Serious question folks

[Maths Dude]

I have checked on the net and the answers are inconsistant.

Can fly/roach spray cause birth defects?

Thankyou.

[FG Lurker]

Can fly/roach spray cause birth defects?

Sure, depending on what is in it. If it's old enough it might contain DDT!

More recent stuff is probably considered "safe", but so was DDT 50 years ago. If you would like specific information then it would probably be best to search for info on the active chemical in the spray you have or are thinking of using.

Generally speaking (and a layman's opinion) I would say that stuff that is designed to kill things will not be good for reproductive health.

[jingai]

Pesticides are neurotoxins. The question is whether the dose you and your children get are high enough to cause damage. I'd err on the side of staying away from poisons and looking for non or less-toxic ways of controlling pests. Maybe try a google search for natural or organic pest/roach control and see what comes up?

Which chemicals are you talking about?
http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/Basics/chemuses.htm

If there is a particular ingredient you are curious about I can try to use my work contacts to find out information about how bad it is relative to other chemicals.

[Blah Pete]

When I was in Singapore the electric company sent around a newsletter and it had a recipe for non-toxic roach killer. As I lived on the ground floor I had a big problem with roaches crawling in from the outside.
I don't have the recipe anymore but maybe you can find it with by googling. It was basically flour, water, bicarbonate soda, and some beacon grease. Mix it so it has the consistency of bread dough. Put in sandwhich bage and leave open on the floor or other places where roaches may travel.
The beacon grease smell attracts them and they each the dough. Because roaches cannot burp the gas from the soda builds up until, well, the basically explode.
It seemed to work well. Took a while for results. The dough lasted about two weeks in hot, humid weather.

[Charles]

Ah, this is right up my alley, I used to be a licensed pesticide applicator.

The answer is: it depends. Most of the fly/roach spray that is toxic enough to cause birth defects is off the market (i.e. DDT, Vapona, Aldrin, Chlordane). At least, it's off the market in the US. Many other countries still use these chemicals. Check the label and let me know the specific ingredients, I could probably chase it down.

OTOH, there are many nontoxic fly/roach pesticides that are totally harmless to humans, like Pyrethrins. You could probably eat a teaspon of concentrated pyrethrin without any damage. Pyrethrins are very common.

Overall, I would not worry too much about birth defects from pesticides, unless you live in a building that is heavily contaminated from improper, repeated applications of banned commercial pesticides. There was an infamous case in the US where a rogue exterminator used some old stocks of Chlordane to fumigate homes, causing a cancer clusters in the homes he treated, the buildings all had to be razed and the soil cleared like it was an EPA Superfund Site.

If you have problems with roaches, I can help you with that. The most effective thing I ever used was "magic roach chalk." You just scribble with the chalk where the roaches run, they walk over it, and die. It's incredible. I bought this stuff at a flea market, it appears to originate in China, I don't know where you'd buy it if you had to go looking for it.
The other best roach remedy is Boric Acid. It is possible that the roach chalk is mostly Boric Acid. Just buy some of the stuff at a pharmacy, dust it around (lightly) where roaches run. Warning: not recommended for homes with pets or small children, unless you put it places where they can't reach (i.e. under the fridge, under cabinets, etc).
It is claimed that the roaches walk through the boric acid and pick it up on their feet, and they lick their feet (just like a cat cleaning its paws) and get poisoned. I don't care how it works, as long as it works. And it really really works. I scribbled some roach chalk in the kitchen of my decrepit old artist's loft and the next morning there were a hundred dead roaches on the floor.

[ketchupkatsu]

Here's a link to a proposed United State Food and Drug Admin. tests of Florida families. They already had a few families signed up before the test became public and was cancelled upon further review.

Don't know if this helps, but was kinda interesting that they were targeting poor families with young children and offering a cash incentives.

http://www.ahrp.org/infomail/05/04/08b.php

[Socratesabroad]

When I was in Singapore the electric company sent around a newsletter and it had a recipe for non-toxic roach killer.

The whole roaching burp/belch thing sounds a bit far fetched but sources like Mother Earth News (crunchy granola but been around a while) do mention it quite a bit. Simply, they suggest mixing sugar or some other attractant (flour/grease in the Sing. example) with baking soda (sodium bicarbonate).

The other best roach remedy is Boric Acid. It is possible that the roach chalk is mostly Boric Acid.
It is claimed that the roaches walk through the boric acid and pick it up on their feet, and they lick their feet (just like a cat cleaning its paws) and get poisoned. I don't care how it works, as long as it works.

I might be one of the few people curious about the science behind this...
Boric acid works.

The crystals of boric acid are sharp and get between the joints of an insect's exoskeleton. The sharp crystals abrade the cuticle and make the cockroach lose water and die of dehydration.

As do Bengal products.

[T]he Bengal product ... uses a bait station dispensing a mold that is lethal to cockroaches (but non-toxic to vertebrate animals and humans), rather than a chemical poison.

Now if anyone would be interested in enlightening me about the veracity of roaches' inability to belch...

[Maths Dude]

Thanks everyone. I like the boric acid idea too. On the can I have it says
0.7g/kg - imiprothrin & 2.0g/kg cypermethrin. I did read that in rabbits there were some problems, and since the chemical is 'newish' I dont think anyone knows its true longterm effects.