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.
Dacthal (DCPA)
General Information
- Product Names:
- Chemical Class: Phthalate pre-emergent herbicide
- Uses: Control of Broadleaf weeds and annual grasses in terrestrial food crops, alfalfa, turf, ornamentals, and trees in agriculture and residential
- Alternatives: Organic agriculture, Organic lawn care
- Beyond Pesticides rating: Toxic
Health and Environmental Effects
- Cancer: Possible (10)
- Endocrine Disruption: Not documented
- Reproductive Effects: Not documented
- Neurotoxicity: Not documented
- Kidney/Liver Damage: Yes (6)
- Sensitizer/ Irritant: Yes (18)
- Birth/Developmental: Not documented
- Detected in Groundwater: Yes (37)
- Potential Leacher: Yes (8)
- Toxic to Birds: Not documented
- Toxic to Fish/Aquatic Organisms: Yes (8)
- Toxic to Bees: Yes (19)
Additional Information
- Regulatory Status:
- Supporting information:
- Asthma, Children and Pesticides (Beyond Pesticides)
- Daily News Blog entries (Beyond Pesticides)
- NCAP Dacthal Factsheet (Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides)
- Extoxnet Dacthal Factsheet (Extension Toxicology Network)
- PAN Pesticides Database: Dacthal (Pesticide Action Network)
- Studies:
- 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.
- Association of Environmental Toxins With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Su, F.C., Goutman, S.A., Chernyak, S., Mukherjee, B., Callaghan, B.C., Batterman, S. and Feldman, E.L., 2016. JAMA neurology, 73(7), pp.803-811.
- 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.