Putting a “Nose Plug” on Bugs

December 3, 2012

EdenShield’s natural extract—which comes from a bush that grows in Israel, the Sinai Desert, and Jordan—is already being tested in Israeli greenhouses. “These plants have evolved to survive in stressful desert environments, so the plants eventually develop compounds that help them exist and survive in these kinds of environments,” CEO Yaniv Kitron tells ISRAEL21c. 

Unlike pesticides, this new natural extract does not kill tiny insects such as thrips, whiteflies, and the tomato leaf miner. Kitron strongly suspects that the extract does not smell bad to the bug, but somehow masks the odor of the plants the pests would otherwise attack.

He started focusing on greenhouse netting because it’s an obvious way to proceed without entering the complicated regulatory processes required for plant-applied chemicals, even if natural. Eventually, Kitron suspects, the extract will be refined and will be deemed safe enough to spray right onto plants.

In a parallel direction, he is testing the potency of the product for a humanitarian project. If it works against thrips that attack tomatoes, why couldn’t it protect people against malaria-carrying mosquitoes or kissing bugs? The kissing bug transmits a parasite that can cause organ damage and eventually death. For more information: [email protected], +962-54-552-8820.

Source: Excerpts of an article by Karin Kloosterman, www.israel21c.org