Warning Issued on 'Chalk' Pesticide; Dangerous to Children

Source

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

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Imported illegally from China and other countries, the insecticide chalk is touted as effective against roaches and other household pests when a line of chalk is drawn along the floor or baseboards. It is typically sold at swap meets, flea markets, and urban ethnic grocery and hardware stores. In recent months it has been advertised in newspapers and on the Internet.

Chemical analyses of some confiscated samples have found that the active ingredients may include insecticides deltamethrin and cypermethrin, a class of insecticides that act on the nervous system. Overexposure, especially for children, can produce serious health effects, including vomiting, stomach pains, convulsions, tremors, coma, and death due to respiratory failure. Serious allergic reactions are also possible. In addition, analysis of the colorful packaging has found high levels of lead and other heavy metals.

The Illinois Poison Center is aware of nine child poisoning cases from ingestion within the past two years. This is likely an underestimate because many pesticide poisonings go unrecognized and/or unreported.

According to John Ward, chief of the regional Pesticides Program Section: "These deceptively dangerous products have appeared over the past decade across the United States. Because they are unregistered and unregulated, we have no way of knowing if the ingredients are harmless to humans, or a deadly poison."

EPA recommends that roaches and other pests be safely controlled by: