RE: LD50/30 of the Cockroach

[Franz Schoenhofer <schoenho@via.at>]

At 16:05 21.07.2000 -0500, you wrote:

Sorry to say, that in my flat I met over the last two years or so a few
species of cockroaches, running around in the kitchen (behind the freezer
where it is warm and the water tap where some small remainants of food may
be present and surely water). One I found in the entrance place, climbing
desperately away from me. They are regarded as terrible beasts (and pests)
in Vienna and have to be exterminated, whenever they are observed. I did
not tell the authorities of my observations, so I probably have committed a
crime, but as well saved a few lives...... It seems to me that all
creatures in nature have a special reason to exist - so, who knows, what
the message of cockroaches is - maybe they should eat away the garbage in
order to prevent aflatoxins formed......

Now, to be a little more serious: cockroaches are  n o t  cockroaches. I
saw some in my "fare" in French Polynesia, which surely exceeded the
"volume" of the ones in my kitchen by a factor of at least ten. I did not
feel uneasy, rather I felt fine, when I saw that a lizard was looking at me
down from the ceiling. How can I ever have a lizard looking down at me in
Vienna? Therefore I think that the LD50 must be very different for
different species of cockroaches. 

I do not know the direct reason of your inquiry, but to kill them by
gammaradiation would in my opinion not be the right way to get rid of them.

Can you disclose the reason of your question?

Best wishes,

Franz


Franz Schoenhofer
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Vienna
Austria
Tel.: +43-1-495 53 08
Fax.: same number
mobile phone: +43-664-338 0 333
e-mail: schoenho@via.at


Office:
Ministerialrat Dr. Franz Schoenhofer
Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management
Radiation Protection Department (BMLFUW I/8 U)
Radetzkystr. 2
A-1031 Vienna
AUSTRIA

phone: -43-1-71172-4458
fax: -43-1-7122331

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