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.
Acephate
General Information
- Fact Sheet: Acephate.pdf
- Product Names:
- Chemical Class: Organophosphate Insecticide
- Uses: Field, fruit, and vegetable crops (e.g., cotton, tobacco, cranberries, mint); in food handling establishments; on ornamental plants both in greenhouses and outdoors (e.g., nonbearing fruit trees, Christmas trees, and cut flowers); and on fleas and cockroaches in and around the home.
- Alternatives: Organic agriculture
- Beyond Pesticides rating: Toxic
Health and Environmental Effects
- Cancer: Possible (10)
- Endocrine Disruption: Not documented
- Reproductive Effects: Yes (4)
- Neurotoxicity: Yes (11)
- Kidney/Liver Damage: Not documented
- Sensitizer/ Irritant: Yes (4)
- Birth/Developmental: Not documented
- Detected in Groundwater: Not documented
- Potential Leacher: Yes (4)
- Toxic to Birds: Yes (8)
- Toxic to Fish/Aquatic Organisms: Yes (8)
- Toxic to Bees: Yes (8)
Residential Uses as Found in the ManageSafe™ Database
- Bagworms
- Tree-boring Caterpillars
- Wasps and Yellowjackets
- Ants
- Cockroaches
- Gypsy Moths
- Chinch Bugs
- Thrips
- Aphids
- Fire Ants
Additional Information
- Regulatory Status:
- Beyond Pesticides Comments (July 2024)
- EPA Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) signed (7/2006)
- Beyond Pesticides' OP cumulative risk RED comments
- Supporting information:
- Daily News Blog entries (Beyond Pesticides)
- Extoxnet Acephate Factsheet (Extension Toxicology Network)
- PAN Pesticides Database: Acephate (Pesticide Action Network)
- Studies:
- Prenatal proximity to agricultural use of endocrine-disrupting pesticides and risk of testicular germ cell tumor (TGCT) among Latino and non-Latino adolescents in California. Swartz, S.J., Morimoto, L., Whitehead, T., Gunier, R., Wiemels, J., Ma, X. and Metayer, C., 2020. Conference: Abstracts: AACR Virtual Conference: Thirteenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved.
- Hypospadias and residential proximity to pesticide applications.. Carmichael SL, Yang W, Roberts EM, et al. 2013. Pediatrics. 132(5):e1216-26
- Prenatal ambient pesticide exposure and childhood retinoblastoma. Thompson, S., Ritz, B., Cockburn, M. and Heck, J.E., 2022. International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, 245, p.114025.
- 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.
- 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.