I think someone might have got confused. I've been looking all evening for information about this and here's what I've been able to find.
According to Wiki, polyacrylamide itself is nontoxic but if it breaks down it can be reduced back to acrylamide which is a known neurotoxin. Because polyacrylamide is formed by using acrylamide subunits, there are trace amounts of acrylamide found in it. There is caution to be had when handling it but generally the traces are very small. Now, looking at what acrylamide does:
Wiki says:
"Acrylamide decomposes in the presence of acids, bases, oxidizing agents, iron, and iron salts. It decomposes non-thermally to form ammonia, and thermal decomposition produces carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and oxides of nitrogen."
The person who initially posted over at Fauna I think is confused between polyacrylamide and acrylate. Acrylate polymer isn't marketed for animal consumption because it's essentially plastic.
Anyway, it also appears that cross-linked versions of polyacrylamide are more resistant to degradation as well.
I saw on one pet
website that Anionic Polyacrylamide is safe for insects to consume but I don't see where they are getting that information from. Would be nice if they listed a credible source that did a study
specifically for insects.
I hope this clarifies things. I had to read this stuff near a dozen times before my head wrapped around any of it. lol