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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.
Synthetic Pyrethroids
(General Chemical Class)
General Information
- Fact Sheet: Synthetic Pyrethroids Factsheet (updated).pdf
- Product Names:
- Chemical Class: Synthetic Pyrethroids
- Uses: Insecticide
- Alternatives: Least-Toxic Insecticide
- Beyond Pesticides rating: Toxic
Health and Environmental Effects
- Cancer: Probable (2, 43, 236, 237)
- Endocrine Disruption: Possible (2)
- Reproductive Effects: Probable (11)
- Neurotoxicity: Yes (4, 11)
- Kidney/Liver Damage: Yes (4, 11)
- Sensitizer/ Irritant: Yes (4)
- Birth/Developmental: Yes (11)
- Detected in Groundwater: Not documented
- Potential Leacher: Not documented
- Toxic to Birds: Possible (238)
- Toxic to Fish/Aquatic Organisms: Yes (4)
- Toxic to Bees: Yes (4)
Additional Information
- Regulatory Status:
- Studies:
- Acute Illnesses Associated With Pesticide Exposure at Schools, Alarcon, W. et. al. 2005. Journal of the American Medical Association. 294 (4):455-465
- A Longitudinal Approach to Assessing Urban and Suburban Children's Exposure to Pyrethroid Pesticides. Lu C, Barr DB, Pearson M, Bartell S, Bravo R.. 2006. Environ Health Perspect. 114(9):1419-23.
- Oxidative stress of glyphosate, AMPA and metabolites of pyrethroids and chlorpyrifos pesticides among primary school children in Cyprus. Makris, K.C., Efthymiou, N., Konstantinou, C., Anastasi, E., Schoeters, G., Kolossa-Gehring, M. and Katsonouri, A., Environmental Research, 212, p.113316.
- Effects of prenatal and infant daily exposure to pyrethroid pesticides on the language development of 2-year-old toddlers: A prospective cohort study in rural Yunnan, China. Chen, S., Xiao, X., Qi, Z., Chen, L., Chen, Y., Xu, L., Zhang, L., Song, X. and Li, Y. NeuroToxicology.
- Gut microbiota dysbiosis involves in host non-alcoholic fatty liver disease upon pyrethroid pesticide exposure. Li, M., Liu, T., Yang, T., Zhu, J., Zhou, Y., Wang, M. and Wang, Q., 2022.Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, 11, p.100185.
- Exploratory analysis of the association between pyrethroid exposure and rheumatoid arthritis among US adults: 2007-2014 data analysis from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Guo, X., Li, N., Wang, H., Su, W., Song, Q., Liang, Q., Sun, C., Liang, M., Ding, X., Lowe, S. and Sun, Y., 2022. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, pp.1-11.
- Developmental pyrethroid exposure causes a neurodevelopmental disorder phenotype in mice. . Curtis, M.A., Dhamsania, R.K., Branco, R.C., Guo, J.D., Creeden, J., Neifer, K.L., Black, C.A., Winokur, E.J., Andari, E., Dias, B.G. and Liu, R.C., 2023.PNAS nexus, 2(4), p.pgad085.
- Effects of pyrethroids on the cerebellum and related mechanisms: a narrative review. Hao, F., Bu, Y., Huang, S., Li, W., Feng, H. and Wang, Y., 2023. Critical Reviews in Toxicology, pp.1-15.
- Association between pyrethroid exposure and osteoarthritis: a national population-based cross-sectional study in the US.. Liang, Z., Sun, X., Lan, J., Guo, R., Tian, Y., Liu, Y. and Liu, S., 2023. BMC Public Health, 23(1), p.1521.
- Association of Prenatal Exposure to Organophosphate, Pyrethroid, and Neonicotinoid Insecticides with Child Neurodevelopment at 2 Years of Age: A Prospective Cohort Study.. Wang, A., Wan, Y., Mahai, G., Qian, X., Li, Y., Xu, S. and Xia, W., 2023. Environmental Health Perspectives, 131(10), p.107011.
- Risk assessment of a Brazilian urban population due to the exposure to pyrethroid insecticides during the COVID-19 pandemic using wastewater-based epidemiology.. Lizot LLF, Bastiani MF, Hahn RZ, Meireles YF, Freitas M, Bondan AP, do Nascimento CA, Quevedo DM, Linden R. 2023. Chemosphere.
- 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.
- Gestational Exposure to Cyfluthrin through Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) Stress—Mediated PERK Signaling Pathway Impairs Placental Development. Ni, W. et al. (2022) Gestational exposure to cyfluthrin through endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-mediated perk signaling pathway impairs placental development, Toxics. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6304/10/12/733.
- 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.
- 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.
- Respiratory and allergic outcomes among 5-year-old children exposed to pesticides. Islam, J.Y. et al. (2023) Respiratory and allergic outcomes among 5-year-old children exposed to pesticides, Thorax. Available at: https://thorax.bmj.com/content/78/1/41.abstract.
- Maternal exposure to pyrethroid insecticides during pregnancy and respiratory allergy symptoms among children participating in the Venda Health Examination of Mothers, Babies and their Environment (VHEMBE). Elsiwi, B. et al. (2024) Maternal exposure to pyrethroid insecticides during pregnancy and respiratory allergy symptoms among children participating in the Venda Health Examination of Mothers, Babies and their Environment (VHEMBE), Environmental Research. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935123024088.