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.
Propoxur
General Information
- Fact Sheet: Propoxur.pdf
- Product Names:
- Chemical Class: Carbamate insecticide
- Uses: Control ants, roaches and hornets in and around residences and commercial food handling establishments, also found in flea collars.
- Alternatives: Least-toxic Roach control, Least toxic hornet control
- Beyond Pesticides rating: Toxic
Health and Environmental Effects
- Cancer: Probable (8)
- Endocrine Disruption: Not documented
- Reproductive Effects: Yes (35)
- Neurotoxicity: Yes (4)
- Kidney/Liver Damage: Yes (4)
- Sensitizer/ Irritant: Not documented
- Birth/Developmental: Not documented
- Detected in Groundwater: Not documented
- Potential Leacher: Yes (8)
- Toxic to Birds: Yes (4)
- Toxic to Fish/Aquatic Organisms: Yes (4)
- Toxic to Bees: Yes (4)
Residential Uses as Found in the ManageSafe™ Database
Additional Information
- Regulatory Status:
- Supporting information:
- Asthma, Children and Pesticides (Beyond Pesticides)
- Extoxnet Propoxur Factsheet (Extension Toxicology Network)
- PAN Pesticides Database:Propoxur (Pesticide Action Network)
- Scorecard Propoxur Factsheet (The Pollution Information Site)
- Propoxur in Tapwater (Environmental Working Group)
- Studies:
- Comparison of pesticide levels in carpet dust and self-reported pest treatment practices in four US sites. Colt, J. et. al. 2004. Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology 14:74–83.
- A pilot study of pesticides and PCBs in the breast milk of women residing in urban and agricultural communities of California.. Weldon RH, Barr DB, Trujillo C, et al. 2011. J Environ Monit. 13(11):3136-44.
- Analysis of Environmental Chemical Mixtures and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Risk in the NCI-SEER NHL Study.. Czarnota J, Gennings C, Colt JS, De Roos AJ, et al. 2015. Environ Health Perspect. 123(10):965-70
- Association between prenatal pesticide exposures and the generation of leukemia-associated T(8;21). Lafiura, K.M., et al. 2007. Pediatr Blood Cancer 48(5):624-628
- Cohort mortality and nested case-control study of lung cancer among structural pest control workers in Florida (United States). Pesatori, A.C., et al. 1994. Cancer Causes and Control 5:310-318.