GC-MS reveals Brazilian pepper essential oil as safe larvicide

Research published in Parasites & Vectors reveals the application of Brazilian pepper essential oil as a safe larvicide, following studies using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).

A team including scientists from Centro Universitario Vila Velha in Brazil used GC-MS to analyse the content of the essential oil, with their findings printed in the latest issue of the open-access, peer-reviewed periodical.

They report that the median lethal dose required to conduct larval control of Stegomyia aegypti and the minimum inhibitory essential oil concentration needed in water dispersions of Brazilian pepper in order to do so are both environmentally safe.

As a result, they suggest that the pepper may be seen as a suitable natural larvicide for combating S aegypti, which is one of the varieties of mosquito associated with diseases such as dengue and yellow fever.

The test for genotoxicity was conducted by exposing Salmonella typhimurium to the essential oil, with no morphological or biochemical changes seen.