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in the field (Lugt 1981), 137 500 m3 of water may be treated in one application
using the 4th-year berry yield of 2750 kg/ha possible with type 44 endod.
Due to differences in plant variety, location, soil, climate, method of extraction,
and even seasonal changes, standardization of the plant extract is required to
ensure consistent effectiveness (Legesse and Kloos 1990). Toward these objectives,
icommendations for an endod standard were made at an international
workshop in Swaziland (Makhubu et al. 1986).
Comprehensive and systematic plant molluscicide development and the proposed
multiple uses of endod depend to a large degree on intersectoral and
interinstitutional collaboration involving ministries of health, agriculture,
industry, and universities to assure broad-based botanical, chemical and
toxicologic, agronomic, public health, and community-action programs. At
the community level, active participation of local people in project planning,
production, processing, and application of plant molluscicides and the assessment
of their effectiveness in snail control is essential for the development of
viable and low-cost, community-based, schistosomiasis-control programs
(Kloos and McCullough 1987; Legesse and Kloos 1990).
In March 1983, the Zambian National Council for Scientific Research, in
collaboration with Ethiopian scientists, convened an international scientific
workshop on endod. Research was reviewed, areas for future research and
development were identified, and recommendations were made for specific
follow-up activities (Legesse 1983). Following the recommendations, the governments
of Ethiopia, Swaziland, and Zambia expressed increased interest
and support for collaborative research and development of endod, both as a
locally produced molluscicide for schistosomiasis control and as an important
additive in commercial detergent formula tions for laundry use. Since a second
international workshop (Makhubu et al. 1986), there has been a rapid increase
in interest in this plant and active research is being carried out by many young
and talented African scientists in different parts of the continent.
An expert group, organized by the United Nations Financing System for
Science and Technology for Development and the International Development
Research Centre (IDRC), developed a procedure for preparing water extract
of endod (endod-S) to be used as a standard material for testing in different
laboratories (UNFSSTD /IDRC 1986). The group also delineated selected basic
toxicological tests to be performed to clear endod for field trials.
IDRC has since commissioned studies to establish the basic regulatory requirements
for the licencing of endod, including acute mammalian and ecotoxicity
studies performed in Canada, the USA, and Europe under "good laboratory
practice." The Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University, participated
in these studies and provided clonal material of endod type 44 grown in
isogenic plots at the Institute.
An internationally accepted water preparation of endod type 44 (endod-S) has
been developed and independently checked by laboratories in Canada,
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