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Starch collars dangerous pests

Nature (2001)Cite this article

Powdered starch could clean-up mosquito control. Sprinkled on mosquito breeding grounds, it forms a temporary film on the water surface that smothers these blood-sucking pests without affecting other pond life1.

Xanthan gum, a thickening agent usually found in processed foods such as salad dressing, kills pond-dwelling mosquito larvae as effectively as conventional insecticides, say Barry Pittendrigh at Purdue University in Indiana and his team at the US Fish and Wildlife Service's Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware.

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References

  1. Pittendrigh,B. R., Laskowski, H., O'Shea, G., Larsen, A. & Wolfe, R. Carbohydrate-based mosquito control: A field test of the concept. Environmental Entomology 30,388-393(2001).

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  1. Corie Lok
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Lok, C. Starch collars dangerous pests. Nature (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/news010524-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/news010524-1

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