In the summertime of 2017, Prasad Phadke had simply surrender his profitable company activity and launched into a fascinating undertaking aimed toward addressing a urgent public well being worry.
Running in shut collaboration with scientists and different like-minded individuals, Prasad had begun creating a product referred to as Eco BioTrap (EBT) aimed toward decreasing the inhabitants of mosquitoes and the prevalence of vector-borne sicknesses they convey like dengue, malaria and chikungunya.
“Sitting at a cafe in San Francisco, we spotted numerous mosquitoes humming round. It was once best previous that week that instances of West Nile (some other vector-borne virus carried by means of mosquitoes) have been reported within the space. Regardless of the various advances in science and era, we famous how mosquito-borne sicknesses confirmed no indicators of abating. The query we requested ourselves was once how will we spoil the chain,” remembers Prasad, chatting with The Higher India.
“To handle the scourge of mosquitoes, we had to discover a sustainable approach of decreasing their inhabitants and expand a tool that might do the similar, in particular for tropical areas. There was once a transparent hole available on the market, and we had to innovate and construct a biodegradable tool that might spoil the chain of mosquito breeding,” he provides.
Two years later, Prasad and his crew evolved the EBT — a inhabitants relief tool for mosquitoes that ‘breaks the chain’ in their breeding and gives illness prevention from dengue, malaria, chikungunya, zika and different vector-borne sicknesses.
Formally integrated in July 2019 underneath the EcoBio Workforce, the undertaking is founded out of Ahmedabad however has operations in towns together with Pune, the place they manufacture the EBT, and Mumbai as neatly.
How does it paintings?
Feminine mosquitoes who chew people (men don’t) have a median lifestyles span of 15 to 30 days. They just breed in water and lay roughly 500–1,000 eggs of their lifetime. The elemental query this is how will we spoil the chain of mosquito breeding.
What EBT does is mimic the breeding floor for feminine mosquitoes.
Ahead of going additional into how this tool works, it’s necessary to know its 3 core elements — a biodegradable container/vase constituted of recycled corrugated bins used widely within the packaging {industry}; a herbal attractant (plant-based animal meals) and bug expansion regulators (IGRs); and an industry-standard family insecticide.
“The way in which EBT works is that you just upload water to the tool. The attractant then lures the feminine mosquito to reproduce on this container, after which, the killing component (IGR) guarantees that no grownup emerges, thereby breaking the chain of copy. EBT is constituted of waste and saves lives, and is one this is constructed on science and validated by means of scientists,” claims Prasad.
“BioTraps necessarily goal feminine mosquitoes by means of mimicking the perfect mosquito breeding floor to put their eggs. Our patented waterproofing era together with a snappy and environment friendly supply of the IGR answer then removes the feminine mosquito and 100% of her larvae. Because of this, now not a unmarried grownup mosquito emerges from the BioTraps,” he provides.
When pressed additional at the explicit elements of the herbal attractant and IGR, Prasad notes, “The herbal attractant is animal meals and for proprietary causes, its main points can’t be published. IGR, in the meantime, is a family insecticide authorized by means of the Executive of India and the Global Well being Group (WHO), and is extensively utilized in India and international by means of public well being departments. In particular, then again, EBT makes use of pyriproxyfen granules.”
Totally made in India and manufactured of their Pune-based manufacturing unit, a unit of EBT covers a space of round 400 sq. toes and prices roughly INR 500 (on Amazon).
“Every other sure component of the EBT is its cost-effectiveness. Electrical vapourisers are 44% costlier than EBT. While you evaluate it with repellents like coils or essence sticks, a unit of EBT is ready 5 occasions inexpensive over a 4 to six-week length,” claims Prasad.
However the query stays of the way you will have to deploy the EBT.
The main requirement is that it will have to be located in a space with out a direct daylight. “Preferably, the BioTrap will have to be positioned at the ground, within the corners, with minimum motion round, and clear of direct daylight. On the other hand, additionally it is efficient in attracting gravid feminine mosquitoes to put eggs when located at a peak of 5 to seven toes when hung, and as much as 9 toes if put on a floor,” he explains.
And when are you able to be expecting to peer effects? After deploying it for round every week, Prasad claims that you are going to see a noticeable relief within the choice of mosquitoes.
Consistent with their web page, “Probably the most vital relief happens when the Eco BioTraps are regularly used over a longer length.” It provides, “The effectiveness of mosquito inhabitants relief is additional evidenced by means of the presence of Aedes eggs discovered at the inside partitions of Eco BioTraps. Through getting rid of those eggs, Eco BioTraps successfully ‘Wreck-The-Chain’ of mosquito breeding, contributing to the entire keep an eye on of the mosquito inhabitants.”
As soon as its shelf lifestyles involves an finish after 4 to 6 weeks (marked by means of water leakage), the used unit of EBT will have to be handled as dry waste and recycled accordingly.
Demanding situations in creating EBT
An important problem in creating the EBT was once discovering the appropriate biodegradable subject matter that will grasp water for 4 to 6 weeks and now not flip itself right into a breeding floor.
“Take the instance of an egg tray. It makes use of the similar subject matter utilized in EBT. On the other hand, should you pour water in an egg tray, it won’t be able to carry water for seconds,” notes Prasad.
“The problem was once the right way to make sure that an identical subject matter holds water for a month or extra. A large number of variations and mixtures have been accomplished. The product now has patents in over 50 international locations for its distinctive talent to carry water. We can’t delve into extra element in regards to the era hired on account of its proprietary nature. Total, it has taken greater than seven years of construction and round 5 iterations to reach on the ultimate product,” he provides.
Checking out EBT in Dharavi
Just lately, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Company (BMC) used EBT in Asia’s biggest slum, Dharavi, as a part of a pilot challenge. “The entice yielded excellent effects because it was once user-friendly and secure for the surroundings. Every other plus level of EBT is that not like different units used for the prevention of mosquito breeding, this entice doesn’t require electrical energy,” notes Dr Susanta Kumar Ghosh, a scientist previously with the Nationwide Institute of Malaria Analysis.
With the beef up of the ICICI Basis and BMC’s Insecticide Division, the EBT crew launched into an eight-month-long clinical evidence-generation workout in Dharavi remaining 12 months. They lined 3 wallet of the slum — Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Mahim Phatak, and Kumbharwada. A complete of three,000 EBTs have been deployed each and every month in those 3 spaces, protecting roughly 10,000 families and a inhabitants of 80,000.
“When Prasad and I first went into Dharavi to pilot check the EBT, we have been shocked by means of the density and complexity of Dharavi’s topography. It’s like a dense wooded area the place the shanties are so tightly constructed in combination that hardly any gentle can penetrate thru. Within the lanes of Dharavi, you can’t even open an umbrella and stroll,” remembers Dr Ghosh.
“Due to this fact, the EBT and not using a placing mechanism was once not possible to deploy, and I recall Prasad telling me, ‘Dada, we’ve failed even ahead of we commence’. Deepak, the producing head on the EcoBio Workforce, and his crew took up the problem and evolved a mechanism to unravel the issue with the placing internet that had to be biodegradable, grasp the load of the pot (two litres with water), and now not get squashed underneath Mumbai’s torrential rain,” he provides.
The marked good fortune of this pilot challenge garnered Prasad and his crew numerous acclaim with CNN News18 even that includes their paintings in a 10-minute documentary — as a part of their ‘Changemakers’ collection which was once aired in November 2022.
Talking at an match commemorating Global Dengue Day 2022, Rajan Naringrekar, the insecticide officer on the BMC, famous, “The dengue mosquito is a home, peri-domestic and container breeder, and one of the crucial demanding situations we’re dealing with was once the get entry to to properties and places of work. Eco Biotraps is an apt approach to clear up this problem.”
Taking a look Forward
Transferring forward, Prasad claims that the EBT crew “are within the ultimate levels” of hanging partnerships with quite a lot of municipal companies and govt organisations in India and different South Asian international locations.
“Rentokil PCI, India’s biggest pest keep an eye on supplier, lately signed an settlement that makes EBT to be had in 1000+ RPCI branches throughout 21 states in India. What’s extra, our undertaking lately raised an undisclosed quantity of seed investment from institutional traders and is valued at Rs 50 crore,” he says.
Can the EBT play a pivotal function in getting rid of vector sicknesses like malaria and dengue?
“The removal of vector-borne sicknesses has 4 key pillars — built-in vector keep an eye on control, illness control (together with surveillance), civic participation, and IEC (knowledge, training and verbal exchange). For any removal to achieve success, all 4 pillars wish to paintings in tandem. I imagine Eco BioTraps assist facilitate built-in vector keep an eye on control. What’s extra, they’re biodegradable and don’t emit any poisonous chemical substances like mosquito coils which are recognized to urge respiration misery,” says Prasad.
(You’ll be able to learn extra about EBT and the crew in the back of it right here.)
Edited by means of Pranita Bhat; All pictures courtesy: EcoBio Workforce.