On Mon, 05 May 2003 18:53:15 GMT, animaux wrote:

I don't know why anyone would calcine it, either.

Me neither, but some of it is "flux calcined". I spent some time
looking for standards and became completely lost. But the main
property that makes it an insecticide is abrasiveness and apparently a
desiccant to boot. Maybe it abrades the exoskeleton and then
desiccates the insect. But, I found a reference that it gets slugs,
duh! How do you abrade a slug? Worms spend their life eating dirt,
so I can see why they are immune to abrasion.

I have become an inventor in my advanced years and have been working
on grinding up waste glass bottles (recycling you know). I get quite
a bit of real fine glass dust. I have been using it like D.E. and I
do not know if it works or not. But, so far my dog has not died and
he has no fleas.

But glass is a very unstable silicate so it corrodes and goes away,
D.E. is pretty stable so stays around a long time (in your lungs if
you breath it), and quartz sand stays around forever and the
government has standards for breathing that.

Interesting question, Victoria, and I do not know the answer, and
besides, you need to get on with getting ready for the film crews.

Rusty Mase





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