Thanks, Nancy, for an excellent post about pest killers. That's the point I was trying to make in my other post about boric acid and borax. They work to kill insects with a mechanism that would not work on humans or other mammals. Borax, boric acid and diatamaceous earth all work by breaking down the insects's hard exoskeleton, destroying their "defense mechanism" against the outside world and causing them to dehydrate. Humans and ferrets don't HAVE a hard exoskeleton .. so it doesn't work this way with us. It reminds me of snails and table salt; ordinary table salt sprinkled on a snail/slug will *kill* it, due to the way snails are built. Humans and other mammals can safely eat it (or sprinkle it on their skin) without major problems, in appropriate size dosages. While neither of these three ingredients is non-toxic (everything is toxic if eaten in sufficeint quantities), they are safe as long as you take care not to inhale them, or to ingest large quantities. - Ela ___ ___ (000)___(000) Ela Heyn / @ @ \ [log in to unmask] | | ======@====== http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/5483 [Posted in FML issue 2307]