Dow AgroSciences congratulates Clarke on Presidential Green Chemistry Award for new spinosad-based larvicide

INDIANAPOLIS - Dow AgroSciences congratulated a key customer on winning one of the U.S. government’s top environmental honors with a product containing spinosad insecticide developed and manufactured by Dow AgroSciences.  Clarke, headquartered in Roselle, Ill., has been named a winner of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2010 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for its new product Natular larvicide, which uses the active ingredient spinosad to control mosquito larvae in aquatic habitats. Clarke is recognized for developing novel, patent-pending plaster matrix formulations. The active ingredient in Natular has been granted “Reduced Risk” status for use as a mosquito larvicide, and four formulations have been listed in the Organic Materials Review Institute Products List directory of products for organic production.

“We congratulate Clarke on this impressive accomplishment as they are truly meeting the needs of their customers by providing the first new larvicide in nearly three decades,” says Tim Hassinger, vice president, Crops Global Business Unit, Dow AgroSciences. “By bringing our teams together early in this project, it is rewarding to see that the results of this collaboration on Natular will positively impact the quality of life by reducing the impact of mosquito infestations.” 

Dow AgroSciences has won four Green Chemistry Awards since 1999.

Dow AgroSciences and Clarke also partner philanthropically on a project in conjunction with the Carter Center in Atlanta to help aid villagers in the African area most endemic for mosquito-related diseases. Through the Dow Chemical Company Foundation, Dow AgroSciences has given a financial donation to a project that provides Clarke’s DuraNet bed nets to villagers in Kanke, Nigeria. These nets are a key strategy to help keep people protected from mosquitoes and thus aid in preventing diseases such as malaria and lymphatic filariasis (also known as Elephantiasis).