Can any insect eat polythene?

Research Note - Pankaj Oudhia
© 2001,2002,2003 Pankaj Oudhia - All Rights Reserved

Can any insect eat polythene? Can it digest it also? When this information reached people through Newspapers, they were surprised. Many appreciated this finding but many refused to believe it. Few could accept that an ordinary looking insect could eat and digest polythene.

Unfortunately, news about this finding was associated with me as nature had decided me to be the medium to bring this truth before the people. I used the word “UNFORTUNATELY”, because this polythene eating bug has brought turmoil in my simple life. However, it was bit fortunate too. This bug made me alert about so called intellectuals around. It made me realize that for research and important findings there of; one has to be highly educated, learned and elderly – for acceptance of findings by the elite. Youth is not accepted, doing such research and bringing important findings to the notice of the people. Since this finding in July 1999 , till date, I have known this incomparable gift of nature. As I am unable to hold this gift in my thoughts and mind further , I am putting before common man, my struggle and pain due this finding in this article .

This article will make aware the young scientists , who dare to dream to achieve success in field of original research. It will enlighten them about hurdles they may face in their endeavor.After completion of my post graduation in agriculture science , when I stepped into the world of reality , I found myself helpless, seeing my dreams shattered . Some how , I had developed flair for research during my studies , and had conveyed my desire to the Dean of Agriculture -College Raipur during my early days of college education. Though, I was not fully aware of process and procedures for undertaking research work, I was keen to get into it. As generally happens here , I was discouraged.

When as a part of curriculum of B. Sc. (Agriculture), I was sent to Ambikapur , I came to know about Medicinal plants and weeds. I became very inductive about these plants and weeds. Here only I got inspiration from my teacher to know more about the wonderful world of insects and bugs. Scientists who got fame world over , in studies of insects and bugs , had developed love for the knowledge in the field in early ages, in some cases , even before they attained age of 5 years. As far as it goes with me, I used to fear a lot these insects in my childhood. I never thought that I will indulge in research on insects and findings will be known worldwide. In the closing years at Ambikapur , I noticed an insect on a weed. I felt that I must keep an eye on the activity of this insect over a period. After studying the complete life cycle of this insect , I went through the available literature on insects and found that there is hardly any information available on it. Specially , on conducting studies on this Blumea leaf beetle , I became , perhaps , the first person worldwide. In spite of limited knowledge on conducting systematic research , one of my teachers appreciated my work. We wrote a joint research paper on the topic and submitted it for publishing in a renowned Research-Journal. I realize at this stage ; no one helps others, be it a teacher, without fulfilling his self-interest. The credit for research should have gone to individual, but it had to be shared by two. Further in the field of science , it is generally accepted that a senior has conducted a research, using juniors.

After B.Sc. Agriculture, I joined M.Sc. (Agronomy). In this program of studies , I had studied about crops. There is no provision for studies on insects , in the program. To become Entomologist , one has to study science of insects. However, my keen interest on weeds prompted me to undertake studies on Agronomy. Unfortunately , I had no options to study simultaneously weeds as well as insects, as a part of M.Sc. program. However , it is a fact that knowledge of science is a great ocean . we only segmented knowledge of science for our own convenience, and thereby compartmentalize the knowledge. Thus we have become prisoner of this segmentation of knowledge & got ourselves detached from other disciplines. It is an irony that in our country there is more fragmentation and negligible independence for working. Admission to Agronomy closed the door of studies of insects for me. However I could not give up my lust for knowledge of insects. As such , I decided to have a modest laboratory on the subject at my home. This approach also insured confidentiality of my work. In 1998 January , my personal laboratory was in my bedroom and I had a collection of 13 colorful varieties of insects. In this laboratory I used plastic jars , commonly use for display of toffees , sweets, biscuits etc. I filled these jars with soil and tied perforated cloth at the opening , to ensure free access to fresh air. The thirteen varieties of insects used to eat different varieties of vegetation and generally most of time they kept busy eating only. Some insects used to eat at night also. Due to large volume eating by insects , there used to be heavy collection of stool of insects in the jars. To clean it, lot of time was consumed. To share this burden of work ; I employed assistant. In the laboratory I also studied effect of solar eclipse on these creatures.

World is worried with the fact that polythene is not a biodegradable material. A lot has been written and published on the problem of polythene , in this respect. It struck in my mind, to see effect on insects ,if offers to eat polythene. Cows and buffalos eat polythene, and the same get entangled in their food pipe, killing the animal. In some cases polythene gets deposited in the stomach of the animal and continue remaining there indefinitely without degradation. Once the idea of making insects eat polythene , I started collecting large varieties of insects. In a brief period, my laboratory was congested with number of jars. No. of varieties of insects increased from thirteen to thirty. Every morning I used to go out in hunt of new varieties of insects. I collected different varieties of insects, some even very poisonous. Polythene was cut into small square pieces and placed in the jars containing different varieties of insects. Insects were starved of their normal foods. I wished due to starvation, some insects might start eating polythene. Months passed without any noticeable success. Every morning I used to come across hungry insects only. I tried , from cockroaches to Blister beetles. It was blind bidding only. Sometimes I used to feel like abandoning the efforts. I tried more than hundred insects but there was no sign of bite on polythene piece. After long patience and wait, the success was encountered.

Out of 135 insects, there were 5 varieties of insects that ate polythene, under duress. These five insects were kept in continuous observation round the clock. The efforts resulted in success. There was unique insect in the lot who preferred eating some quantity of polythene, even when provided with its normal food. It was an amazing finding. At the time of this experiment, I had one hundred such insects. They were increased to three thousand and were given full attention. This insect of "Beetle" family was christianed by me to be " PLASTIC-BUG" . I started studying about the normal/common food habit of these insects. Over 250 varieties of leaves were offered to these insects , of which 10 varieties of leaves were consumed by these insects with zest and interest. Thereafter I identified the most favored feed of these insects. When leaves of the favored plant and polythene, both were offered to Plastic-bug , it preferred eating leaf to polythene. I felt that, if polythene were soaked in the slurry of the leaves, perhaps Plastic-bug would readily eat the same. This approach proved to be correct. The bug started eating polythene soaked in the juice of of its preferred leaf. Its speed of eating polythene increased many folds. Now concerned was about the Plastic-bug fate, who had eaten polythene. It was satisfying to note after weeks observation that the bugs were not dying and were smoothly discharging digested stuff as excreta. The excreta was sticky by feel of touch. It was sent to a laboratory at Banglore, for investigation. The mistake I did was, that informed them about my finding of Plastic-bug. They were of the opinion that there were fine pieces of polythene present in the excreta. However without knowing the identification of Plastic-bug , they declined to send me the analysis of excreta sample.

During the sample period , I happen to meet a friend of mine Shri. Kamlesh Gogia of local newspaper, "DAINIK BHASKAR". I narrated him about my finding of Plastic-bug. He said that this is a revolutionary finding. It should be published immediately so that no one else could steal the research. As I had to do further experiments, and believe that half-done-work need not be made public; I asked Mr. Gogia to wait and assured him that whenever I will make my finding public ; it will be through his newspaper "DAINIK BHASKAR" only.

While working on Plastic-bug , I thought that , if bug exists naturally around in large number, it must have been eating polythene of its own. To confirm this , I contacted boys who have been collecting plastic bags. I showed them bug and asked them if any such BUG are seen by them anywhere else. They responded negative. To identify the holes in plastic bags in dumps and ascertain , if they are created by the bug, is a near impossible task. Later on when I studied the pattern of life of so called " Plastic-bug" I noticed that these insects come out in the night and during the daytime , remains under the earth surface, near the plant of their liking. Perhaps , this may be the reason , that the guys collecting polythene bags did not see the Plastic-bug anywhere.

Till now I had used white and transparent plastic only. I decided to use pieces from colored plastic bags. After prolonged observation it was noticed that Plastic-bug is a fond of eating black colored plastic. I am yet to understand , as to why Plastic-bug gives priority to eating black plastic bags. One night I observed that the plastic bugs had been eating their own excreta. In animal world many animals do so. On close observation it was noticed that Plastic-bug eats its excreta once only not in the second cycle. To avoid need need for chemical analysis of excreta of Plastic-bug , I collected it after 1st as well as 2nd cycle and some polythene film pieces ; on petri plates and put them pits on earth. They were covered by soil and for one month humidity was maintained . After one month , when checked ; there were pieces of polythene in 1st cycle excreta but were absent from that of 2nd cycle . it means , 2nd cycle excreta had completely assimilated into the soil. I felt it to be a great success.

In the nature , the so-called Plastic-bug remains active from October to April. In summer it goes into soil and remains in sleepy condition indefinitely. When in October , plants of his choice grow, it comes out again. This lull in the activity of the insect caused a lot of disruption in my study. All the Plastic-bugs , young and old, eat polythene with interest. There is no difference in this respect between male and female.

Does all generation of the Plastic-bug eat polythene? To find the answer of this question , I started feeding 150 insects, with polythene. I observe behavior of 2nd and 3rd generation of insects. During study , the lot remained in sleepy condition for a long duration, also I noticed that all generations of insects were eating polythene.

On March 1, 2001, due to insistence of my journalist friend , I decided to publicize my finding before the world. I believe , some genes must be responsible for these Plastic-bugs behavior of eating polythene. Shall such a gene be identified and transplanted into elephant like animal , which can eat and digest large volume of polythene. This is only hypothesis , but as we know hypothesis has a great place in scientific studies. May be , people at large may call , propagator of such hypothesis as insane mind.

How to use these insects? I have given thought to this question. On unusable land , a big tank to be built where people dump these polythene bags. Plastic-bugs are released in these tanks and polythene bags be sprayed with the juice of plants liked by Plastic-bugs. Degraded polythene bags can be retrieved to be uses as manure.

Since news published in general news papers are not accepted by scientific community , before publishing in newspaper , I tried to get my paper published in international scientific magazine. I kept the identification of the insect , a closely guard secret. When I submitted the paper to one of the leading international magazine, the publisher insisted that I reveal the identification of the insect. In question I asked them for a written guarantee that information will be preserved as guarded secret and my work will not be hijacked by others. I got no response.

Perhaps , in hurry , they gave the information to a reputed international news agency and e-mailed me accordingly about the same. Since I had committed to "DAINIK BHASKAR" about release of first information about my work through them , I had to pass on the complete details to my journalist friend. In the 1st week of April I gave identification of ' Plastic-bug' and total information to journalist. I released even colored photograph of insect to journalist. Unlike common man , my journalist friend kept this secret . in the meantime , through the Internet surfing , I tried to find out details about similar work , if done , elsewhere. I communicated to over sixteen thousand scientists world over about my work in detail. They appreciated my work heartily. I felt elevated by the findings myself to be the pioneer in this work in our country and decided to reveal the exact identification and the name of insect to some one from our country only , if some scientific organization come forward. I even thought of dedicating my work to such an institution.

Finally on April 15th , 2002 DAINIK BHASKAR published prominently my work through 18 editions of their daily publication , through out the country . For next one week I continued to get word of appreciation and congratulation from all over. Various television channels approached me for permission to get photographs of plastic-bug to be shown on their newscast. One TV channel even picked up another insects from my laboratory and put a polythene piece in front of it , but the insect did not respond . they pierced a hole in polythene and took a snap of that insect and polythene piece with hole and created report to suit their requirement. However generally common men and near ones appreciated my work.

The moment this news about insect spread out , the scientist in the field become alert. They felt that how , an unknown scientist has found out such an amazing insect , although they have been in the field since long and never come across such a creature. They published their opinion in the press , negating this finding.

What were the reasons for their objection? . First they claim that I am not a scientist of Entomology and therefore I cannot do such research . the objection was obviously meaningless. The second objection was on the name of insect "Plastic-bug". This insect is from Beetle family who eat by tearing off their feed where as bug eats by sucking their feed ------ but I had called the insect a BUG. I have been aware of this difference , however , I had given this simple name to insect for ease of remembering by common man. What is great in name? Name could be anything. When a computer virus can have name like "LOVE-BUG" without having a mouth , what's specific on this objection?. Even in insect world anomalies exist. 'Spanish-fly' is not a fly but a Beetle , but all entomologists call it a fly. Newspaper themselves replied these objections. Thereafter , such objection continued on personal level. Interestingly , those scientists who called me "FRAUD" ; themselves started research on similar lines in their laboratories. We don't know as to if and when they will be able to identify polythene-eating insect.

After the publication of information in the daily newspaper , within few weeks there were two interesting developments. A scientist having affiliation with politics used pressure to know from me the name and identification of insect the Plastic-bug . Influenced by him, I showed the insect to him and another four to five interesting persons at his residence. They were simply wonder struck. Incidentally none of them were knowledgeable to recognize the insect. They used all tactics to know the technical identification of the insect. With great difficulty I could avoid the same.

Sometimes later , I happened to meet a specialist in the field of polymers ; engaged in research over a long period. He appreciated and highly praised my work. I had become alert after the so-called political pressure; and had become very cautious . However this expert gave statement in the press appreciating my work and favoring my approach. However , on third meeting with this personality , he first asked me to reveal the identity of this insect. On my denial , he wanted me to declare that the insect is given name 'PLASTIC-BUG' on his suggestion only. In return , he assured that he would propagate this research world over. His approach deeply hurt me.

It was nearly a month since the news publication but no Government Research Institution got in touch with me. Some post card communications asking for supply of bugs were received , as certain people wanted to tackle the problem of polythene in their area. Without my working being recognized by any reputed scientific research institution , I was not of opinion to reveal the details. In the mean time the insect was shown to some knowledge seekers and particularly children , while I was all the time worried about theft/hijack of my research. In the mean time some well-off people kept pursuing me , and one of them made me a member of their institution and offered me a handsome fee. He believed that sooner or later I would part with details of my research with him. With such happenings , I was sad. The news was published countrywide but no scientific research institute came forward for interaction . I was very disheartened , more so, when I had offered to dedicate and revealed details to any national reputed research institute.

I send paper cuttings to a number of research institutes but received no response. My scientist friends suggested that I submit the project. However , the major hurdle was that without revealing identification of the insect, this could not be done. Opposition as well as indifference of the people had been great discouragement to me. After some week an e-mail received from USA surprised me. The writer of the mail had appreciated my work and had expressed his desire to meet me. I , hesitantly , decided to meet the guy. I was invited to meet him at Delhi. On reaching Delhi , I was very warmly received with high level of hospitality. These people meet me at five-star hotel. One of the official appeared to be scientist , he asked me about the future of Plastic-bug. I informed that I have not decided at the moment. The scientist member told me that Plastic-bug is a research not an Invention so it can't be patented. He opined that Indians may not give importance to my work and declare it is a fraud, he suggested that I reveal the detailed identification of insect to them and commit to them that for coming ten years I will refrain from research in the field. It was a strange condition put by them. They were willing to pay for this favor. They were of the view that they will study the plastic-bug and create man made insect by Genetic engineering , which can be patented. They opined that India couldn't do it. They said that they would create a research team, which will study all aspects of this insect and finally put in the market. I suggested that if they support my research , I could do much better work in my laboratory. They declined to accept my suggestion. They even declined to make me work on the project even if I agree to work with them in USA , since I will keep secret the identification of insect. I wanted them to supply redeveloped plastic-bug to India on favored term but they declined. They also said there will be no formal deal. I took 15 days time from them. Whereas my friends considered this as a lifetime golden opportunity , the knowledgeable authorities of the country cautioned , stating that no natural resource can be sent abroad without consent of Govt. this will amount to antinational act.

If the foreigners want to take the insects abroad , Govt. will enter into deal at a suitable compensation. I expressed that Govt. is not giving any attention to this research. To this he dissiduaded me from doing the work. The issue died down here. However I continue receiving e-mails on this issue. Sometimes I feel that the national resource if not put to use for the benefit of the nation is in fact useless. These events caused a lot of turmoil in my mind. Today scientists from the world over asks me as to what happened my research. To ensure confidentiality of my findings, I have released the insects in the nature and decided not to continue my work this season. When October comes , these insects will come out in open. I thought , it is the time to convey information about my partially completed work to fellow human beings. There are millions of insects to be studied. I have studied only 135 of them. The study of these insects in detail may bring forth many such useful insects like "PLASTIC-BUG". Delay in the efforts in this direction does not seem justified. Apparently , the nature selected me to bring forth the world , the Plastic-bug . That's why I was enthralled get engaged into this research on my own initiative and at my own cost. Prosperity from research is a dream , still remain unfulfilled. Encouragement from all in authority to enterprising young generation only , will bring prosperity to the nation and world at large; I believe.

Thank you for sparing time for going through the lines written above.