A one million euro research fund is all set to benefit public health pest control

The European Commission has awarded a consortium of companies and research organisations “1 million (around £840,000) to develop insecticide synergists to allow the control of insect pests while preserving beneficial insects. The research looks set to benefit public health pest control as well as the agricultural and consumer markets.

Called the EcoSyn project, the international consortium of researchers is being co-ordinated by Dr Valerio Borzatta from the Italian agrochemical company, Endura.

Public health pest management specialist company, Bá¡bolna Bio, based in Hungary, is representing the public health field. Read more about Bá¡bolna Bio in our feature in Pest magazine Issue 26 March & April 2013.

The company’s knowledge, experience and background will assist in the development and testing of new formulations to be used by both pest control servicing companies and householders in the retail sector.

The aim is to cut down the amount of insecticides used to reduce their impact on beneficial insects such as bees.

Based on the interactions of the established synergist, piperonyl butoxide, with metabolic enzymes in insect pests, new molecular structures will be designed, synthesised and evaluated on pests and beneficial insects using laboratory assays semi and field trials. The synthesis of these synergists will be evaluated with the aim of achieving an economically feasible industrial process.

Janos Szilagyi
Bá¡bolna Bio’s development & registration director Já¡nos Szilagyi

Ecosyn project

The project involves the development of strategies to use the synergists to control insect pests while preserving beneficial insects. It has “significant scientific, economic and social impact as part of sustainable food production and disease control”, the consortium points out.

“It also great potential in the protection of public health,” adds Bá¡bolna Bio’s Já¡nos Szilagyi.

The research will be covered by global patent and licensing agreements.

Other members of the consortium include: AgChem Access (UK), Ankara Advanced Technologies Investment (Turkey), Dewar Crop Protection (UK), Rothamsted Research (UK), Universitá Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Italy) and Vyzkumny Ustav Vcelarsky (Czech Republic).