Biogents – Science for Your Protection –

Eco-friendliness: gentle on nature and the environment

Every time a human intervenes in nature, the natural ecosystem is influenced. That is why eco-friendliness is so important to Biogents. When developing the Biogents capturing technology, we considered a targeted approach in controlling mosquitoes that uses no toxins. Biogents’ mosquito traps are ecofriendly and harmless for humans, pets and beneficial insects.

Outdoor targeted capture of mosquitoes is a relatively new method of control that is sustainable with a long-term effect. Control is not immediate and takes from a few days to several weeks before there are noticeable results. Traps need to be properly placed and operated continuously over an extended period of time to achieve the desired effect.

Due to the traps’ unique design and the specific combination of luring stimuli, they predominantly capture mosquitoes and other blood-sucking insects.

This combination of stimuli is of no interest to other (beneficial) insects such as butterflies, ladybugs, or dragonflies; therefore they stay away from the trap. At the same time, though, there is no way to guarantee that a beneficial insect will not be sucked in by random coincidence on occasion. However, this is very rare and insignificant for the respective ecosystem. By contrast, insecticides or UV-light traps are not selective: they tend to kill any insect species exposed to the chemical or attracted to the light.

No toxic insecticides are used. The mosquitoes that are sucked into the trap simply dry up and can be disposed of as compost. All of the attractants used that enter the atmosphere from the trap are in amounts similar to those emanated from a human at rest. Therefore, continuous use of the trap is safe for human health and the environment.

Ecologically compatible also means that no toxins are emitted into the environment. In this regard, the use of carbon dioxide CO2 as a supplemental attractant would appear to be problematic at first glance. The amount of carbon dioxide used with the traps, though, is extremely small compared to exhausts from industry and cars: A trap emits about the same amount of carbon dioxide per day as a human at rest. Besides that, the carbon dioxide gas in the compressed gas cylinders is predominantly a by-product of the synthesis of other substances so that it is not produced separately from fossil fuels. Accordingly, it is environment neutral and climate neutral. The carbon dioxide used is also food grade: the same as that used in the production of bubbly beverages and when draught beer is served in a restaurant.

The power consumption of the traps is very low (less than 4 watts, i.e. approx. 0.1 kW per day). This corresponds approximately to the consumption of individual entertainment electronics devices in the standby mode.