Mosquito 1 - Coil Them Up. Review on Mortein Mosquito Coil

THIS IS A SERIOUS THREAT AND NOT TO BE TAKEN LIGHTLY

What am I talking about? The darn Mosquitoes!

I am sure that the general awareness on mosquitoes is high. My own definition of mosquito is as follows:

''Ah! Mosquitoes are those pesky ungrateful insects that keep buzzing around you and then suck the blood out of your system and in return gifts you with all the dreaded diseases there exists.''

Malaria, Elephantiasis, Dengue and it is also responsible for spreading AIDS.

Weird insect, in the sense that it also houses or carries such dreadful germs, bacteria within its body and nicely, merrily dances around, whizzes here and there in glee and then injects all the trash into an human system who gets screwed badly.

I undertake this task, voluntarily, to brief you more on this insects and how to avoid them through a many part series of reviews. Do read them all.

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PART A: COIL THEM UP

''The best way to eliminate all mosquitoes is to find their leader and bite it.'' Ridiculous as it may sound but this is what a kid came up with when we questioned them during one of our ''awareness drive'' in local schools.

Well, on a more serious tone, best way is to kill their larvae by means of adding chemicals and toxics in puddles and non-flowing stagnant water. Though we would leave this act to Pest Control or Municipal Corporation (in my case), what we could do at our end is to keep our surroundings clean and tell others around to do the same. Yet, however much we try, these pesky warriors come in throng and attack us while we are sleeping. We may be quick to squash a few of them with our hands, but that leaves our hands dirty with blood stains and is definitely not a wise solution.

And besides, what if we go out on camps or to some other locality, say, a hostel. What then? The answer is coils.

I remember my grandmother burn the fibrous remains of a coconut in a vessel in the evening hours when the mosquitoes wake up for their breakfast. The result would be a smoky house but yes, it would definitely choke the mosquitoes away. But it would also suffocate us. The mosquito coils are built on a similar concept. Tortoise was the first brand that introduced such coils in India and is still quite a famous household name. It does have some competition from Mortein, Jet and now even Odomos (famous for skin ointment) has introduced a mosquito coil.

I describe here Mortein Mosquito coil, though all coils are basically same with same ingredients and similar packing with similar action.

«« WHY MORTEIN? »»

Tortoise is definitely the most preferred brand that has high recall value and highly loyal customers. But with such homogenous products, I wanted to try other products to kind of test its efficacy. One such upcoming brand was Mortein by Reckitt Benckiser (India) Ltd. I liked their advertisements that pictured hungry mosquitoes that were frustrated because they could not enter a house because of Mortein. It appealed a lot to my sadistic mind.

«« THE PACKING »»

It comes in a square box with black and red colors. It has a picture of an inverted dead mosquito - zapped by a lightening, within which the words ''MORTEIN'' in Big Bold white followed by the words ''DEEP REACH Action'' are printed. The pack with 10 coils has a price of Rs 19. But the one I got had a bonus offer of Rs 3 off - some bonus there!!

On backside, is a huge white and yellow rhombus with words ''POISON'' written. Besides there is a mention of chemicals used. Unlike Odomos, the instructions to use the coils are not on the packing. It says, ''Refer leaflet inside''. The leaflet inside is a tiny piece of paper and it has instructions of usage, Precautions to be taken and First Aid and Antidotes if ingested. But this is crammed in 6 languages in a font lesser than 5, making it useless piece of paper. (Maybe they should also provide a free magnifying glass with it. The coils come in plastic bag within and a coil stand. The coils come in 5 groups of two, and separating these coils without breaking them requires special skills. I have mastered the act now!

«« THE COILS »»Unlike most other coils that are green in color, Mortein has reddish brown color, which stands out as unique. Another aspect is that while others smell bad, this one has a pleasant smell. Also after burning, while other coils tend to suffocate the users, Mortein coils surprisingly are not suffocating but on the contrary smell good. Another striking feature is that while Tortoise, Odomos etc burn faster, this one burns slowly and steadily, staying for nearly 10 hours, making it the most effective coil available. Moreover the smoke spreads fairly in the room creating virtually a wider mosquito free zone. One disadvantage is that the coil is often found broken in packing itself.

«« CHEMICALS USED »»While most other coils use Allethrin (0.2% w/w), this one uses a slight variant the d-trans Allethrin (0.1% w/w) which is more toxic to insects. Allethrin is a pyrethroid, a synthetic compound that has stomach and respiratory action and paralyzes insects before killing them. I have seen a mosquito that had fallen on the floor literally struggling to survive and then lying still, struggling again and so on and ultimately fall to its side with legs twitching and then die.

Allethrin is also toxic to humans and should be kept out of reach of children. It should not be stored in kitchen. Every time one uses it, he/she should wash hands with soap.

«« USAGE»» The coil is spiral. The center has a notch and has can be fixed to a sharp pointed edge of coil stand. This stand has a groove where broken coils can be attached. We burn the coil and then place it in the center of the room, under a fan, in the evenings, and with window in open condition for ventilation and to drive away mosquitoes while ensuring that outside ones don't risk coming in. I would advise keep this arrangement in a plate or tray so as to collect the ash that remains.

«« OVERALL »»If you have to use a coil, I highly recommend you to try Mortein coils. I am sure you wont be disappointed. I see only the new Herbal Tortoise coils that claim to be safer for children as the sole competitor.