09-11-2009, HAL Allergy helps Kenyan farmers

Leiden/Haarlem, 9 November 2009
P r e s s r e l e a se

HAL Allergy helps Kenyan farmers
Laboratory equipment for the development of organic pesticides and cleaner food for the EU

LEIDEN/HAARLEM - HAL Allergy's donation of laboratory equipment ismaking it possible to develop environmentally-friendly and organicpesticides for farmers in Kenya. This could lead in the future to a reductionin the quantity of vegetables containing harmful pesticides arriving on theEU market. Batches of food are currently being rejected owing toexcessively high pesticide contents, which is a financial disaster for theKenyan farmers.

HAL Allergy this year relocated its head office and laboratory from Haarlem to a new location at the Bio Science Park in Leiden. The company is a leading producer of anti-allergy vaccines in Europe. The new laboratory in Leiden utilises advanced equipment which was especially designed to fit within the confines of the new facility. Some of the existing equipment, which could not be accommodated in the new facility, was donated to the company Kenya Biologics, established by the Dutch virologist Nikolai van Beek.
His company has been located in the Village of Thika in central Kenya since 2007, and develops organic pesticides for farmers. Most impoverished farmers in Africa protect their crops with old-fashioned chemical pesticides. In many cases those pesticides do not work or the pest insects have become resistant to them, making it necessary for the farmers to spray more often.
But it is these vegetables - such as beans - that are exported to the EU. They are sometimes rejected owing to the high pesticide contents. If that happens, the farmers and their whole family lose half of their annual income. Excessive spraying also damages their own health because the pesticides penetrate into the crops and the drinking water and cause cancer, Parkinson's and other diseases.

Kenya Biologics is setting out to give these farmers in Eastern Africa an effective and safe alternative in the form of organic crop protection with insecticides that are environmentally-friendly and completely harmless to people and animals. Two products are under development, both based on Baculoviruses, which is unique to Eastern Africa. These viruses only infect certain types of caterpillar and leave the rest of the ecosystem undisturbed.
The development and production of these products calls for specific equipment that is barely obtainable in Africa. HAL Allergy's equipment donation means that the company will now be able to make progress. Notable detail: Harry Flore, CEO of HAL Allergy, began his scientific career in baculovirology.

Note for the editorial team:
For more information about HAL Allergy please contact Monique Lutgens of HAL Allergy, telephone + 31 (0)88 1959010. For questions or information about Kenya Biologics, see: www.kenyabiologics.co.ke.

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