This Valencian chemist has created insecticidal paintInesfly against Chagas disease, a deadly disease that threatens 25% of the inhabitants of Latin America.
– What made you change the direction of your career so that you went from working in the chemical industry to creating Inesfly against Chagas disease?
– On the one hand my interest in research. I directed a doctoral thesis on a health issue and from there came the idea of controlling insects through painting. Later, and after several years of new research, I found a way to microencapsulate various components in a polymer. A Bolivian doctor heard about me, located me and told me how terrible Chagas disease was, a disease transmitted by a bed bug called the vinchuca. So I thought of creating a special paint to eradicate it.
– What are its effects?
– Paint is insecticide. It contains microcapsules with components that are released through a polymer that covers them. These substances interrupt the biological cycle of the vinchuca and do not allow it to develop: it kills adults, larvae and nymphs, and sterilizes the females. The product spreads over houses and dries quickly. It is also safe for humans. Its residual power is very long due to its slow release, and only one application is necessary to control the life cycle of arthropods. It has very good resistance to alkaline PH, something essential for treating alkaline walls and surfaces (which are the majority). This prevents the paint from breaking down, unlike almost all insecticides, and is its fundamental advantage.
-What difficulties have you encountered in financing and distributing Inesfly in poor countries?
– All that one can imagine. On the one hand, those derived from distrust of a Spanish woman’s patent in competition with multinationals. Then there is the fact of working with the outcasts of the Earth, although luckily the Generalitat Valenciana trusted me and I found a gap through which to help the Guaraní people of Bolivia. In addition, the results of the investigations are validated in the long term (in our case it has been 10 years) and companies cannot spend that long without recovering their investment. On the other hand, personally, you have to face the risk of going to live in areas where the value that is given to life is much lower than in the West.
– And something has to do with the fact that Chagas does not affect the rich …
– It has to do 100%. It is a disease of the poor because the vinchucas flee from clean and well-preserved houses (80% of infections occur in depressed areas). In addition to the houses, adjoining areas such as trees and chicken coops must be treated, as they also seek shelter there.
– Are you going to market your painting?
We have just signed an agreement with the Spanish company Kolmer de Granada to manufacture and market it for individuals. In professional sectors (veterinary, public health or agri-food) we will continue to do so ourselves.
-Are you planning to apply these paints against other parasites?
-We’re on that. The University of Valencia and the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement in France are working with Inesfly against the vector that transmits malaria in Africa. In Mexico we have already demonstrated its effectiveness against scorpions and the dengue mosquito.
-What role do indigenous women play in the prevention of Chagas disease?
-Chagas is associated with poverty and poverty has the face of a woman. In the indigenous communities where the vinchuca is installed, most of the families are single parents; Men come and go, but women and their children remain. For the paint to be effective in the long term, it is essential that after the treatment, maintenance and hygiene tasks are carried out to avoid reinfection of the dwellings. For this reason, any project to rehabilitate houses must include training for women. It is essential to train them to break the cycle of poverty and disease, since they are the ones that can instruct all the components of the family. To facilitate this process, I founded, with a group of friends, the Movement of Indigenous Women of the World (MOMIN) in both Spain and Bolivia. With our projects we are helping to improve the self-esteem, training and economic self-sufficiency of many Bolivian indigenous women.
Esperanza Garcia Molina
