How Ministry of Health Smoking Ban needs Cheaper Citronella and Lemon Grass Candles

“The 2010 Global Youth Tobacco Survey, undertaken by the National Council on Drug Abuse, indicates that 40.4 per cent of youth aged 13-15 have smoked at least once and at least 19.4 per cent of those who have ever smoked were under 10 years old. In addition, 70 per cent of the students surveyed indicated that they were exposed to second-hand smoke”

Excerpt from the Speech by Minister of Health Dr. Fenton Ferguson at the recently held Health and Wellness Expo at the Clan Carthy Primary School reported Friday May 11^th 2013

Many concerned about second hand smoke and in support of the Minister of Health Fenton Ferguson calling on Public Support for a ban on Cigarette smoking “Move to Ban Public Smoking is to Protect Health - Minister Ferguson”, published Wednesday, 13 February 2013 16:46, The Jamaica Information Service.

Mosquito Destroyers, despite being cheaper, are in fact slowly killing us with carcinogen filled second hand smoke as per my Geezam blog article entitled “How to make Environmentally Friendly Citronella (Lemon Grass) Oil for Mosquito Repellant Lotion and Candles” and thus warrant a ban on their sale in Jamaica.

Minister of Health Fenton Ferguson expounded on cigarettes further on his duty to protect children from the effects of Second Hand smoking in Public places.

He expressed this opinion at the recently held Health and Wellness Expo at the Clan Carthy Primary School which was held this year under the Theme “Get Educated, Eat Healthy, Live Wealthy” as reported in the article “Minister seeks public support for smoking ban”, published Friday, May 10, 2013, The Jamaica Observer.

Thus he may also want to do the same thing for Mosquito Destroyers, most of which like Cigarettes are imported and often contain unknown illegal or even banned substances. In the same breath, Minister of Health Fenton Ferguson can, along with advice from the Ministry of Agriculture and PCA, promote alternatives means of killing Mosquitoes, such as Citronella Candles and Lotion production using locally grown Lemon Grass, commonly called Fever Grass.

Especially as the PCA (Pest Control Authority) has banned the sale of imported smokeless Black Coil Mosquito Destroyers citing concerns over their possibly carcinogenic ingredients as stated in the article “Don't use black Mosquito destroyer - PCA”, published Sunday November 18, 2012, The Jamaica Gleaner and “Banned Black Mosquito Coils seized by Customs Dept”, published Saturday December 22, 2012 10:31 am, The Jamaica Gleaner.

So is there an alternative to Mosquito Destroyers?

Citronella and Lemon Grass Candles – Natural Alternative seeking funding

If you’ve read my Geezam blog article entitled “How to make Environmentally Friendly Citronella (Lemon Grass) Oil for Mosquito Repellant Lotion and Candles” you may be thinking this may be a great business venture if only you can get some proper funding. Economy-of-scale production on the scale of a large factory and a ready grown constant supply of Lemon Grass.

You’ll need a lot of Distilled water which you can make using a Solar Desalinator as described in my Geezam blog article entitled “How to Make Distilled Water using a Solar Desalinator” that’s a necessary component of the manufacture of Citronella Candles.

Distillation will go even faster if you include a modification using a Fresnel Lens modification that’ll ramp up the rate of Distilled Water Production as explained in my blog article entitled “How to upgrade your Solar Desalinator to a Solar Cooker and make a Solar Foundry for Vacuum Pyrolysis”.

Commonly called Fever Grass, this is necessary to make this a viable venture similar to export potential of Jamaican honey production as stated in the article “Bee farmers urged to increase revenue capacity of industry”, published Wednesday, March 09, 2011 BY TANESHA MUNDLE Observer staff reporter, The Jamaica Observer and “Boston Diaspora Assist Gov't, Bee Farmers Boost Honey Exports”, published Friday, 02 September 2011 15:50, The Jamaica information Service.

 Funding may be difficult, so you may want to consult the following agencies:

1.      JBDC (Jamaica Business Development Corporation) for VC funding for your proposed production facility

2.      SRC (Scientific Research Council) for manufacturing facilities and assistance with packaging

A Credit Card such as a NCB Credit Card or a Scotia VISA Debit Card  as described in my Geezam blog article entitled “How to use Scotia VISA Debit Card Online” for purchasing items abroad may also be a good idea, as Credit Cards are a source of Low Interest Rate borrowing.

Some great sources of Crowdfunding are listed in Roger’s blog article entitled “Jamaica’s Lost Innovators – An untapped Source of Economic Prosperity”.

For large scale funding once you’ve gotten your business off the ground, you may seek a formal business loan from a bank or opt to go the crowdfunding route as described in my MICO Wars Blog article “How Jamaicans can use Crowdfunding for their Projects in 30 Days”.

People, we need cheaper, natural alternatives to Citronella Oil for making Citronella Candles!