Gateway on Pesticide Hazards and Safe Pest Management

Flumethrin

General Information

• Product Names:

  Flumethrin Technical
  SAS Flumethrin Technical

• Chemical Class: Synthetic Pyrethroid Insecticide
• Uses: As an ectoparasite for ticks, mites, and lice on cattle, sheep, goats, horses, and dogs, and in some cases, to treat parasitic mites in honeybee colonies.
• Alternatives: Essential Oils (like lemongrass, eucalyptus, geranium, lavender, peppermint, and citronella)
• Beyond Pesticides rating: Toxic

Health and Environmental Effects

• Cancer: Not documented
• Endocrine Disruption: Not documented
• Reproductive Effects: Yes (27)
• Neurotoxicity: Yes (8)
• Kidney/Liver Damage: Not documented
• Sensitizer/ Irritant: Yes (27)
• Birth/Developmental: Yes (27)
• Detected in Groundwater: Not documented
• Potential Leacher: Not documented
• Toxic to Birds: Not documented
• Toxic to Fish/Aquatic Organisms: Yes (27)
• Toxic to Bees: Not documented

Additional Information

• Regulatory Status:
  • EPA Office of Pesticide Programs Database
  • EPA Flumethrin: Human Health Risk Assessment (2012)
• Supporting information:
  • PAN Pesticides Database: Flumethrin (Pesticide Action Network)
  • Daily News Archive
  • "EPA Orders Warning Labels on Seresto Flea Collars Linked to Thousands of Pet Injuries, Deaths" (Center for Biological Diversity)
• Studies:
• Acaricide flumethrin-induced sublethal risks in honeybees are associated with gut symbiotic bacterium Gilliamella apicola through microbe-host metabolic interactions. Qi, S., Al Naggar, Y., Li, J., Liu, Z., Xue, X., Wu, L., El-Seedi, H.R. and Wang, K., 2022. Chemosphere, 307, p.136030.
• The negative effect of flumethrin stress on honey bee (Apis mellifera) worker from larvae to adults. Zhen Li, Heyan Yang, Longtao Yu, Chen Liu, Xiaobo Wu, The negative effect of flumethrin stress on honey bee (Apis mellifera) worker from larvae to adults, Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology, Volume 188, 2022, 105289, ISSN 0048-3575, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pestbp.2022.105289.
• The synergistic action of imidacloprid and flumethrin and their release kinetics from collars applied for ectoparasite control in dogs and cats . Stanneck, D. et al. (2012) ‘The synergistic action of imidacloprid and flumethrin and their release kinetics from collars applied for ectoparasite control in dogs and cats’, Parasites & Vectors, 5(1). doi:10.1186/1756-3305-5-73.