Mumbai turns to Japanese chemical giant in fight against adult mosquito population

MUMBAI: It’s monsoon time and the city is again grappling with the mosquito menace. With vector-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria endemic to Mumbai and recording a surge in recent days, BMC has turned to Japanese giant Sumitomo Chemical to source an insecticide against which it hopes mosquitoes are not resistant.
The civic body has deployed cyphenothrin, an adulticide — insecticide used to kill adult mosquitoes — manufactured by Sumitomo after field tests showed its effectiveness in killing adult mosquitoes within minutes.Cyphenothrin being suitable for both indoor and outdoor fogging, it can be used on mosquito breeding spots such as drums, flower vases, plant saucers, tanks, cisterns, tyres, roof gutters, tree holes, etc.

“Mumbai needs a multipronged strategy to break the mosquito-human cycle. Besides, we had field staff suggesting potential resistance among mosquitoes to previously used chemicals,” additional civic chief Dr Sudhakar Shinde said, adding they received the insecticide through corporate social responsibility initiatives from the Japanese company.
Shinde said E ward (Mazgaon, Nagpada, Byculla) and G-North (Dharavi, Dadar, Mahim, Shivaji Park) have again emerged as hotspots, reporting most cases. These wards are also heavily impacted by ongoing construction activity.