earth is used in arthropod control, the content of crystalline silica can be a health concern if inhaled by humans or pets. A proper mask should always be worn when applying "flux-calcined" DE, and care should be taken not to stir up the product or create conditions (windows open with air circulating) that could cause quantities to become airborne. Ben Gazarra Wed, 2012-07-04 23:36 100% amorphous Diatemaceous earth is not harmful to be breathed in. Do not listen to pest control experts, they are making a killing off this whole epidemic. I discovered too late I had bedbugs. Clean your bed. sprinkle DE on the bedframe. Get matress and pillow protectors and bed bug barriers on the legs. Make em come to you so they will crawl through the DE and die. I observed bed bugs die from crawling through DE within 10 hours. The stress is definately worse than the actual bite. Tamara Szymanska Sat, 2012-07-07 01:55 I find hard to believe that bedbugs do not transmit any diseases! For example mosquitoes are carriers of various serious diseases, and they infect animals and people by biting them. Bed bugs also bite. So what makes bedbugs less dangerous? Recently researchers at St. Paul's Hospital reported that bedbugs found on the patients from DTES, carry dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacterias (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus - MRSA and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium - VRE). This certainly doesn't make bedbugs as innocuous as the writer would make us believe. If this is as common as the article