore in Massachusetts, he wondered why the family's two Labrador retrievers always returned from a run in the nearby woods covered with deer ticks.