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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.
Permethrin
General Information
- Fact Sheets: permethrin.pdf, Synthetic Pyrethroids.pdf
- Product Names:
- Chemical Class: Synthetic pyrethroid insecticide
- Uses: Food/feed crops, livestock and livestock housing, modes of transportation, structures, buildings (including food handling establishments), public health mosquito abatement programs, residential use sites including use in outdoor and indoor spaces, pets, and clothing (impregnated and ready to use formulations).
- Alternatives: Organic agriculture, Least-toxic insect control, Least-toxic mosquito control
- Beyond Pesticides rating: Toxic
Health and Environmental Effects
- Cancer: Likely (10)
- Endocrine Disruption: Yes (5)
- Reproductive Effects: Yes (13)
- Neurotoxicity: Yes (11)
- Kidney/Liver Damage: Yes (11)
- Sensitizer/ Irritant: Yes (4)
- Birth/Developmental: Not documented
- Detected in Groundwater: Yes (7)
- Potential Leacher: Not documented
- Toxic to Birds: Not documented
- Toxic to Fish/Aquatic Organisms: Yes (8)
- Toxic to Bees: Yes (8)
Residential Uses as Found in the ManageSafe™ Database
- Ants
- Bagworms
- Carpenter Bees
- Tree-boring Caterpillars
- Chiggers
- Cockroaches
- Fleas
- Wasps and Yellowjackets
- Ticks
- Termites
- Head Lice
- Bed Bugs
- Chinch Bugs
- Gypsy Moths
- Hemlock Woolly Adelgid
- Mosquitoes
- Spiders
- Carpenter Ants
- Carpet Beetle
- Grubs
- Thrips
- Aphids
- Fire Ants
Additional Information
- Regulatory Status:
- Beyond Pesticides' Draft Human Health Risk Assesment for Permethrin commments (11/2017)
- Beyond Pesticides' EPA Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment Draft for Several Pyrethroid insecticides comments (01/2017)
- Permethrin Registration Review (2017)
- EPA Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) revised (5/2009)
- Beyond Pesticides' RED comments (2006)
- Supporting information:
- NCAP Permethrin Factsheet (Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides)
- PAN Pesticides Database:Permethrin (Pesticide Action Network)
- Scorecard Permethrin Factsheet (The Pollution Information Site)
- CHEJ Permethrin Factsheet (Children's Health Environmental Coalition)
- Studies:
- Behavioural disorders in 6-year-old children and pyrethroid insecticide exposure: the PELAGIE mother–child cohort. Viel, JF, Rouget,F et al. 2017. Occup Environ Med. 74(4):275-281
- Association of pyrethroid pesticide exposure with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in a nationally representative sample of U.S. children. Wagner-Schuman M, Richardson JR, Auinger P, et al. 2015. Environ Health.14:44.
- Neurodevelopmental disorders and prenatal residential proximity to agricultural pesticides: the CHARGE study. Shelton JF, Geraghty EM, Tancredi DJ, et al. 2014. Environ Health Perspect. 122(10):1103-9.
- Subchronic dermal application of N,N-diethyl m-toluamide (DEET) and permethrin to adult rats, alone or in combination, causes diffuse neuronal cell death and cytoskeletal abnormalities in the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus, and Purkinje neuron loss in the cerebellum. Abdel-Rahman, A. et. al. 2001 Exp Neurol. 172(1):153-71.
- 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.
- Lifetime Pesticide Use and Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance in a Prospective Cohort of Male Farmers. Hofmann, J.N., Beane Freeman, L.E., Murata, K., Andreotti, G., Shearer, J.J., Thoren, K., Ramanathan, L., Parks, C.G., Koutros, S., Lerro, C.C. and Liu, D., 2021. Environmental Health Perspectives, 129(1), p.017003.
- Prenatal and infant exposure to ambient pesticides and autism spectrum disorder in children: population based case-control study. von Ehrenstein, et al. 2019. BMJ 2019;364:l962
- Early life exposure to permethrin: a progressive animal model of Parkinson's disease.. Nasuti C, Brunori G, Eusepi P, Marinelli L, et al. 2016. J Pharmacol Toxicol Methods. 83:80-86.
- Dopaminergic system modulation, behavioral changes, and oxidative stress after neonatal administration of pyrethroids.. Nasuti C, Gabbianelli R, Falcioni ML, et al.2007. Toxicology. 229(3):194-205.
- Effects of a mixture of pesticides on the adult female reproductive system of Sprague-Dawley, Wistar, and Lewis rats. Pascotto VM, Guerra MT, Franci JA, et al. 2015. J Toxicol Environ Health A. 78(9):602-16
- Effects of early life permethrin exposure on spatial working memory and on monoamine levels in different brain areas of pre-senescent rats.. Nasuti C, Carloni M, Fedeli D, et al. 2013. Toxicology. 303:162-8
- Evidence for diazinon-mediated inhibition of cis-permethrin metabolism and its effects on reproductive toxicity in adult male mice.. Wang D, Kamijima M, Okamura A, et al. 2012. Reprod Toxicol. 34(4):489-97
- Genotoxicity studies on permethrin, DEET and diazinon in primary human nasal mucosal cells. Tisch, M., et al. 2002. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 259:150-153.
- Home-based community health worker intervention to reduce pesticide exposures to farmworkers' children: A randomized-controlled trial.. Salvatore AL, Castorina R, Camacho J, et al. 2015. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 25(6):608-15
- Occurrence of pesticide residues in indoor dust of farmworker households across Europe and Argentina.. Navarro, I., de la Torre, A., Sanz, P., Baldi, I., Harkes, P., Huerta-Lwanga, E., Nørgaard, T., Glavan, M., Pasković, I., Pasković, M.P. and Abrantes, N., 2023. Science of The Total Environment, p.167797.
- Mixture effects of thiamethoxam and seven pesticides with different modes of action on honey bees (Aplis mellifera). Li, W. et al. (2023) Mixture effects of thiamethoxam and seven pesticides with different modes of action on honey bees (Aplis mellifera), Scientific Reports. Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-29837-w#ref-CR30.
- Exposure to pesticides, persistent and non − persistent pollutants in French 3.5-year-old children: Findings from comprehensive hair analysis in the ELFE national birth cohort. Macheka, L. et al. (2024) Exposure to pesticides, persistent and non − persistent pollutants in French 3.5-year-old children: Findings from comprehensive hair analysis in the ELFE national birth cohort, Environment International. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412024004677.
- Pre-Conception And First Trimester Exposure To Pesticides And Associations With Stillbirth. Furlong, M. et al. (2024) Pre-conception and first trimester exposure to pesticides and associations with stillbirth, American Journal of Epidemiology. Available at: https://academic.oup.com/aje/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/aje/kwae198/7714541.
- A Comprehensive Review on Pesticide Residues in Human Urine. Hakme, E., Poulsen, M. and Lassen, A. (2024) A Comprehensive Review on Pesticide Residues in Human Urine, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Available at: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.jafc.4c02705.
- Advances and future prospects of pyrethroids: Toxicity and microbial degradation. Singh, S. et al. (2022) Advances and future prospects of pyrethroids: Toxicity and microbial degradation, Science of The Total Environment. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969722016540.
- 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.
- Thyroid under Attack: The Adverse Impact of Plasticizers, Pesticides, and PFASs on Thyroid Function. Rodrigues, V.G. et al. (2024) Thyroid under Attack: The Adverse Impact of Plasticizers, Pesticides, and PFASs on Thyroid Function, Endocrines. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-396X/5/3/32.
- Exposures of 129 Preschool Children to Organochlorines, Organophosphates, Pyrethroids, and Acid Herbicides at Their Homes and Daycares in North Carolina. Morgan, M.K., Wilson, N.K. and Chuang, J.C. (2014) Exposures of 129 Preschool Children to Organochlorines, Organophosphates, Pyrethroids, and Acid Herbicides at Their Homes and Daycares in North Carolina, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Available at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4025031/.