Originally posted by toxin
How toxic is roach spray if accidentally inhaled ?
How does roach spray harm insects, by direct contact or through inhalation ?
[Edited on 13-8-2005 by toxin]
What happened? Did you happen to inhale some of it, toxin?
There are a few types of insecticides, basically divided into organochlorine compounds, organophosphorus compounds and carbamates. If I am not wrong,
roach sprays normally make use of organochlorine compounds as it is more commonly used to deal with house pests such as roaches, mosquitoes and flies.
Those that make use of organophosphorus compounds are more toxic than those of organochlorine compounds, so they shouldnt be in your roach sprays.
Insecticides are normally taken in by insects through the feet or antennae or by ingestion and eventually paralyses the central nervous system.
Therefore, unless you have inhaled alot of these aerosols (I hope you didnt), it shouldnt cause much problems for you.unionised - 14-8-2005 at 13:02
Strange as it may seem, the makers of roach spray are in the business of killing roaches rather than people. To do this they chose insecticides that
are more toxic to roaches than to humans. It's quite possible , if you were to inhale roach spray 'till you died, that the solvent
(essentially kerosene) would be what killed you. It's even more likely that the propellant would be responsible for your demise.Chris The Great - 15-8-2005 at 17:57
Most substances seem to be more toxic to insects and other small animals than to humans, at least this is true for organophosphorus compounds. For
example DFP vapour can kill all the flies in the room and not affect the humans present in the room. TEPP is about 10 times more toxic to rats than
to humans (0.5mg/kg compared to 5mg/kg).
Since these small animals are also much smaller as well, very little toxin actually is needed to kill them.
However, if you where to inhale a can of roach spray I do think you would encounter porblems. Accidentaly inhaling a few wiffs shouldn't be much
of a problem.
This is of course not that case when working if high stength pesticides!unionised - 21-8-2005 at 12:42
Extrapolating from insecticides (which have been chosen for exactly this reason) to "most substances" isn't valid.
It's like saying most chemicals are coloured based on a bunch of dyestuffs.
IIRC nicotine, while it is used as a pesticide, is more toxic to people than to insects.Chris The Great - 21-8-2005 at 16:28
Yes, you are correct. My point was that most organophosphates are more toxic to smaller bugs and such, I didn't really mean to apply it to all
chemicals in exist, rather just a group.
Rereading my post I see that it isn't that clear however.
