Gateway on Pesticide Hazards and Safe Pest Management

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:

1. Go to U.S. EPA's Pesticide Product and Label System and enter the product name. The generic product name may vary.
   
2. 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
   
   
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.
   
   
4. 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. 
   
   

Lambda-cyhalothrin

General Information

• Product Names:

  Karate (Syngenta)
  Impasse (Syngenta)
  Demand (Syngenta)
  Wasp & Hornet Killer (Chemsico), formulated with Prallethrin
  Saber (Schering-Plough Animal Health), formulated with Piperonyl butoxide (some formulations)

• Chemical Class: Synthetic pyrethroid insecticide
• Uses: Agriculture, residential, mosquitoes
• Alternatives: Organic agriculture, Least toxic residential products, Least toxic mosquito products
• Beyond Pesticides rating: Toxic

Health and Environmental Effects

• Cancer: Not documented
• Endocrine Disruption: Yes (36)
• Reproductive Effects: Not documented
• Neurotoxicity: Yes (4)
• Kidney/Liver Damage: Not documented
• Sensitizer/ Irritant: Yes (4)
• Birth/Developmental: Not documented
• Detected in Groundwater: Not documented
• Potential Leacher: Not documented
• Toxic to Birds: Not documented
• Toxic to Fish/Aquatic Organisms: Yes (4)
• Toxic to Bees: Yes (4)

Residential Uses as Found in the ManageSafe™ Database

• Bagworms
• Bed Bugs
• Carpenter Bees
• Centipedes
• Chiggers
• Chinch Bugs
• Gypsy Moths
• Spiders
• Carpenter Ants
• Grubs
• Ticks
• Wasps and Yellowjackets

Additional Information

• Regulatory Status:
  • EPA Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) (5/2000)
  • EPA Factsheet (4/2000)
• Supporting information:
  • Asthma, Children and Pesticides (Beyond Pesticides)
  • Children & Lawn Chemicals Don't Mix (Beyond Pesticides)
  • The Safer Choice (Beyond Pesticides)
  • NCAP pesticide Factsheet (Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides)
  • Extoxnet pesticideFactsheet (Extension Toxicology Network)
  • PAN Pesticides Database: (Pesticide Action Network)
• Studies:
  • Use and Toxicity of Pyrethroid Pesticides in the Central Valley,California, USA. Amweg, E. et. al. 2004.Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 24(4):966-972
  • Indoor spraying with the pyrethroid insecticide lambda-cyhalothrin: effects on spraymen and inhabitants of sprayed houses.. Moretto A. 1991.Bull WHO 69 (5): 591-594
  • Lambda-cyhalothrin disrupts the up-regulation effect of 17β-estradiol on post-synaptic density 95 protein expression via estrogen receptor α-dependent Akt pathway.. Wang Q, Xia X, Deng X, Li N, et al. 2016. J Environ Sci (China). 41:252-60.
  • Haematological and biochemical toxicity in freshwater fish Clarias gariepinus and Oreochromis niloticus following pulse exposure to atrazine, mancozeb, chlorpyrifos, lambda-cyhalothrin, and their combination. Kanu, K.C., Okoboshi, A.C. and Otitoloju, A.A., 2023. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part C: Toxicology & Pharmacology, 270, p.109643.
  • Assessing pyrethroid resistance in Aedes aegypti from Cordoba Colombia: Implications of kdr mutations. Atencia–Pineda, M.C. et al. (2024) Assessing pyrethroid resistance in Aedes aegypti from Cordoba colombia: Implications of KDR mutations, PLOS ONE. Available at: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0309201.
  • Insecticide Resistance and Its Intensity in Populations of Malaria Vectors in Colombia. Orjuela, L. et al. (2018) Insecticide Resistance and Its Intensity in Populations of Malaria Vectors in Colombia, BioMed Research International. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1155/2018/9163543.
  • 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.