Dr Lee Han Lim
KUCHING: Researchers at the Institute for Medical Research (IMR) have developed Painticide – an insecticide-impregnated emulsion paint that helps to control insect pests.
According to the inventor, who is also head of Medical Entomology at IMR, Ministry of Health, Dr Lee Han Lim, Painticide is an insecticide paint that can be applied to all surfaces, with long-lasting insect killing effects over two years, safe, reduces environmental pollution, cost-effective, and does not require special skills to apply.
“Furthermore, the paint carries a chemical component that inhibits insecticidal resistance development. This reduces the risk of insects becoming ‘immune’ to the paint over time,” he added.
However, Dr Lee pointed out that just like any other insect control products, Painticide was not a panacea for all problems.
“It assists the user in reducing the pest population and is part of the components of integrated pest management,” he added.
Dr Lee highlighted that tests performed on various insect species had demonstrated that the paint had excellent insecticidal activity over two years and was not degraded by the action of weathering or occasional abrasive action.
“In terms of safety and toxicity, the application of the paint prevents the insecticide from polluting foodstuff in dwellings as in the case when fogging is performed. Since the pure insecticide is not applied directly on to the walls of buildings, the possibility that insecticide particles are removed from the surfaces by contact causing toxicity by ingestion or absorption through the skin is also considerably reduced,” he explained.
INSECTICIDE PAINT: Dr Lee says Painticide is an insecticide paint that can be applied to all surfaces, with long-lasting insect killing effects over two years, it is safe, reduces environmental pollution, cost-effective and does not require special skills to apply.
On the targeted customers, Dr Lee said there were two categories of users – direct users and indirect users.
The direct users were school canteens, animal breeding farms, consumer storage warehouses, hospitals, restaurant kitchens, bungalows, resort cabins and garbage collection centres.
The indirect users were architects, wood manufacturer and suppliers, mosquito netting distributors, government approval agencies, wall paper manufacturers, fabric manufacturers, local town councils, building contractors and military departments.
“Besides the local users, we are also targeting overseas markets such as Asean countries with public health problems such as Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia and Philippines and other countries such as the European countries, US and UK,” he added.
Dr Lee said that Painticide was approved by the Malaysian Pesticide Board since 2009 and the safety of the active ingredient of the paint had been tested.
Besides that, he stated that the invention had been patented. Countries with granted patents included Malaysia, Vietnam, the UK and US.
“Painticide is now available as emulsion paint for both indoor and outdoor use. Any chosen colour can be custom-made,” he affirmed.
Dr Lee stated that consumer acceptance was expected to be favourable due to its cost-effectiveness, ease of application, safety and long-lasting efficacy.