[Baculoviruses--a promising alternative to toxic chemicals in the battle against plant pests].

The economic, ecologic, medical, sanitary and hygienic expediency has been substantiated for the use of Baculoviridae family representatives in creation of preparations for the long-term integrated programs of pest control in natural biocenoses and agrobiocenoses. The program was based on the properties of this unique family. The problems and prospects of biotechnology of baculovirus preparation for pest control in plants in Ukraine have been discussed.

[Conceptual basis for defining viral insecticide harmlessness for human health and the environment].

The qualitative distinction of the new class of virus-based biopesticides from chemicals is the intracellular parasitism of the active agent in the organisms of the living biological host, its capacity to join natural microbiocenoses and to restrain the number of the destructive species over a long period of time. Thus, the program of the study of harmlessness of entomopathogenic viruses must be aimed at preventing the possibility of their adaptation to non-target animals, reproduction and the ability to provoke the non-specific infection. Other parameters such as toxicity and allergenicity of the preparations and their standardization will be investigated under the absence of such ability.