# Insecticide danger



## JoCatalunya (Mar 16, 2011)

Now that Spring is finally here, I would just like to warn fellow expats of a potential danger to be found in the shops which seems to be the answer to all us insect hating folks prayers.

I am talking about ZUM, subtitle 'A Year Without Insects', it is truly a fantastic product and indeed offers the user a year, well a good few months at least of insect free living. How? Well I am not too sure, but basically you spray it on any surface like your window bottoms and hey presto any insect that lands or crawls across it dies. Not just the instant that you spray it, but afterwards, for weeks, for months as long as it isnt washed away. 

Brilliant you say, (so did I) but there is a snag. Whilst on the tin there is a small picture of a tree and a fish with rather obscure writing beneath saying 'Peligro el medi ambiente' I have to say it is rather hard to see. What's more, it hardly conveys the dangerous nature of the contents.

Basically one of my dogs, who is into licking up stuff she shouldnt, got a taste for the stuff and licked it from the area around the drain (where I had sprayed it). I didnt know about it :noidea: until she started trying to make herself sick by eating grass uke:. This didnt work, or at least wasnt working, however being not the brightest dog in the world she kept on going back to lick the drain, on seeing we stopped her and decided to take her to the vet. It was lucky we did. No sooner had we walked through the door, she collapsed. The spray acts as a neuro toxin, inhibiting breathing I think because she started to pant and struggle for breath, in fact she stopped breathing 3 times and had to be resusicitated by myself and our vet. As he began treatment he called :cell: the poisons advice line in Spain and was told there was no antidote for the chemicals in the spray and that he could only try and dilute it and pray ray2:

Luckily my dog survived, thanks to his dogged determination not to give up on her. 

So folks please be careful, we might not like insects in our houses, but be warned our being rid of them may come at a cost we find hard to bear. I know I nearly did.


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

JoCatalunya said:


> Now that Spring is finally here, I would just like to warn fellow expats of a potential danger to be found in the shops which seems to be the answer to all us insect hating folks prayers.
> 
> I am talking about ZUM, subtitle 'A Year Without Insects', it is truly a fantastic product and indeed offers the user a year, well a good few months at least of insect free living. How? Well I am not too sure, but basically you spray it on any surface like your window bottoms and hey presto any insect that lands or crawls across it dies. Not just the instant that you spray it, but afterwards, for weeks, for months as long as it isnt washed away.
> 
> ...


Yes, we use a different product, as do the local spaniards, but only spray it on the house walls as that's where the flies tend to gather. I never use it anywhere the dogs can get at it. When you look at the products they've all got the 'dangerous to fish / water courses' labels on.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

We have geckoes, much more user-friendly!

I would never use poison round the house or garden. We don't have problems with insects. We do occasionally get those tiny Argentinian ants in the kitchen if we accidentally spill some fruit juice or something, but they are easily dealt with using boiling water.


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## dunmovin (Dec 19, 2008)

There is a product, similar to Zum, but it is a sticker you place on a window or other surface, the colours and pattern is supposed to attract insects and the active chemical kills them. Because you can place them in locations that pets can't reach they might be safer...... I'll try to find the packet later and post the product name.


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## PokAlice (Mar 8, 2011)

Aren't most insecticides/pesticides a danger to marine life/ the environment in some shape or form? I've certainly seen that symbol on bottles in the past including those that are allowed to be used indoors. I try to avoid using spray insecticides at all if possible (especially around the house with young children), though in Spain that can be a challenge - especially as it seems that the Spanish (my wife included) seem to love spraying the stuff liberally around the house as though it were air freshener.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

PokAlice said:


> Aren't most insecticides/pesticides a danger to marine life/ the environment in some shape or form?


Exactly!!

If you're using a product to kill something you can safely assume it's going to kill/ harm others.


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## Sonrisa (Sep 2, 2010)

PokAlice said:


> - especially as it seems that the Spanish (my wife included) seem to love spraying the stuff liberally around the house as though it were air freshener.


Really? 

I ban them from my home, as do most spanish women that I know. The poison is so much more harmful than the roaches or whaever little ****** that you are trying to get rid of.


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## JoCatalunya (Mar 16, 2011)

Whilst it is preferable not to use insecticides I grant you, and yes they all do carry the little fish and tree emblem on them to warn you they are harmful to the environment. The fact remains there is a danger that someone unsuspecting sprays it where their dog or cat or worse their child could get at it. 
I would hate for anyone else to go through what my dog and I went through. 
Sometimes folk use a spray without thinking of the consequences and as I need glasses to read by I found it hard to see the blurry picture on the can when I bought it and believed wrongly I grant you, that if someone creates a poison they would also create an antidote.


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