Hacker News Reader

Comment by cascom | Hacker News Reader

I don’t understand why people would poison themselves like thi (bug bomb), especially when safe alternatives like Diatomaceous Earth are available

View on HN

Likely because people don't know it exists.

I worked in pest control when I was younger (friend's family business) and I live in an area where there's 2 very common unwanted pests. Pest control is a somewhat common topic and nearly every person I know (except myself) has "bombed" their house multiple times.

Your post is the first time I've heard of DE.

I highly recommend the stuff. Works great, supposedly harmless for us mammals, and ridiculously cheap. I bought a bag for a few bucks years ago and I’m maybe a quarter of the way through it now. Any time I see unwanted bugs, I dust around likely entrances and they stop coming.

Breathing certain forms of diatomaceous earth can cause silicosis and other lung problems:

http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/degen.html

Apparently breathing the amorphous form causes only mild and reversible lung inflammation. Breathing the crystalline form can be more dangerous.

Good to know. It sounds like normal household use is fine, but frolicking in the stuff might be good to avoid.

Doesn't work all that great on fleas. We had a bad flea infestation and it basically took my wife on her hands and knees with a can of Hot Shot flea killer. Bug bombs did nothing. Took us nearly 2 weeks of this to get the area clear, but it eventually worked.

Also have to be careful with DE. If you try to vacuum it up you’ll probably end up with a ruined vacuum, at least according to a lot of people online - I don’t want to find out for myself.

My wife vacuumed it daily for 2 weeks. It didn't seem to affect our Dyson, that's still going strong months later.

Dyson should be safe, they filter out a lot more than cheaper vacs. Some more info:

https://www.saferbrand.com/articles/clean-up-diatomaceous-ea...

The problem with DE is it takes awhile for the bug to actually die, where as poison is instant

DE is for exterior boundary use.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com