MUMBAI: The BMC on Wednesday sent samples of various brands of an oil used to kill mosquito larvae to Haffkine Research Institute. The institute will check the product's efficacy.

The test reports are expected by Thursday. BMC's chief insecticide officer Dr Arun Bamne said that the institute will check the oil's potency. "After we get the test reports, we will procure the brand that is found to be the most effective in controlling larvae,'' he said.

Dr Ramaiya Mira, head of the Zoonosis department, Haffkine Research Institute, said that larvae and adult mosquitoes are collected and studied in small boxes named `colonies'. "Mosquito colonies to study efficacy of repellents have been used for several decades. It is an established method of testing compounds in this institute,'' she added.

A source from the institute said that the Defence Research and Development Organisation has not commissioned any study recently as reported in the media. It was actually done in 2008-09, the source added.