Mosquito Magnet

While going through the April 2011 issue of HBR, I came across this ingenious product called the Mosquito Magnet. Since mosquitoes use the carbon dioxide, heat and chemicals generated from our body to track us down, the product fools the insects by generating the three artificially, and lures the pests down to the machine, where a vacuum pump sucks them in and leaves them to die from dehydration. Quite clever, if you ask me, because there are no harmful chemicals involved, except the minor amounts of CO2 added to the environment. As to its efficacy, the story goes that when the US Coast Guard Station in the Bahamas became uninhabitable because of the mosquito population in the area, six Mosquito Magnets were deployed. The product managed to capture 1.5 million mosquitoes in six days, which eventually led to the collapse of the colony (by disrupting the insect's life-cycle) and the soldiers lived happily ever after.

Sadly, the device is meant for outdoor use, and is exorbitantly priced at $300 for the cheapest version. I say exorbitantly because of the customer's willingness to pay. I would say its still cheap because one unit can manage an area up to 1 acre, and politicians who are willing to distribute free televisions in their electorates should distribute Mosquito Magnet instead. Five units would suffice for a small village, which would make it malaria, dengue, yellow fever and you-know-the-rest free. In a country where 2 million people suffer from malaria alone every Age standardised DALY from malaria - India fares poorly among the BRICS countries in terms of losing healthy years from the disease. Image via Wikipedia year, and about 200,000 die from it, it is a small price to pay. A good article on the country's malaria situation can be found here, and this one discusses the cost of the disease to the nation.

In any case, gated communities and buildings for the affluent can easily afford the product, and I estimate the per family cost at less than Rs 100 per year. Hmm...let me get in touch with Woodstream, sounds like a decent business idea. The only issue is the supply of propane, which the machine uses to generate its plume of CO2. It would be a great idea if a homegrown genius comes up with a cheaper version that is easier to maintain. In a country where malaria is endemic and dengue is catching up fast, the man would be doing a great social service. Also, as far as the 'outdoor use' problem is concerned, my guess is that most mosquitoes are bred outdoors and land up inside our homes for their meals. If the breeding cycle is disrupted outdoors, there won't be many outside to form a meaningful threat.

This great product, however, teaches us a tragic management lesson. Mosquito Magnet was the brainchild of a company called American Biophysics, and sold like hotcakes on its launch (which coincided with the outbreak of the West Nile virus in the US). The company, unfortunately, was not able to ramp up its production, and when they outsourced it to China, quality dropped drastically. Eventually, the company that was generating $70mn in revenues per annum, was sold to Woodstream for a mere $6mn.