[QUOTE=sandykayak;256692So, is cornstarch talcum OK? Would it really attract critters?[/QUOTE]

I would feel safe in saying, at least from my experience, cornstarch _will_ attract the creepy crawlies. I've had some corn starch that sat around in the open shaker bottle for a while. After some time it had the tell tale filaments of insect infestations in it. YMMV but I would look for the plain talc before I trusted corn starch to remain insect free.