The Plant Protection Wing of the Agricultural Extension Department approves various mosquito repellents and insecticides to be used in homes, but these products were sent to the IEDCR to test their efficacy.
IEDCR Director General Professor Tehmina Shireen told Prothom Alo, “We check the efficacy of the products sent by the Plant Protection Wing. It is not our duty to see whether mosquitoes become resistant to these products or not. Whether manufacturing companies supply products to the markets similar to the samples they provide to us is not properly monitored, therefore, mosquitoes may become resistant to these insecticides.
Tehmina Shireen, however, said that if 90 per cent of mosquitoes are not killed after the use of insecticides, then those insecticides are not considered effective.
Faridul Hasan, director of the Plant Protection Wing, told Prothom Alo, “Actually, we approve mosquito repellents, but we send them to IEDCR to test their efficacy. However, we do not check whether mosquitoes have become resistant to those insecticides or not.”
This report appeared in the print and online editions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Hasanul Banna
