Infant dies after mom's bed bug pesticide treatment

so sad...Mom wanted to live in a Bug free environment and seems to have killed her youngest child...
from CNN...www.cnn.com...

An infant in Canada died and her four siblings are hospitalized after their mother treated their apartment for pesticides using phosphine tablets.

Anyone on ATS EVER use phosphine tablets?

originally posted by: DjembeJedi
Anyone on ATS EVER use phosphine tablets?

Ah. Off the top of my head, you use phosphine tablets to produce a lung destroying poisonous gas.

We used to put zinc phosphide out for mice and rats when the barn got to be a bit too rodenty, the other animals would avoid it but apparently rodents do not have the ability to smell or taste it. They eat it, it reacts with their stomach acid, they burp and inhale phosphine gas in the burp.

This destroys their lungs. The second good part about zinc phosphide rat bait besides it being repulsive to your dogs, cats and farm animals (even goats avoid it) is that a poisoned rodent will come into the open and lay down in the middle of the floor to die. This makes it a lot easier to get rid of them so that they don't decay in the hay.

I have never used phosphine other than that. I assume you could drop concentrated phosphide into a cup of hydrochloric acid and make free phosphine, but it would be mondo toxic to everything while it lasted.

a reply to: Bedlam

Thanks for the explanation!
So no matter how you use it is TOXIC and dangerous..WTH was this Lady thinking? She was probably sold the tablets as a "Treatment" for the Bedbugs BUT its a Professional treatment not for @ home use..OR she really is dumb and just got ahold of some poison and went to town. The video says it was bought Illegally..which to me says a licence is needed for purchase.

So we're using this stuff industrially in grain silos now. I'm sure that's really good for the grain to soak in.

originally posted by: DjembeJedi
a reply to: Bedlam

Thanks for the explanation!
So no matter how you use it is TOXIC and dangerous..WTH was this Lady thinking?

Well, the whole point of a pesticide or rodenticide is to be toxic and dangerous. Some are, however, more toxic than others.

She was probably sold the tablets as a "Treatment" for the Bedbugs BUT its a Professional treatment not for @ home use..OR she really is dumb and just got ahold of some poison and went to town. The video says it was bought Illegally..which to me says a licence is needed for purchase.

In the US, I can get (or could, as a yoot) phosphide rat bait all day long, but you had to sign for it. The video said that it's only available "to professionals" in Canada, mostly for agro use.

I'd agree with that. It's a dandy agro rat bait. You do have to be aware that rats, mice, rabbits and birds will eat it and die, and you want to know where and when you put that bait out and make sure it's disposed of properly etc.

As a general purpose indoor pesticide, it sucks butt. The gas is detectable if you know what to smell for, but you might not avoid it in low concentrations and it would gradually do you in. Also, if the pics in the video are to be believed, she did this in an apartment complex, which would worry me for the people below and to the sides of my apartment.

Phosphide is not a group-home appropriate pesticide. It's the sort of thing you'd put a bag over your house for.

She got hers in Pakistan. In some countries, you can buy things that maybe aren't for the ignorant or low of intelligence to use. But they do anyway. Phosphine's great for what it's good for, if you're careful. There are a lot of pesticides that fall into this category. And a lot of people just aren't up to using them safely.

originally posted by: AreUKiddingMe
So we're using this stuff industrially in grain silos now. I'm sure that's really good for the grain to soak in.

It doesn't really "soak in", any more than nitrogen does. You've been eating phosphine fumigated grain all your life.

eta: oil seed is different. I was thinking of wheat. Wheat absorbs the stuff to a very small degree and when it gets to you, it's a higher level of phosphorus as the phosphine per se has long since broken down.

Rape seed is a different critter, though. It sucks up a lot of phosphine. Enjoy your canola oil. I'm sure it's healthful.

originally posted by: Bedlam

originally posted by: AreUKiddingMe
So we're using this stuff industrially in grain silos now. I'm sure that's really good for the grain to soak in.

It doesn't really "soak in", any more than nitrogen does. You've been eating phosphine fumigated grain all your life.

I think I'd rather eat insects.

originally posted by: AreUKiddingMe

I think I'd rather eat insects.

If you've got really tight grain silos, you can flood 'em with CO2 or nitrogen instead. But nothing at all and you'll lose huge percentages of your grain.

Weevily flour full of bug crap and dead bugs isn't for most people.