Fly me to the moon

June 5, 2011 6:50 AM

Fly-killing window stickers: potentially allergenic?

I suffer pretty badly from hay fever and dust allergies, and am currently taking antihistamines to keep a lid on the sneezing and sniffling over the summer. It's been working pretty great, until today, when I'm thoroughly feeling as if I've taken a ride on the pollen pony. The only thing that's changed in the house is that we've put up a couple of these sorts of fly-killing stickers (albeit a different brand).

I really have probably just been exposed to more pollen, or caught a mild cold, or been unlucky or something, but I thought it was worth asking: has anyone had ever heard of these things provoking an allergic reaction? Presumably they're emitting something into the air to attract the flies.

posted by emmtee to Health & Fitness (3 answers total)

The nature of that "something into the air" could be figured out by reading the ingredients on the package. If this form of Vapona ( 2,2-dichclorovinyl dimethyl phosphate) is still part of the mix, buyer beware.
Acute Eficts (short-term): Range from mild.
to severe-inability to walk, chest discomfort,
constriction of pupils, muscular twitching,
unconsciousness, and seizures
Chronic Effects (long-term): Slowness of
thinking, memory defects, irritability, and
delayed reaction times
Reproductive Effects: Suspected human
teratogen, causes birth defects and fetal death
in laboratory rats
posted by beagle at 7:37 AM on June 5, 2011

Response by poster: That's dichlorvos, which - yes - is pretty noxious stuff. It was suspended for sale in the UK in 2002, and a brief google appears to show it isn't used in household stuff like these fly stickers any more. I should have mentioned ours are Pestshield brand and are, in any case, labelled as 'pesticide free'. There are no ingredients listed on the packaging (I'd have googled them if there were), but I specifically had whatever odour attracts the flies rather than whatever kills them in mind as the potential culprit.
posted by emmtee at 7:59 AM on June 5, 2011

For the past two days I've been experiencing hay fever symptoms that are easily twice as bad as my summer norm. I'm taking the usual medication (cetirizine) and it's really not doing the trick. Other people have mentioned similar problems today.

I suspect that, even though the pollen forecasts haven't looked all that bad over much of the UK, some species of flowering plant has decided it's time to get sexy this weekend.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 1:33 PM on June 5, 2011