On Fri, 06 Apr 2007 01:41:51 GMT, Paulo da Costa
wrote:

Jangchub wrote:

Regardless, Janet. The pesticide pyrethrum comes from the flower not
the foliage and smell has absolutely nothing to do with its
insecticidal properties in that it kills insects indiscriminately.
Kill is kill. I don't kill knowingly. And no, I don't eat meat
either.

The plants themselves don't "kill", only a concentrated extract does.
The plants make themselves unattractive to insects by producing it. I
have feverfew in my garden and it has similar properties, it is fun to
see bees bend their flight path to stay away from its flowers.

Paulo

No, the flowers are crushed up and ground into powder and the entire
flower is the pyrethrum which is not only poison to insects, but to
most mammals, amphibians, and reptiles including birds (descendants of
reptiles).