All DE is NOT the same. There really is a difference There are over 25,000 varieties of Diatoms. Each deposit is different because of Ocean currents mixing in whatever foreign material that might be handy. Most deposits are absolutely worthless,  and others are dangerous or deadly. The only way to be sure that you are getting the purest, certified organic, natural, food-grade diatomaceous earth is to insist on Freshwater Organics Fossilized Phytoplankton Powder and Fossil Shell Flour. For over forty years, fossil shell flour has been sold on a MONEY BACK GUARANTEE and not one person has ever asked for their money back. Fossilized Phytoplankton Powder is the trade name for Freshwater Organics (DE). It is the most convenient and attractive packaging of the purest diatomaceous earth available in the US. Fossil Shell Flour is the trade name for Perma-Guard’s Food-Grade Diatomaceous Earth (DE). The name is known the world over and is considered the purest form of diatomaceous earth available anywhere. Although it is sold as an anti-caking agent, that is perhaps what it is known and used for the least. Users of Fossil Shell Flour (FSF) who feed it to livestock have seen noticeable improvements in the health of their animals.  This quote from Wally Tharp, founder of Perma-Guard, summarizes customers' reports: “Now and then, a man would say, ‘did you know that if an animal has arthritis and eats food with your DE in it that the arthritis goes away?’  Another says that when he fed food containing DE to a dairy cow that they increase their milk production five to seven percent. One farmer who … could tell you to the penny what each cow cost him in vet bills per year… discovered that his vet bills dropped 70%. Other people… discovered that the odor of the barnyards had greatly reduced, or that the fly population decreased about 90%.” With the help of Arizona State University, the Perma-Guard product was patented as a “wormer”. Unlike most worming products, the Perma-Guard product was not a deadly poison. Strangely, this caused a problem. You see, once you claim that a product can kill bugs, it has to be registered with the EPA, classified as an insecticide, and sold under a different label. So today, our pure, food-grade, organic diatomaceous earth is sold in two bags. One bag is labeled "Fossil Shell Flour," with no warnings of any kind required on the packaging. It is certified organic, is perfectly safe to add to feed or mix with water and drink, and it is as safe as spring water. The same diatomaceous earth, is packaged in another bag that says it kills bugs. This package, called "Grain Protectant",  and is required to have warnings on the label, like “CAUTION - Keep out of the hands of children.”  DE in this package could be mixed with stored grain. A single treatment would keep the grain absolutely free of bugs and free of poison residues — indefinitely! With the Grain Protectant label, it is an insecticide and must not be fed to animals. (huh???) Hey, nobody ever said the government had to make sense. But because Perma-Guard must pay the EPA $5,600 each year for permission to sell the “insecticide”, and must also pay each individual State Dept. of Agriculture a fee, ... the cost of Grain Protectant to the user is higher than the cost of Fossil Shell Flour. I think I now understand why the word ‘bureaucrat” upsets farmers every time they hear it!  (Side note - After a petition was filed with the EPA, the agency issued diatomaceous earth an exemption from tolerances from pesticide chemicals in or on raw agricultural commodities. They found that the product did not pose any public health risk. However, to this day, the Grain Protectant is still labeled like a dangerous substance and of course, the EPA and state agencies still collect their annual fees.) Over the past 30 years, discoveries and claims about our Fossil Shell Flour continued to come in from customers, veterinarians, farmers, and universities. For the past three years, there has been a growing number of people writing to us about the health benefits that they have received from taking FSF on a daily basis. An article in a national magazine reported on a Canadian scientist who administered DE in tests and found that it stopped E-Coli poisoning immediately. Austrian scientists discovered that DE reduced cholesterol levels in the blood and kept it down. Texas A & M did a test on worming. “Taking thirty pregnant goats, the first ten were wormed with Ivomectin, a product of Merck Labs – the same people that put out Vioxx. The second ten were wormed with a mixture of DE and Ivomectin and the third group was wormed with just DE.” The group wormed with just DE was 100% free of worms. Another vet from Canada working with 2000 calves discovered that calves getting DE in their diet did not have scours. Scours is a disease that causes diarrhea (and severe dehydration) in young pigs and calves. The disease spreads very quickly and can kill many of the young pigs and calves on a farm in a very short time. A PhD medical researcher did everything the medical system could suggest to help with his case of nickel poisoning. He suffered for years while trying to get rid of the problem that was destroying his health. After several people suggested that he try our Fossil Shell Flour, he decided to look into the product. His research produced the fact that our product was totally non poisonous. So with nothing to lose, he decided to try it. In sixty days, his blood was clear of nickel and a drastic improvement in his health took place in just weeks. Further research shows that it will remove aluminum, lead, and mercury from the blood. He has stated (that) “This is the nearest to a miracle product that I have ever seen, … it does so much good in the body and has no side effects.” A medical doctor, giving it to patients (mostly elderly) whom he could not seem to help, found that regardless of what their problem was, they seemed to get better! Finally, he began to research and found a number of articles on the Internet and in magazines and two books on the BODY'S DESPERATE NEED FOR SILICA. FOSSIL SHELL FLOUR IS 79% SILICON DIOXIDE, IS ABSOLUTELY NON-TOXIC, HAS NO SIDE EFFECTS AND IS EASY TO TAKE. (do not try other Diatomaceous Earth). Hmmm, imagine that a Doctor believes our product – sold only for the simple purpose of making feed flow better – is possibly a miracle health product… The toughest part about selling Fossil Shell Flour is that we are prohibited from telling potential users all the wonderful things that are product has done for others. In fact, we are required not to make any claims about what the product can do. But without the millions of dollars required to carry out the double-blind studies that the FDA will accept, we are forced to do just that. But, as people began to discover for themselves all the wonderful things that it could do... they started to tell anyone who would listen about the benefits they were getting. WORD OF MOUTH ADVERTISING has been absolutely essential to our business. We began to get calls from total strangers, asking for that "stuff" that "cured arthritis"," got rid of parasites"," kept slugs out of the garden", "helped plants retain more water", "killed bedbugs"...  and dozens of other requests. So we simply offer our product as an anti-caking agent and if customers find any other benefits, it’s a bonus! Of course, I have been taking a heaping teaspoon of FPP a day with water for many years… www.FreshwaterOrganics.com