CBD, the Newest Mosquito Killer

The latest buzz on CBD oil involves mosquitos—dead mosquitos. 

New research shows that CBD that people use to treat ailments can actually kill mosquito larvae quite well.

The deets: Hemp leaf extract contains cannabidiol. Street name: CBD. CBD can kill “mosquito larvae from two different strains of the yellow fever mosquito within 48 hours,” according to the study. One of these was resistant to typical insecticides, while the other wasn’t.

Yellow fever mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti, if you want to be scientific) can spread dengue fever, chikungunya, Zika fever, Mayaro, and (you guessed it) yellow fever viruses along with other diseases. The pest is linked to 54 viruses and two species of parasites. Gross.

Water is the problem: Mosquito larvae are aquatic and often found in standing water. While conventional synthetic insecticides are common, overuse has caused insecticide resistance and other negative environmental effects. 

Soundbite: “If you compare the amount of hemp extract needed to kill 50% of the population to other synthetic conventional insecticides, it is on the high side, but when you compare it side-by-side to other natural extracts we have tested in our lab, only a relatively low amount is required to produce high mortality values in larvae.” — Erick Martinez Rodriguez, Ohio State University

More to come on this one, as future studies will try to determine the economic feasibility of using hemp leaves as an insecticide source.