Ecobreves – CUBA: Bio-Pesticides for Export

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

HAVANA, Nov 17 2007 (IPS) - Cuba will soon begin production of bio-pesticides effective against disease vectors. The products will be available on the domestic market and for export, according to sources from the business group Laboratorios Biofarmaceúticos. In December 2008, construction will be complete of a factory capable of producing six million liters per year of bio-larvicides Bactivec and Griselef, as well as 1,000 tons of Biorat, a biological rat poison, Jesús Pérez Bravo, director of investment and maintenance for the state-run enterprise, told Tierramérica.

Laboratorios holds the patent for these biodegradable products, which are harmless to humans and the environment and easily stored, he said.

Bactivec has been successfully applied in Cuba and other Latin American and African countries to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which carries diseases like dengue. Griselef, meanwhile, kills the larvae that carry malaria, human filariasis and encephalitis.