Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis and Bacillus sphaericus products were assayed against their respective reference powders IPS82 and SPH88. Since their production in 1982 and 1988, the potency and larvicidal activity of these standard powders have been regularly checked on their test insects Aedes aegypti (for IPS82) or Culex pipiens (for SPH88). Over the 16-year evaluation period of IPS82 and 10-year evaluation period of SPH88, their potencies were considered stable. The global mean of each year's mean showed a coefficient of variation of less than 20%. Larval rearing was the most important factor in the reproducibility of the bioassay, although some variation also originated from the person performing the bioassay. This study demonstrated that the SPH88 standard could be kept in a stock suspension at 4 degrees C for 3 years without loss of potency. Moreover, after 9 years of storage in suspension, only a 2-fold decrease in the potency of SPH88 was detected.
