The Problem and Its Background

Introduction

Lemon grass is popularly used for medical,food and insects repellent products according to an
article of new tech bio.Cosmetics,soap,perfume, dye and odorizes along with thousands of
other products contains lemon grass oil.In the Philippines, It's local name is "tanglad" and
usually use in cooking.With that,the researchers gained interest in utilizing the plants as the
main ingredient in the product due to it's uncommonness in being utilized in the creation of
alternative products,in this case ,an insect repellent.

Nowadays, insecticide are not only expensive but also contains harmful chemicals which is linked to
cancerous cellular activity. Children who have been heavily exposed with toxic insecticide were
indicating losses in cell-mediated immunity. With the innovation of technology, farmers and
householders invented multiple remedies for eradicating insect infestations from their garden plants.
Toxic sprays might eliminate garden pests, but they are harmful to you and the environment which
leads towards this study in finding a cheap alternative for organic and natural insecticide using
ingredients found at home. This study was also conducted to be more resourceful and to create an
effective insecticide without harming the health of individuals and destroying garden plants.

Statement of The Problem/ Objective

To propose an alternative insecticide for consumers
This is an alternative for consumers to create an insecticide instead of rushing towards the
markets and buy insecticides which may harm the children’s health especially the younger audiences.
This is optional for the consumers and this is easily obtained by just following the
general procedures and its ingredients are commonly found in a household.
To test and discover its quality of eliminating all kinds of insects like cockroaches, spiders, bed
bugs etc.

The product has successfully repelled the insects during the test with time table presented
above it shows the seconds on our insecticide was able to exterminate insects within seconds.
Although, its quality is not as accurate as Baygon because of its chemical content and since,
our aims to make an alternative and homemade.
Will this product be as effective and safer to use rather than common insecticides? It is effective and
safer to use compare to commercially sold products in the markets and the difference was the rate of
time. The quality of our product is not as high like those common insecticides but it can kill insects..
Aims to produce insecticide out of lemongrass oil
Usage of another material or ingredient that can help increase the effectiveness of the
lemongrass. Using lemongrass oil as our main ingredient as it also adds up effectiveness of the
insecticide
Significance of the Study
This study was conducted for the beneficial effects of every community. This organic homemade
insecticide is non-toxic to humans and pets and safe for the environment since it’s based on natural
ingredients and contains the simplest chemicals. This study can raise the knowledge and
awareness of its audience regarding the impacts of insects in the ecosystem including evolving
mosquitoes with its increasing number of cases of dengue, malaria and the most recent Zika virus.
This will be beneficial to green thumbs, nature lovers, promote safety, awareness and helping the
environment. By understanding this study, this will be of great help to with good sanitation practices
and proper cultural care.
This will serve as future references to practitioners, and future researchers regarding improving
repellants and future products. The World Health Organization (WHO) will benefit, because of the
 useful information and product that can be used for further research. The World Health Organization
is an organization that handles global medical problems; preventing and discovering new things
about health. The Department of Health (DOH) is a Filipino government agency that concerns the
health statistics and status of the Filipinos. It supports the needs of Filipinos in medicinal supplies
and gives free services from the government. Furthermore, DOH will also benefit through the use of
increasing the productivity of people’s needs and to achieve and improve on every person’s health
status, services for health care and as much as possible, avoiding hazardous chemicals to an
individual’s health. Using a non-toxic, and insect-repelling which is easier to use on children and
very effective. Hopefully, a lot of future studies can follow.

Scope and Limitations

Considering how limited resources can be, the group has moved to alternative ingredients. Due to
having difficulties in finding test subjects, not all kinds of insects will be tried and tested.
Researchers used the following ingredients that are not commonly seen to a regular household
such as the following:
Lemongrass
Lemongrass Oil
Eucalyptus Oil
This is not usually seen in a household. To get these ingredients, it must be bought in a market and
prices may vary in different stores. You might as well plant your own lemongrass in your garden
and have it for free. This product is for alternative use only.
Hypothesis
This product of ours may face limitations of killing larger insects. The aftereffects of spraying our
products to cockroaches and spider may just make them dizzy and fainted for a while but there’s no
assurance of instantly killing them. The ingredients used are limited, it is not as strong as with the
insecticides from the markets. Ours does not contain any harmful chemicals compared to others which
can eliminate insects but are toxic. We can say that the other products can kill many insects but in our
experiment, we tried to have an insecticide that is less in chemicals because one our main objectives is
to have an insecticide which is safer to humans and environment. The sprays might eliminate the pesky
culprits, but they are harmful to you and the environment. This insecticide that is more convenient to
ordinary people, for us to be more resourceful in thinking and making different ways to kill or prevent
our health from different insects that we can find in our houses.

Definition of Terms
LEMONGRASS

Lemon grass (Cymbopogon) is a genus of about 55 related grass species or varieties. The lemon grass
plant or the oil extracted from it are used in cooking, aromatherapy, medicinal preparations, teas and
cosmetics. It also has insecticidal properties and the extracted oil is used in insect repellents and
insecticidal sprays. The same chemical compounds are found in all lemon grass varieties, but the
amounts may differ. Its extracted oil will help repel mosquitoes. Lemon grass has long been used in
natural insect repellents which contain citronella oil and help deter mosquitoes with its strong fragrance.
Lemon grass also has anti-larval activity. A 2004 study in Brazil published by Memórias do Instituto
Oswaldo Cruz, an international journal of biological and biomedical research, showed that the essential
oil of lemon grass could kill the larvae of the mosquito that causes dengue fever.

NON TOXIC
Claim, implies that a product, substance, or chemical will not cause adverse health effects, either
immediately over the long-term, chemicals that are generally safer for humans and the environment.
While most manufacturers’ assessments of toxicity only take acute impacts into consideration, we also
assess chronic impacts, exposure routes, unique windows of vulnerability, and a wide spectrum of
potential health impacts including carcinogenicity, teratogenicity, allergenicity, neurotoxicity, and more.
LEMONGRASS OIL

Lemongrass oil is non-toxic. The historical long-time and widespread use of lemon grass oil all over the
world also speaks to its safety. As a natural insecticide, lemon grass and its oil are not associated with
some of the toxic or harmful side effects of other insecticides. The oil of lemon grass is extracted from
fresh or dried lemon grass by steam distillation or simply by pouring boiling water over the foliage. The
composition of lemon grass oil depends partly on geographical region or where it is grown. Major
constituents of lemon grass oil are citral, geraniol, myrcene, citronellal and limonene.

EUCALYPTUS OIL

Sny of numerous often tall trees belonging to the genus Eucalyptus, of the myrtle family having
aromatic evergreen leaves that are the source of medicinal oils and having the odor or flavor of the
plant from which it comes; used in perfume and flavorings

CITRONELLA OIL

Citronella oil, which repels mosquitoes, contains large amounts of citral. Citral gives lemon grass oil its
lemony fragrance. Citronella oil and other lemon grass oil extracts are used in sprays and topical
applications. Studies with birds and starved mosquitoes, using topical applications of lemon grass oil in
the form of cream or liquid paraffin solution, was effective protection against the hungry mosquitoes,
comparable to commercial mosquito repellents, according to a 2002 report in the journal
Phytomedicine. Citronella oil, a common mosquito repellent, is extracted from citronella grass
(Cymbopogon nardus).
CITRAL

A mobile pale-yellow liquid, C9H15COH, derived from lemon-grass oil and used in perfume and as a
flavoring.

GERANIOL

A constituent of lemon grass oil, was able to kill helminths, which are intestinal worms.

MYRCENE

A liquid acyclic terpene hydrocarbon C10H16 that is important in perfumery.

LIMONENE

A liquid terpenoid, C10H16, with a characteristic lemonlike fragrance, used as a solvent, wetting agent,
and dispersing agent
Materials/ Equipment

Lemongrass oil
Rubbing alcohol or distilled water
Rosemary or eucalyptus oil
Liquid hand soap
Lemongrass plants
Spray bottle
Stirring rod
Bowl
General Procedure
Purchase pure lemongrass oil to use as a pure, natural and safe insect repellent.

Put the chopped lemon grass in a boiling water to release its essence for 30 minutes.

Pour 1 ½ cup of lemongrass oil and ½ cup of rosemary oil in a container. ¼ cup of liquid hand soap, ½
cup of distilled water and 1/8 cup of alcohol in a separate container.

Dilute the lemon grass oil and rosemary oil in rubbing alcohol or distilled water.

Pour the mixtures into one container for easy applications.

Note that concentrated lemongrass oil may cause skin irritation if not diluted, so test your formula
on a small patch of skin before spraying all over your body.
Mix lemongrass oil with other types of natural oils such as eucalyptus oil and rosemary oil to create an
even stronger insect repellent.

Lemongrass oil can be mixed with eucalyptus oil for an insect repellent than can protect you for 5 to 6
hours per application.
Rosemary oil, which can be extracted from the common rosemary plant, can be combined with
lemongrass oil for a more aromatic formula than will repel an even greater variety of insects.

Add a few drops of lemongrass oil to liquid hand soap until its scent starts to dominate the scents of
the product.
Mix them all together and put the mixture inside the spray bottle.

REFERENCES

 https://lemongrassoilip.wordpress.com/2015/02/03/lemongrass-oil-as-an-alternative-insect-
repellent-2/
 Insecticidal Properties of Lemon Grass
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/insecticidal-properties-lemon-grass-55229.html
 How to Use Lemongrass Oil as an Insect Repellent
http://www.ehow.com/how_2164040_use-lemongrass-oil-as-insect.html
 How To Use Lemon Grass To Repel Mosquitoes
http://plantcaretoday.com/how-to-use-lemon-grass-to-repel-mosquitoes.html
 How toxic are these pesticides?
http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/Biology/eh01/pesticides/pestiscide_health_effects.html