The European Union (EU) has brought together a consortium of 10 partners led by the Industrial Institute of the city of Terrassa in Catalonia, Spain, in order to obtain fabrics that protects against bedbugs and ticks.

 

According to a statement issued by LEITAT Technological center in Spain where a meeting of the European consortium was held in mid-November, 2013, the project titled ‘BETITEX’ is a research and development initiative taken up by EU under its 7th Framework Program.

 

The BETITEX project aims to obtain textile materials capable of providing protection against ticks and bedbugs, which are arthropods of medical and veterinary importance all over the world. It is expected to obtain high durability of slowly released repellent/insecticide effect.

 

The results of BETITEX project will contribute to promote a greener and more competitive economy as the final textile products will be as sustainable as possible by means of using natural, biodegradable or recyclable textile materials in combination with authorized biocides and by using eco-friendly textile technologies.

 

The 10 partners to be working on the BETITEX project include the Industrial Institute’s GREMI TEXTIL DE TERRASSA, a non-profit Catalan organization which joins more than 120 companies in the textile sector; 3 textiles associations: Association of Textile Entrepreneurs of Valencia (ATEVAL) from Spain, Cluster of Technical Textiles (CLUTEX) from Czech Republic, the Italian association of technical and innovative textiles (TEXCLUBTEC) of Italy; 3 technological centers: Innovation and technology transfer for textile (INOTEX) from Czech Republic, LEITAT and TECNALIA  from Spain; and 3 companies: GEM’INNOV from France, NILKA from Turkey and SILK & PROGRESS from Czech Republic.

 

The project, which began on November 1, 2013, would be ongoing for duration of 36 months. The project would be provided with a financing of ?.56 million by EU. The textiles would be mainly used for manufacturing personal protective clothing and home textiles.