Every year in the United States, about 17000 children are poisoned by household insecticides. Another survey suggests that children who are exposed to household cleaning agents and horticultural pesticides for a long time are seven times more likely to develop leukemia. This reminds us not to take home environmental pollution lightly at all times.
It should be noted that do not overly trust the instructions for using certain chemical products, as most only indicate the active ingredients, and no one will label the consequences of long-term exposure. It is obvious that many chemical substances gradually form damage to the human body, and they often cause chronic comprehensive diseases. The main symptoms include headache, lack of concentration, unconscious depression, chronic fatigue, asthma, sinusitis, etc. For example, there was a patient who had a bad trachea since childhood. Since the summer this year, the symptoms of coughing and runny nose have become increasingly severe, even evolving into asthma. Although taking medication can alleviate the symptoms, it has not been cured. Later, a clever doctor discovered that it was an allergy to mosquito repellent incense. After stopping mosquito repellent incense, the disease did not heal.
Children have a fast breathing speed and often breathe through their mouths, so the probability and dosage of inhaling and consuming chemical agents are much higher than adults. In addition, children are developing and their cells divide rapidly. Excessive absorption of toxins can easily lead to cell mutations and cancer. People have heard about the high toxicity and harm of pesticides, but their vigilance towards household insecticides is poor. Perhaps because they add spices and are not pungent, people forget that they are toxic substances similar to pesticides.
There are hundreds of commonly used household insecticides, with sprays being the most common, followed by liquid agents, mosquito coils, electric mosquito coils, etc. The main components are pyrethroids, followed by carbamate salts, organic phosphorus, as well as organochlorine and anticoagulant rodenticides.
Pyrethrin is extracted from the flowers and plants of Pyrethrum, which can damage the insect’s nervous system and is therefore used to manufacture insecticides. There are dozens of artificially synthesized pyrethroids with varying levels of toxicity depending on their composition. Pure pyrethroid does not have significant toxicity, and its toxicity mainly comes from its additives. The route of poisoning is rarely absorbed by the skin, but mostly enters the human body through respiration or accidental ingestion.
In certain special situations, it is particularly important to use chemicals correctly when necessary. Insecticides mainly composed of pyrethroids should be chosen to deal with mosquitoes, flies, and ants, while amino formates should be used to deal with cockroaches. Organic phosphorus products with strong toxicity should be used as little as possible to avoid harm to family members, especially children.
Insecticides that only contain pyrethroids must be sprayed directly on the insect to be effective. Cockroaches often hide in dark places and come out to forage at night. They must use long-acting amino formates and spray up, down, left, and right about 10 centimeters around the corner where cockroaches often appear.
Mosquito repellent is another type of insecticide, mainly composed of pyrethroids. The principle is to use high temperature to evaporate the insecticide into the air, killing mosquitoes. Due to the need for mosquito coils to be burned or heated, oxygen is needed. If there are people indoors, it is best to open doors and windows to improve ventilation in order to avoid incomplete combustion and the production of carbon monoxide due to insufficient oxygen. However, this will reduce the concentration of insecticides in the air, which will not achieve the effect of mosquito removal. At best, it will only have a mosquito repellent effect. In order to prevent children from inhaling too much insecticide or waste gas, it is better to use mosquito coils when no one is present. After tightly closing the doors and windows, let the mosquito repellent burn indoors for several hours before opening the doors and windows and sweeping mosquitoes. It should be noted that burning mosquito coils must be kept away from flammable materials such as paper, wood, clothing, and objects to prevent fires.
In short, in today’s world where we are surrounded by various chemicals, parents should be extra careful not to harm their children. While paying attention to the health of their families, they should also constantly pay attention to the purification and cleanliness of their home environment, safeguarding their children’s healthy growth.