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Food Grade DE- safe or not?
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Scritch
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Joined: Jun '12
Posts: 52offline
Posted 10 months ago
Wed Jul 11 2012 12:16:37
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I've read many conflicting things about DE. One is that it can give you silicosis - is this true of food grade DE? I put some around the edges of the room the bed bugs favor and around my bed. When the bed bug inspector saw it, he said to get rid of it as it was dangerous to my lungs. I got rid of the stuff around my bed and have two more places to take care of, but now I'm worried about my 2 cats. I called the Humane Society poison control center before using it and they said it was okay.
The rug in the room isn't tacked down at one end so I lifted it up and put quite a bit of it there. Since it's under the rug do I need to worry about it?
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your host
Joined: Mar '07
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Posted 10 months ago
Wed Jul 11 2012 12:56:37
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Please read our FAQ on DE.
The short answer is it can be used safely, but can also be dangerous. You don't want it to get kicked up and make contact with your lungs. Most people seem to misapply it to locations where it may pose a danger or overapply it. It should be used very lightly and only in cracks and crevices.
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Scritch
junior member
Joined: Jun '12
Posts: 52offline
Posted 10 months ago
Wed Jul 11 2012 18:25:23
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Well, I probably won't use any more then. I vaccuumed (wearing a hospital mask) up what I put down and wiped the remainder with wet paper towels. I had a one pound bag of DE and used at most a quarter of it. Except for around the bed, I put it behind a few pieces of furniture where the cats couldn't step in it even though the humane society said it was okay to use it with them around. I'll stick to steaming and vacuuming from now on.
Speaking of steaming, if I steam areas where there's like a fine layer of residual DE, is that worse than letting it sit there? Will steam disperse the DE into the air?
This has been an effing nightmare. The hundreds of bites and my landlord (who never mentioned there were lots of bedbugs in the bldg some years ago) were bad enough; now I'm worried I may have given my pets and myself lung cancer or something.
I asked my landlord (who I used to like a lot pre-bed bugs) if it would be possible to change the carpeting in the room where I sleep. It's pretty beaten up from all the pesticides and steaming and de and the walls (too high for me to reach) have bed bug detritus from when I got them with the vacuum attachment. I think it would be good healthwise to get rid of all the various residues, as well as aesthetically.
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