A. Yes, it's a natural by-product. But to be fair, the long term effects of handling octenol will take years to prove this conclusively. In the meantime the instructions on every manufacturers octenol packets will tell you how best to handle it, these instructions typically include washing your hands afterwards and not breathing the scent in a confined area.
Q. Why do all the major machines use it ?
A. Because it's the best there is. Flowtron ran tests that showed that octenol improved the mosquito catch rate of its Powertrap by 4-5 times and Koolatron (Lentek) proved that the catch-rate for no-see-ums more than tripled when octenol was present.
