INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES: Tobacco Bio-oil Kills Agricultural Pests

摘要

Cigarette smoking continues to be the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States,1 but tobacco has potentially beneficial uses as well as deadly ones. Gardeners have long known that homemade mixtures of tobacco and water can kill insect pests. But these homemade brews kill desirable insects, too, and could poison animals that ingest them. Now researchers at the University of Western Ontario are finding new ways to turn tobacco into a more selective eco-friendly pest control agent.