People see "Food Grade" and think "oh, that means the animal can eat it safely and kill the worms or bugs." Then, when their chickens don't have worms to their naked eye, swear that it's working.
Here's the truth about DE: when it gets wet, the active ingredients in it go dead. So in gardening, after you have dusted your plants to prevent bugs and it rains, you now have to re-dust.
For the prevention of parasites in animals, it only works topically on animals that won't get themselves wet. Be aware: the dust is so fine, it WILL cause Upper Respiratory breathing issues in your birds and may cause an Asthmatic like response in your pets. It is not a recommended course of treatment by most vets for this reason.
Defining Food Grade: Well what the heck does it mean then? When you treat your plants with things we used before DE, like Seven, when it rains, the chemicals stay in the ground. With DE, when it washes off for rain, it is now dead and nothing is then living in the ground--telling you that your plants and veges are then chemical free for food use.
So hope that helps to clear things up!
Boots and Lace
