Canada to clear Valent's XenTari insecticide

The Canadian Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) has proposed full registration for the sale and use of Sumitomo Chemical subsidiary Valent BioSciences' XenTari Biological Insecticide Technical Powder and XenTari WG Biological Insecticide, containing the technical grade active ingredient Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. aizawai strain ABTS-1857, to control many Lepidoptera larvae that are pests of various fruit, vegetable, oilseed and ornamental crops.

Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. aizawai strain ABTS-1857 is a bacterium found naturally in soil. Fermentation solids, spores and insecticidal toxins from the culturing of this bacterium are used to formulate XenTari WG Biological Insecticide. The insecticidal toxins produced by Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria are proteins that bind to specific receptors on insect gut cells and then disrupt the membranes of the gut cells. This disruption of the gut cells causes the insect to stop feeding and allows germinating spores of the bacterium to invade and cause a fatal infection in the insect. The protein toxins produced by the subspecies aizawai are specific to the larvae of insects in the order Lepidoptera, many of which are pests of food and ornamental crops. Due to the nature of its mode of action, XenTari WG Biological Insecticide must be eaten by the target pests in order to be effective.