What bike do you have?
You can pretty much count on whatever after market reed treats has for your bike is going to be about the best performance jump for the buck.
Along with hi flow filter and hi compression head, reeds are the easiest, cheapest and fastest way to get a little extra zip out of your bike.
And yes, when an engine sucks in its reeds, its more like when the viet cong would grind up glass and put it in coca cola. It would be like a person digesting that.
The dual stage reeds from treats are made of plastic, and I feel like that would be a pretty harmless material to be put through an engine.