This new use for hemp products is not only fascinating but also groundbreaking. While hemp has been touted for its ability to make everything from biodegradable plastics to healthy snacks, its potential as an insecticide is something entirely new—and incredibly important.
“Mosquitoes are one of the deadliest animals in the world, mainly because as adults they serve as vectors of disease,” explained Erick Martinez Rodriguez, the study’s lead author and a graduate student in entomology at Ohio State University. “It’s very important to be able to control these pests at an early stage, when they are at the most vulnerable.”
Mosquitoes, the tiny vampires of the insect world, are notorious for spreading diseases like malaria and yellow fever, which claim hundreds of thousands of lives annually. Unfortunately, just like bacteria developing resistance to antibiotics, some mosquito populations have become resistant to insecticides—meaning the usual tricks don’t work anymore.
The Search for a Natural Mosquito-Killer
Rodriguez was inspired by previous Ohio State research that found the bark of a plant native to Madagascar had natural mosquito-killing properties. This led him to wonder: could hemp, with all its myriad uses, also be an effective mosquito insecticide?
Unlike adult mosquitoes, which can fly and zip away from danger, larvae are much easier targets. Rodriguez and his team set out to see if hemp could hit these pests where it hurts—before they grow up and start biting us.
The researchers started with air-dried hemp leaves, which they ground into a fine powder. Then, they soaked the powder in methanol for a few weeks to create a CBD-rich extract. After removing the methanol, the extract was fed to mosquito larvae to see if it could do the job.
And it did. In fact, the team discovered that the hemp extract was potent enough to kill both strains of mosquito larvae, even the insecticide-resistant ones. And what really surprised Rodriguez? They didn’t need much to do it.
“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,” Rodriguez told Ohio State’s press team. “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.”
In other words, compared to harsh chemicals, hemp holds its own—and does so with a fraction of the material required. Eventually, different concentrations of the extract led to 100% mortality for the mosquito larvae, which is a pretty solid win for Team Hemp.
Why Does Hemp Kill Mosquitoes But Not Us?
The magic ingredient in this mosquito-killing formula is CBD, one of the active compounds in the hemp plant. Unlike THC, the compound that gives cannabis its famous high, CBD is non-psychoactive, meaning it won’t send you on a mind-bending journey through the universe. Instead, CBD has been praised for its health benefits, including anxiety reduction and pain relief, and now, apparently, mosquito control.
“CBD is a compound that appears to be safe for people and our companion animals to ingest,” said Peter Piermarini, co-author of the study. “It’ll be interesting to learn more about how CBD interacts with various proteins in mammals and insects to understand why it’s safe for people but not insects.”
And that’s where things get fascinating. How is it that something so gentle on humans can be lethal to mosquitoes? Science is still working that part out, but the early results are promising. We may soon see a day when CBD is not only in our wellness supplements and skincare products but also in our mosquito repellents.
A Future with Fewer Bites
With insecticide-resistant mosquitoes on the rise, finding natural alternatives to toxic chemicals is crucial. And if hemp can help us in the fight against disease-carrying mosquitoes, it might just be the ultimate eco-friendly solution we’ve been waiting for.
So, next time you see hemp in the store, don’t just think of it as the latest health trend—it might also be the next big thing in pest control. Whether you’re into wellness or just really, really hate mosquitoes, hemp has your back.
Photo by Laszlo Fatrai from Pexels
