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On the label of most household cockroach sprays is a list of “active ingredients”–long, unpronounceable chemical names–and “inert ingredients,” usually not listed. Beware the inerts: A typical spray contains up to 99 percent inerts, some of which are known to cause cancer, birth defects, and flulike symptoms. Manufacturers are shielded from revealing their recipes by a “trade secrecy” clause in federal law. But there are relatively safe, natural, and effective alternatives:

THE ACID TEST
Boric acid, a stomach poison, is one of the most effective roach controls available. It’s relatively safe, odorless, long-lasting, and roaches can’t develop resistance to it (as they can to insecticides). But sprinkle it lightly, as you’d add salt to food. If roaches see piles of powder, they’ll get suspicious and scamper off.
FROM THE SEA
Even more fun than squashing roaches under your shoe is spreading around some diatomaceous earth, a fine powder of fossilized plankton. For roaches, it’s like crawling over razor blades. The roaches cut their outer cuticle layers, expel fluids and eventually shrivel up and die. The stuff is especially useful for treating cracks and other hard-to-reach spots; humans shouldn’t breathe in too much of it, though.
TRICK OR TREAT
In old times, families would move out of their homes for a few days during winter, leave their windows open, and freeze vermin to death. Today, we can just put out insecticidal baits (many shaped like miniature geodesic domes). Roaches swallow the poison and croak within days.
HOME IMPROVEMENT
Like any unwanted guest, roaches love a prodigious supply of food and drink. Basic rules: Clean up food residue in and around the fridge, oven, garbage can, table top, counter, and pantry. Seal cracks and fix leaky pipes. Don’t leave food out overnight, and dry your dishes before putting them away.
BEATING BEETLES
Roaches gone? Then head outside to take your yard back from beetle infestation. Buy a few nematodes–microscopic worms–and put them out on the lawn. Nematodes attack beetle larvae; once the larvae are dead, they use them for spawning. Yum.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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