Pioneering Research Team, led by Professor Neera Kapoor (IGNOU), Granted Indian Patent for Innovative Mosquito Coil Formulation

New Delhi (PMW News) Professor Neera Kapoor, a distinguished researcher and academician affiliated with the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and her team of research at NIMR –(National Institute of Malaria Research, Institute under ICMR) including Dr.Nisha Sogan,her Ph.D. student and  at present, Assistant professor in Botany at Deshbandhu College, University of Delhi,Dr. B.N. Nagpal and Dr.NeenaValecha have been granted jointly an Indian Patent on mosquito coil formulations from deoiled castor seed cake. Prof. Kapoor has been actively involved in the field of antimalarial drugs, therapy and personal control measures against mosquitoes. The combustible mosquito repellent coil formulation has been developed using deoiled castor seed cake (as active ingredient) which is a waste product of the oil extraction process along with other botanical ingredients like fillers, binders, accelerants and antifungal agents. The efficacy of the mosquito repellent coil was evaluated in Peet-grady chamber and found to be effective against mosquitoes with 90 to 100% mortality. The present novel coil formulation is a sustainable biodegradable and environment-friendly formulation as it is devoid of any harmful synthetic pyrethroids. Moreover, longer exposure to the Pyrethroid-based coil may pose a threat to human health on account of their developmental neurotoxicity, especially in infants and children. In this context, the mosquito repellent coil developed using deoiled castor seed cake is user and eco-friendly and is advantageous over synthetic mosquito repellent coils as it is free from any synthetic insecticides and their toxic residues. Moreover, the usage of the castor seed cake coil will also promote the sustainable utilization of locally available resources, as the deoiled castor seed cake which is available in abundance as a biowaste, left-out product of the oil extraction process (without any chemical treatment), therefore utilization of the deoiled castor seed cake is more economical and environment-friendly; it will also provide a technological solution for the effective management of the waste biomass which otherwise if left in open environment will generate greenhouse gas, so the castor seed cake efficiently utilizes waste for the effective mosquito control intervention at the community level.