insects on your ficus

[Simon Woodward]

In article <10497776 at dancer.Dartmouth.EDU> Julia.A.Keith at DARTMOUTH.EDU (Julia A. Keith) writes:

>Can I make a plea here for a less harmful method of pest control?  Rather than
>dumping some chemical on the problem, how about rubbing alcohol and some cotton
>swabs?  Swab the little beasties with alcohol, which kills them.  Do it
>regularly for a few weeks, and they'll be gone.  Not only do you save money,
>you reduce the levels of harmful pesticides (there's no such thing as a
>harmless one, or they wouldn't work) in your home.
>Organic is better,

I use Pyrethrum on my plants, which I understand is the extract of a flower. 
Is this a "harmful pesticide"?

Where does alcohol come from anyway :-) It might be a harmful pesticide!

What about disposal of used cotton swabs :-)

Simon