Further to my blog Simple folk remedies: 03 (minor cuts and grazes), there’s another use for talcum powder I’ve discovered, apart from applying it to a graze to dry up the scraped area to form a scab within a short time.
On a visit home to Singapore one year, I’d bought a bag of duku (a sour fruit native to S.E. Asia) and started to eat some of it. Went upstairs to go to the loo, leaving the skin and stones sitting on a few sheets of newspaper (to soak up the juice) on the coffee table which was in the middle of the big living room, about 12 feet away from the kitchen door.
Came back after a couple of minutes to find a trail of ants had made their way from the kitchen (probably up the rubbish chute in the far kitchen wall, a typical feature in high-rise blocks in Singapore), across the living room floor, and up the coffee table. They’d scented the duku all the way from that distance! I sprinkled some talcum powder (which I always pack on a trip, as a freshener) across the floor. The trail stopped within a minute: they didn’t like to get their feet powdered!
I went to France the following year, staying a couple of nights with Colette’s relatives in Toulouse before going to the farm with them in their car. We were eating lunch on their balcony when a trail of ants emerged from the flat below, attracted by the smell of the food. I got my talcum powder out and sprinkled it in their path. Stopped them within no time at all.
(Singapore; France)
Interesting use of talcum powder. I wonder if it will work to stop fleas as well, as here it's a constant battle to keep them out of your house, especially with a pet in the backyard.
ReplyDeleteIt's worth trying. It smells nice (although I read a year or 2 ago that it's carcinogenic), so if it doesn't work to deter the fleas, the place will smell nice. Where are you thinking of applying the talc? Onto Morgan directly, under the fur?
ReplyDeleteFrom googling:
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Based on limited evidence from human studies of a link to ovarian cancer, IARC classifies the perineal (genital) use of talc-based body powder as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” 4 Feb 2020
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Another entry from googling:
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Talc dust can cause significant harm if it's swallowed or inhaled. Talc inhalation can cause wheezing, coughing, chest pain and difficulty breathing. Although rare, talcum poisoning can prove fatal. Because of these risks, Johnson & Johnson includes a warning on its baby powder product.
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Another:
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Talc is bad for skin because it can contain asbestos, which is a known carcinogen.
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So, based on the above citations, maybe just use flour if it's the powdery element that's at work here, i.e., the insects don't like getting their feet powdered, which was what I thought was the reason the ants were stopped in their tracks. I used talcum powder on those occasions because I happened to have it in my suitcase (whilst one wouldn't pack normal flour for travelling).
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