Written for futr singapore.
Excerpt
Ecoshine is a plant-based larvicide that targets the larval stage in the mosquito lifecycle. This prevents them from developing into adult mosquitoes. No, it doesn’t target larvae like how a homing missile would. The formulation contains an attractant for mosquito larvae that leads them to eating and ingesting the compound.
Mosquito larvae have translucent bodies, and once it’s ingested, Ecoshine is activated by — you guessed it — light.
A lot of complicated science happens at this point. In a nutshell, the activation by light causes the chemical compounds in Ecoshine to form highly unstable and reactive oxygen molecules. These molecules can react with and disrupt any part of the cell, such as its membrane. These reactions are irreversible, and usually result in destruction of the cell. However, instead of just one cell being destroyed, it’s a multitude of cell deaths that results in the larva being killed. You could almost liken it to multiple organ failure for the tiny mosquito larvae. Sounds diabolical, but it is nonetheless effective, and is also projected to work on other mosquito larvae species.
Read the full article here.
Samantha Phua 