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WEDNESDAY, April 10 (HealthDay News) — A centuries-old bedbug remedy has scientists full of beans — kidney beans to be precise. The bean leaves used to trap bedbugs hundreds of years ago in southeastern Europe may offer a model for a non-toxic, modern-day treatment, say U.S. researchers. The biting nocturnal insects have invaded U.S. homes, hotels, schools, hospitals and more in recent years, causing widespread itching, burning and psychological distress. “Plants exhibit extraordinary abilities to entrap insects,” the study’s lead author, Catherine Loudon, an entomologist at the University of California, Irvine, said in a university news release. “Modern scientific techniques let us fabricate materials at a microscopic level, with the potential to ‘not let the bedbugs bite’ without pesticides.” Microscopic hairs on kidney bean leaves stab the insects, effectively trapping them, the researchers discovered. They are using their findings to develop non-toxic synthetic materials that will mimic the effects of the bean leaves and help prevent bedbug infestations, according to the report, published online April 9 in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

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They are using their findings to develop non-toxic synthetic materials that will mimic the effects of the bean leaves and help prevent bedbug infestations, according to the report, published online April 9 in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

stupid is as stupid does. Why not just use non-toxic kidney bean leaves without trying to improve on mother nature?