Now Spanish insecticide to kill Dhaka mosquitos

Dhaka North City Corporation is going to import larvicide and adulticide from Spanish pharmaceutical company Zotal Laborarorios to tackle the mosquito menace, officials said.

DNCC mayor Atiqul Islam’s private secretary (deputy secretary) Shah Mujahid Uddin told Prothom Alo that the corporation has initiated import of the Zotal-manufactured ‘Deltamethrin 2% ulv’ insecticide.

He said the plant protection unit under the agriculture ministry has approved the import while the state-run Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) has provided positive response after examining the insecticide.

The Deltamethrin 2% ulv covers 70 per cent of the anti-mosquito campaign by the Spanish government, Mujahid said. As adulticide, the particular insecticide can be sprayed only with water.

Earlier in August 2019, the IEDCR submitted its report on Deltamethrin solution. According to the report, the insecticide’s biological efficacy is 93.15 per cent and 93.33 per cent effective to kill mosquito. IEDCR applied the insecticide on 2-3 days old Culex mosquitos collected from Mohakhali and Gulshan localities.

At least 75 young mosquitos were preserved in three special enclosures made of mosquito nets. Application of Deltamethrin on them resulted in knocking down 46 mosquitos within 20 minutes. A similar experiment for 24 hours knocked down 70 mosquitos out of 75.

DNCC mayor Atiqul called on the Spanish ambassador Francisco de Asis Benitez Salas on 14 March. The mayor discussed, among other issues, the import of Deltamethrin while the Spanish ambassador promised necessary support.

Replying to questions about the import, Atiqul said, the authority is considering changes to the larvicide and adulticide treatment.

DNCC officials, though, could not provide schedule of the import, they said the corporation would import the insecticide directly from Spain without calling any tender.

Representatives from the DNCC and Zotal Laborarorios are going to meet in a virtual conference on 30 March in this regard. Officials hope that they could soon import the insecticide after the meeting.

*This report appeared in the print edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Sadiqur Rahman.