Is spider venom the ultimate natural pesticide-
The Australian continent is a veritable hotbed of poison-spewing, pulse-raising, panic-inducing and preternaturally large fauna. (But thank goodness there’s also an ample supply of cute ‘n’ cuddly critters residing Down Under to balance things out.)Among the most fearsome Aussie animals of them all is an invertebrate; an eight-eyed, three-clawed scare machine that’s very mention can make the blood run cold in even the most stoic antipodeans; a notorious beast that runs, swims and most certainly bites.
Despite the best-to-be-avoided-at-all-costs reputation of Australian funnel-web spiders, the very thing that renders them potentially lethal to humans — their extra-strength venom — has proven to be liquid gold for the Michigan startup behind a line of upcoming agricultural pesticides that are effective, chemical-free and, yes, safe for humans, pets, birds, fish and beneficial insects including crucial pollinators.
spider venom
After 11 years in development, Kalamazoo-headquartered Vestaron Corp. has at long last received the green light from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market and sell a line of natural pesticides that incorporate Australian funnel-web spider venom as a key ingredient. More accurately, these potentially game-changing pesticides, sold by Vestaron under the Spear (Species at Risk) brand, include key peptides extracted from the spiders’ venom — venom proteins that do a bang-up job of killing targeted insects without harming other garden-dwellers
spider venom..
The science, in a nutshell-
Tens of thousands of insecticidal peptides exist in nature. Many are not toxic to mammals. Spiders alone produce an estimated 5 million to 20 million distinct peptide toxins, some of which target metabolic pathways of pests that current insecticides do not. This targeted approach is why Spear products are designed to be nontoxic to mammals, honeybees and beneficial insects, birds or fish — species that do not have the receptor where the insecticide enters the cell.
Our technology isolates these peptides and solves the resistance problem by aggressively pinpointing and attacking new metabolic pathways.
While the Spear family of pesticides received approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency back in 2014 (the first venom-based pest control solution to do so), a full blessing from the FDA was the final hurdle that Vestaron needed to clear before hitting the market.
The first three Spear products to be released by venture-funded Vestaron include Spear-T, which targets the common greenhouse pest known as thrips (aka corn lice). Next up is Spear-P, a formula developed with the sole mission to protect precious spuds by halting the spread of the nefarious Colorado potato beetle. Lastly, Spear-C, which will be released in late 2016, eliminates pests of the Lepidopteran variety — that is, fruit- and veggie-eating caterpillars
spider venom.
