Avicenna's views on pest control and medicinal plants he prescribed as natural pesticides.

ABSTRACT

The present study aimed to introduce Avicenna's views on pest control and the medicinal plants he proposed as natural pesticides. Also, we addressed the strategies that he leveraged to formulate and prescribe them, and, finally, we put his views into perspective with modern science. The data were collected using Al-Qanun Fi Al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine) as well as scientific databases. According to Al-Qanun Fi Al-Tibb, 42 medicinal plants are described as natural pest control agents. After introducing the pest control properties of each plant, Avicenna explained the appropriate strategies for use of these plants. These strategies or formulations included incensing, spraying, spreading, rubbing, smudging, and scent-dispersing, which are equivalent to the modern pesticide formulations of fumigants, aerosols, pastes and poisoned baits, lotions, creams, and slow-release formulations, respectively. This study revealed that Avicenna introduced the pest control approach with natural plants in his book Al-Qanun Fi Al-Tibb and, thus, harnessed the power of nature to control nature. Future research is recommended to find the pest control merits of the presented medicinal plants, in order to incorporate them into pest control programs and reduce environmental pollution resulting from the complications of current synthetic pesticides.