Dear friends,

May I first welcome you to my website where I would like to introduce you to the World of Science and Knowledge in favour of those who most need it

I am a Doctor of Chemistry and one day I invented and patented a new mechanism in the world of bio-polymers. It is a new technique of micro-encapsulation based on a polymeric mould. This mould, because of its complexity, acts as a means of transport for the active ingredients (increasing their bio-availability), also acts as a protection against external interactions and as a vehicle to take the particle to the place of action and regulate its release profile. All this through a technique of slow release through the paints and polymers in general.

One day, and by chance, I read about the presence of insects in hospital walls. I thought I could have a solution to this problem by introducing biocides in small doses in polymeric microcapsules using paint as a casing. The idea was that the biocides would gradually permeate the microcapsules by slow but controlled release.

In 1997, Dr. Cleto Cáceres arrived from Bolivia and basically said: “my village is dying as a result of Chagas disease”. This motivated me to make the most important decison of my life and in 1998 I went and lived the reality of this disease.

I arrived in the Bolivian Chaco, the region inhabited by the Guaraní people, and typical of westerner mentality made the mistake of thinking I knew everything. I thought I had the solution for this bug called “vinchuca” in Bolivia and which has been around  for about a hundred years. In fact, ever since Dr. Chagas discovered it.  The reality of the place was very different to what I had expected. Not only were there no roads as such but neither were there walls to paint and if there was a wall then the word HUNGER was written on it. I had to start by building walls, building living spaces and eliminating this fearsome bug which was just sitting there waiting for any opportunity to attack the inhabitants of the area.

I started to live with the vinchucas, to come face to face with them at night, to observe how they crept down at night to suck blood (just like vampires) and I knew I had to formulate a product which would be able to tackle the bug both outside and inside the precarious dwellings of Latin America.

I discovered that Chagas Disease is nothing more than a cover  for a reality which nobody wants to recognise: poverty. If there is anything which characterises those without a voice it is their lack of dignity. Kant said to this respect: “People should always be treated as ends in themselves and should never be treated as a means to some end.” All people, just because they are people, have an intrinsic and not a relative value. That is called dignity. The lack of dignity means that they are considered citizens without any rights. The absence of democratic participation brings with it work, social, financial, cultural and political discrimination. As indigenous people they have a knowledge based more on sensitivity than on intelligence. But this “poetic sapience” is lost on a modern society without hope or dreams.

Insecticides have been very important to humanity. But, I discovered that due to their misuse (especially pyrethroids) they no longer work as they should. They have created what is technically known as “resistance”. For this reason, it is necessary to do what is entomologically known as reversal which basically means using products again which have been  rejected or banned; many of them due to the disinterest of manufacturers who wish to avoid problems with the authorities and/or whose patent has expired.

In the face of this, I thought about the need to search for a safer and more efficient way to use them with a view to controlling these insects. With polymeric micro-encapsulation and by means of a gradual release (and because they are covered with a casing of calcium carbonates and titanium bioxide pigments alongside the IGRs in the paint formulate) I have achieved a method of use which is people-friendly and can control most arthropods which provoke endemic diseases.

We have efficiency results and toxicological reports which demonstrate that Inesfly is harmless to people and especially to children. We have also had tests carried out by leading world experts on the different diseases which we have been working on.

At present, we are also working on the control of different insects which transmit diseases such as dengue and malaria and which should have already been eradicated in the 21st century.

Most of the diseases which cause suffering and death in the Southern Hemisphere were eradicated in the Northern Hemisphere a long time ago. We therefore have the knowhow and so we are under the obligation to take action and put all our knowledge at the service of this objective.

It is vital to coordinate all the efforts of the main players. All disciplines are necessary if we are to eradicate this problem. As part of this strategy we have reached an agreement with the Pharmaceutical Praxis Group (www.group-praxis.com) to tackle these diseases together. We have also started the Science and Knowledge in Action Foundation in order to carry out the projects which we would like to develop (www.fundacioncyca.org)

Science is not enough. It is also necessary to create a social awareness which will make it possible to know the real protagonists of this fight.

Diseases can only be eradicated if there is a vectorial and clinical control, health and hygiene training, worthy and safe living areas and growing social awareness.

Pilar Mateo Herrero