Gateway on Pesticide Hazards and Safe Pest Management
How To Find Ingredients in Pesticide Products
Beyond Pesticides offers resources below to evaluate the health and ecological effects of specific chemical exposure from ACTIVE INGREDIENTS in pesticide products, as well as regulatory information and supporting scientific documents. Because various pesticide products can contain more than one active ingredient, it is important to READ the LABEL to determine chemical components.
With 192 different active ingredients and counting, it is essential to establish the connection between the use of these chemicals and their respective hazards.
View the step-by-step guide on how to search for the active ingredient(s) in pesticide products below:
- Go to U.S. EPA's Pesticide Product and Label System and enter the product name. The generic product name may vary.
- After searching, click on the chemical ingredients tab or the link for the most recent label to find Active Ingredients.
Chemical List Label List
If one selects the chemical ingredients tab, skip to Step 4 . If not, proceed to step number 3 - To find the active ingredient(s) on the label, search for the page in the document containing the date of registration. Usually, the active ingredients section occurs within the first few pages of the label document.
- Return to the Beyond Pesticides Gateway and search for the active ingredient name in the yellow box to the right or from the list below.
Pendimethalin
General Information
- Fact Sheet: pendimethalin.pdf
- Product Names:
- Chemical Class: Dinitroaniline herbicide
- Uses: Selective herbicide, controls broadleaf weeds and grassy weed species in agriculture and lawns.
- Alternatives: Organic agriculture, Organic lawn care
- Beyond Pesticides rating: Toxic
Health and Environmental Effects
- Cancer: Possible (10)
- Endocrine Disruption: Yes (30)
- Reproductive Effects: Yes (8)
- Neurotoxicity: Not documented
- Kidney/Liver Damage: Yes (11)
- Sensitizer/ Irritant: Yes (27)
- Birth/Developmental: Not documented
- Detected in Groundwater: Yes (8)
- Potential Leacher: Not documented
- Toxic to Birds: Not documented
- Toxic to Fish/Aquatic Organisms: Yes (8, 111)
- Toxic to Bees: Not documented
Residential Uses as Found in the ManageSafe™ Database
Additional Information
- Regulatory Status:
- Supporting information:
- Extoxnet Pendimethalin Factsheet (Extension Toxicology Network)
- PAN Pesticides Database:Pendimethalin (Pesticide Action Network)
- Scorecard Pendimethalin Factsheet (The Pollution Information Site)
- Studies:
- Agricultural pesticide use and pancreatic cancer risk in the Agricultural Health Study Cohort.. Andreotti G, Freeman LE, Hou L, Coble J, Rusiecki J, et al. 2009. Int J Cancer. 124(10):2495-500.
- Autism: Transient in utero hypothyroxinemia related to maternal flavonoid ingestion during pregnancy and to other environmental antithyroid agents. Román, G, C. 2007. Journal of the Neurological Sciences; 262(1-2), pp 15-26
- Exacerbation of symptoms in agricultural pesticide applicators with asthma.. Henneberger PK, Liang X, London SJ, et al.2014. Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 87(4):423-32.
- Human exposure and risk assessment to airborne pesticides in a rural French community.. Coscollà C, López A, Yahyaoui A, Colin P, et al. 2017. Sci Total Environ. 584-585:856-868
- In vitro genotoxicity assessment of dinitroaniline herbicides pendimethalin and trifluralin.. Kılıç, Z.S., Aydın, S., Bucurgat, Ü.Ü. and Başaran, N., 2018. Food and chemical toxicology, 113, pp.90-98.
- Flooding as a Vector for the Transport of Pesticides from Streams to Riparian Plants. Fiolka, F. et al. (2024) Flooding as a Vector for the Transport of Pesticides from Streams to Riparian Plants, American Chemical Society ES&T Water. Available at: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsestwater.4c00571.
- Pesticides and prostate cancer incidence and mortality: An environment-wide association study. Soerensen, S. et al. (2024) Pesticides and prostate cancer incidence and mortality: An environment-wide association study, Cancer. Available at: https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.35572.