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ISSN 0373-5680 (impresa), ISSN 1851-7471 (en línea) Rev. Soc. Entomol. Argent. 69 (3-4): 149-156, 2010

FORO

Nanoinsecticidas: Nuevas perspectivas para el control
de plagas
STADLER, Teodoro*, Micaela BUTELER* y David K. WEAVER**
* Laboratorio de Toxicología Ambiental, Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de
Cuyo (IMBECU), CCT CONICET-Mendoza, CC. 131, M 5500 IRA, Mendoza;e-mail: lpe@mendoza-conicet.gov.ar
** Department of Land Resources and Environment Sciences, Montana State University,
Bozeman, MT, USA

Nanoinsecticides: New perspectives on insect pest control
„
ABSTRACT. Sustainable agriculture demands new environmentally
friendly pesticides that adhere to strict international regulations. Part of the
research on new biorational pesticides focuses on naturalproducts such as
plant extracts, oils, and inorganic insecticides. Insecticidal dusts represent
the oldest group of substances used by men for pest management, and their
efficacy is based on physical phenomena. With the advent of synthetic
pesticides, insecticidal dusts were used as carriers for other active ingredients
in formulated insecticides. Organic dusts made a come-back asinsecticides
with the discovery of hidrophobic kaolin in the 90’s. Recently, the discovery
of nanoinsecticides brings new alternatives to expand the spectrum of
applications of inorganic dusts. Development and registry of nanomaterials
is based on the idea that they are not new materials, although they have
different properties than the products with the same chemical structure, given
that novelproperties emerge from products when they are at the nanoscale.
For example, reactivity, specific area, electric charge and quantum effects may
differ. These substances with new properties are promising as tools for crop
protection and food production, opening new frontiers for nanoinsecticides in
pest management. For example, nanostructured alumina has been shown to
have insecticidal properties,and it possesses some of the characteristics of an
ideal insecticide, given that it is a natural product, not reactive, economical,
with reduced probabilities of generating resistance in insects, and it is more
effective than other commercially available insecticidal dusts. The current use
of nanotechnology in a wide array of fields and products as well as the recent
discovery of theirpotential in crop protection suggests that nanomaterials
have a great potential for development of new products that will impact
agriculture. Given the recent and widespread use of nanomaterials, there is
an urgent need to study the impact of these products on human health and
non target organisms, as well as to research more efficient and safer delivery
technologies. The current levels ofapplication of nanoparticles and the
expected developments to come, suggest that nanotechnology will have a
direct impact on the evolution of pest management practices in agriculture.
KEYWORDS. Inorganic insecticides. Insecticide powders. Nanoinsecticides.
Pest control.
Recibido: 19-X-2010; aceptado: 5-XI-2010

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Rev. Soc. Entomol. Argent. 69 (3-4): 149-156, 2010

„
RESUMEN. Laagricultura de bajo impacto ambiental demanda
nuevos pesticidas que deben ajustarse a las exigentes normativas
internacionales. Parte de la búsqueda de nuevos productos bio-racionales se
desarrolla por fuera del marco de la síntesis orgánica, explorando diferentes
sustancias de origen natural como extractos vegetales, aceites insecticidas e
insecticidas inorgánicos. Los polvos insecticidasrepresentan el grupo más
antiguo de sustancias utilizadas por el hombre para el control de plagas, cuya
eficacia se basa principalmente en fenómenos físicos. Con el advenimiento
de los insecticidas de síntesis, los polvos insecticidas fueron relegados por
casi cinco décadas a la función de carriers de principios activos dentro de
los insecticidas formulados. Con el desarrollo del caolín hidrófobo...