Ecosmart Biorational Insecticides: Alternative Insect Control Strategies

Pest insects can damage agricultural crops, consume and/or damage harvested food, or transmit diseases to humans and animals. The past 30 years has witnessed a dramatic reemergence of epidemic vector-borne diseases throughout much of the world (Atkinson, 2010). Prior to the development and commercial success of synthetic insecticides in the mid1930s to 1950s, botanical insecticides were the foremost weapons against insect pests. The synthetic insecticides (organochlorines, organophosphates, carbamates and later the pyrethroids and neonicotinoids) are characterized by efficacy, speed of action, ease of use, and low cost. Accordingly, they drove many natural control methods, such as using of botanicals, predators, and parasitoids to near obscurity. Twenty years after synthetic insecticides were overzealously entrenched in ‘modern’ agricultural production; they induce widespread environmental contamination, toxicity to non-target organisms, development of resistance against insecticides, and negative effects on animal and human health (Pretty, 2009). Consequently, there is an urgent need to explore and utilize naturally occurring products for combating pests. The terms “biorational pesticide” and “biopesticides” are gaining popularity in the current climate of environmental awareness and public concern. Both terms are derived from two words, “biological” and “rational”, referring to pesticides that have limited or no adverse effects on the environment, nontarget organisms including humans. Biorational insecticides include: biochemicals insecticides (botanicals, insect growth regulators, insect pheromones, photoinsecticides, and inorganics); biological insecticides, using of natural enemies such as parasitoids, predators, nematodes, and pathogens (virus, bacteria, fungi, or protozoa); and transgenic insecticides (genetically modified plants or organisms). Natural enemies play an important role in limiting potential pest populations and they are more likely to survive in case of application of ecofriendly biopesticides. Approaches to the biological control of insects include: conservation of existing natural enemies; introducing new natural enemies and establishing a permanent population (called “classical biological control”); and mass rearing and periodic release, either as a seasonal introduction of a small population of natural enemies, or a massive, “inundative” release. In developing countries, biopesticides offer unique and challenging opportunities for exploration and development of their own biorational insecticides. Nanotechnology has become one of the most promising