{"id":140076,"date":"2019-08-01T12:50:04","date_gmt":"2019-08-01T11:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/?p=140076"},"modified":"2019-08-01T12:50:46","modified_gmt":"2019-08-01T11:50:46","slug":"nigeria-research-institute-developing-non-toxic-sniper-amidst-suicide-among-youths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/?p=140076","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria research Institute developing non-toxic &#8216;Sniper&#8217; amidst suicide among youths"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ds-1col file file-image file-image-jpeg view-mode-embedded centered clearfix block-story-object block-story-object-resource block-story-object-resource-image\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"block-story-object-asset\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"media-element file-embedded\" typeof=\"foaf:Image\" src=\"http:\/\/arewa.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Suicide-Nigerian-Teacher-40-Found-Dead-In-His-Room.jpg\" alt=\"\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The National Research Institute for Chemical Technology (NARICT) says it is developing a non-toxic chemical product as a substitute for the killer &#8216;sniper&#8217; pesticide.<\/p>\n<p>The Director-General of NARICT, Prof. Jeffrey Barminas, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on the partial ban on &#8216;sniper\u2019 following rising suicide cases traced to the toxic product, Barminas said the alternative by NARICT will help to mitigate the tragic occurrences.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Sniper&#8217;, a highly toxic chemical widely used as a pesticide in agriculture is often used in many Nigerian homes as an insecticide because of its efficacy.<\/p>\n<p>It has also become a popular potion taken by Nigerians attempting suicide.<\/p>\n<p>NAN reports that the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control proscribed the sale of &#8216;sniper&#8217; in the open market as a measure to stem the tide of suicide.<\/p>\n<p>The NARICT boss, who supported the ban of &#8216;sniper&#8217; by NAFDAC, said his institute is developing a green chemical process that will provide new phyto-compounds and active ingredients from different plants for better formulations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith adequate funding, NARICT through our researches will provide a chemical product for the Nigerian market as a substitute for &#8216;sniper&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>He explained that the main active substance in sniper chemical products was \u201cbifenthrin\u2019\u2019, which is a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide.<\/p>\n<p>According to Barminas, the formulations of these products vary in concentration, synergists, and carriers, depending on their intended use.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe other chemicals known as synergists are usually added to increase potency and persistence in the environment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately, higher levels of these chemical substances make Sniper toxic with an adverse effect on human health and the environment.<br \/>\n<span class=\"ds-1col file file-video file-video-youtube view-mode-embedded clearfix block-story-object block-story-object-resource block-story-object-resource-video\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe frameborder=\"0\" class=\"media-youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"390\" title=\"Suicide In Nigeria: Sniper, The Number One Killer Agent\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/y1a9uOHUtUI?wmode=opaque\" allowfullscreen>Video of Suicide In Nigeria: Sniper, The Number One Killer Agent<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is possible to target a replacement of these toxic and poisonous synthetic chemicals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis can be achieved by using eco-friendly natural active ingredients that is researched to be safe to humans and ecosystem, but highly effective against pests,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n<p>Barminas said the alternative they are developing is extractive ingredient from plants that are non-toxic, not harmful to man and are safe for the environment.<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, he said part of the plants to be extracted is the \u201cneem tree\u2019\u2019 popularly known as dogoyaro.<\/p>\n<p>He, therefore, called on the federal government and relevant donor agencies to fund the institute\u2019s initiatives on the development of green chemicals and high value-added green chemical materials.<\/p>\n<p>Barminas explained that the initiatives were the pathway to new chemicals and products for the industrial development of Nigeria, adding that it would conserve foreign exchange, create jobs and wealth<br \/>\nin the country.<\/p>\n<p>He further said that the green chemicals and high value-added green chemical materials were products generated from renewable resources as a replacement for fossil materials.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese products provide higher performance, functionality and more environmentally friendly throughout their entire life cycle.<\/p>\n<p>Biomass, bio-waste and other renewable feedstock are used to produce them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>NAN reports that NARICT is a research and development public sector institute that has the mandate of undertaking research and development in industrial chemicals, biochemicals.<\/p>\n<p>The institute also researches on petrochemicals, polymers and plastics, man-made fibres, solid minerals, effluent monitoring and control for the overall technological advancement of Nigeria.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The National Research Institute for Chemical Technology (NARICT) says it is developing a non-toxic chemical product as a substitute for the killer &#8216;sniper&#8217; pesticide. The Director-General of NARICT, Prof. Jeffrey Barminas, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday. Speaking on the partial ban on &#8216;sniper\u2019 following rising suicide [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":126972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2828,1,3],"tags":[12881,7324],"class_list":["post-140076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-more","category-news","tag-research-institute","tag-suicide"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=140076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/126972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=140076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=140076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=140076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}