WARNING! Shipping DE

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If any of you feed food grade Diatomaceous Earth to your critters to deworm and/or kill insects, be aware if you're having it shipped to you.

When you order DE, the supplier is going to have to package it well. There have been several scares from the 'white powder.' A plane landed quicky and was evacuated when some white powder was found leaking out of a box....not Anthrax, just DE! Another bag of DE on the way to it's destination never made it ~ a machine in the post office punctured a couple of holes in a bag, the DE was leaking, and they evacuated the post office. The product/bag was destroyed.

This is just a couple of the reports and why the DE should be well sealed. Remind your supplier.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), October 16, 2001

Answers

I heard about those,, didnt know it was DE though

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), October 16, 2001.

Rogo, was that post office in Fort Wayne, IN by chance?

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), October 16, 2001.

Please, don't ask where reports came from! -LOL- Folks know of my interest/use of DE and I get reports from all over!

I get mail from all over the U.S. and across the pond from folks looking for food grade (codex) DE suppliers. Some days my head just swims! -G-

I hadn't thought about DE as a problem 'white powder,' but let's face it, why would I? Our lives and thinking have been forever changed and we will have to get used to doing things differently.

I sure never thought I'd be carrying latex gloves to the post office to pick up my mail, but I am.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), October 16, 2001.


Sometime you can buy it at a water softener or well or swimming pool company..... which is what I did

-- Lynnda (venus@zeelink.net), October 18, 2001.

Lynnda, that is not the right kind of D E as it has been refined and dosnt work for bugs any more.

-- kathy h (ckhart55@earthlink.net), October 18, 2001.


=== Sometime you can buy it at a water softener or well or swimming pool company..... which is what I did ===

Industrial grade DE is heated/treated/ground larger than food grade DE. Folks are most familiar with this grade for their swimming pool filters. They tell me it won't kill insects/parasites, but could kill your critters. Don't understand how your critters lived. And I certainly wouldn't want a toddler to accidently eat the industrial grade (call the poison control center).

Food (codex) grade DE is NOT heated/treated and is ground fine. It's in most things that go into your mouth, as an anti-caking agent ~ flour products, cake mixes, toothpaste, etc. Farmers use it in their silos.

When the proper amount is fed, it deworms the critters. It aids their digestion and feed conversion. Flies can't breed in the manure. It's a good cure if your critters eat dirt (they need minerals and food grade DE is loaded with trace minerals). It gets rid of the smell in pens. Any insect that crawls thru DE will die, except earthworms.

Folks, PLEASE don't purchase the industrial grade except for its intended purpose.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), October 19, 2001.


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