Insects | A researcher denied the disadvantages of the mosquito repellent that caused an uproar – another researcher: “I wouldn’t use it myself”

Midsummer you feel like spending time outside, but often mosquitoes eat you alive or at least make sitting outside unbearable. The main flight of summer mosquitoes is usually around Midsummer.

In this case, many people feel like using Thermacell mosquito repellent. However, the repellents got into the middle of a controversy a couple of years ago, when their active ingredient prallethrin was said to also harm pollinators important to nature.

Entomologist Professor at the University of Oulu Marko Mutane watched HS in the interview in June, that the harmful effects of the prallethrin used in the device on the environment and pollinators had been greatly exaggerated.

Muddy however, the comments receive a complete backlash from two entomologists.

Docent and animal ecologist at the University of Oulu Olli Loukola questioned them by Ilta-Sanom in the interview. Loukola is known for research on bees.

According to Loukola, the use of Thermacell cannot be recommended, because according to him, there is no independent research on the use of the device. The research dealing with it is financed by the company itself.

Project researcher, dissertation researcher Kimmo Kaakinen from the biology department of the University of Turku is on the same lines as Loukola. Kaakinen is reportedly the first in Finland to study the effects of Thermacell on pollinating insects, bumblebees.

Kaakinen has prepared his dissertation on the effects of glyphosate on bumblebees. Now he is using the same research method to study the effects of prallethrin, especially on their ability to navigate.

In practice, the research takes place in such a way that Kaakinen exposes bumblebees to prallethrin for different times. After that, he releases them from different distances and sees how the substance affects their function.

The test is just beginning, and there are no results yet.

“But the bumblebees that have been exposed the longest have looked a bit bad,” says Kaakinen.

Like Loukola, he would follow the precautionary principle and refrain from using the device for the time being.

Kimmo Kaakinen’s research focuses on bumblebees. The picture shows two nests. Picture: Kimmo Kaakinen

Kaakinen marvels at Mutanen’s output, as he considers him a qualified and distinguished researcher.

“The claim that prallethrin does not kill insects is quite a strange comment from a biologist, because that is precisely what it does. It affects the nerve channels of insects and stops their activity. There’s really no way to claim that it wouldn’t happen,” says Kaakinen.

Kaakinen is also surprised that Mutanen himself said in an interview that he uses the Thermacell device when doing insect research.

“I personally wouldn’t use the device at the same time, even though I know what it feels like to be doing field work in Lapland during the worst mosquito season,” says Kaakinen.

Itthe fact that the company has financed research on its own device does not in itself make it bad, and the issue has not been hidden in the research, says Kaakinen.

However, the research itself also has problems. One of them is related to the study sample.

“Only three nests have been used in the research. It’s a really small sample, and at least based on that I wouldn’t make terribly big conclusions about the results.”

The results of Kaakinen’s own research will be ready in early autumn at the earliest. Kaakinen emphasizes that it is independent.

“If, based on my research results, it turns out that prallethrin does not affect bumblebees, I promise to write that result in the article as well,” says Kaakinen.

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