Did you know Cocaine is a Great Fly Spray too?

[link to www.ipm.iastate.edu]

Cocaine has been found to have surprising insecticidal effect at levels in which it occurs naturally in plants. Cocaine is obtained from the leaves of coca plants, but its natural function in plants has been previously unknown. Curious about another group's earlier observation that coca plants tend to be relatively pest free, James A. Nathanson and coworkers in the department of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston decided to examine cocaines effects on feeding in insects (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 90:9645, 1993). Their experiments showed that insect larvae exposed to cocaine-sprayed leaves displayed marked behavioral abnormalities, including rearing, tremors and walk-off activities. Their data indicate that cocaine's toxicity stems from its ability to block reuptake of octopamine, a key insect neurotransmitter and hormone that regulates movement, behavior and metabolism. The researchers point out that cocaines effects in humans are also caused by blockage of reuptake of a neurotransmitter, dopamine. Cocaine's effects in humans are likely an unintended evolutionary side effect of its ability to block amine uptake in insects.