Gateway on Pesticide Hazards and Safe Pest Management

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:

1. Go to U.S. EPA's Pesticide Product and Label System and enter the product name. The generic product name may vary.
   
2. 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
   
   
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.
   
   
4. 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. 
   
   

Carbofuran

General Information

• Chemical Class: Carbamate
• Uses: as a broad-spectrum carbamate insecticide and nematicide used to control a variety of soil and foliar pests on various agricultural crops, including field, fruit, and vegetable crops
• Alternatives: Organic Agriculture

Health and Environmental Effects

• Cancer: Not documented
• Endocrine Disruption: Possible (43)
• Reproductive Effects: Not documented
• Neurotoxicity: Not documented
• Kidney/Liver Damage: Not documented
• Sensitizer/ Irritant: Not documented
• Birth/Developmental: Not documented
• Detected in Groundwater: Not documented
• Potential Leacher: Not documented
• Toxic to Birds: Yes (8)
• Toxic to Fish/Aquatic Organisms: Yes (27)
• Toxic to Bees: Yes (43)

Additional Information

• Regulatory Status:
  • EPA Carbofuran Cancellation Process (2011)
  • EPA Archive Carbofuran I.R.E.D. FACTS (2016)
• Supporting information:
  • PAN Pesticides Database: Carbofuran (Pesticide Action Network)
• Studies:
• Evaluation of hepatotoxicity and clastogenicity of carbofuran in male Wistar rats. Gbadegesin MA, Owumi SE, Akinseye V, Odunola OA. 2014. Food Chem Toxicol. 65:115-9.
• Occupational Exposure to Carbofuran and the Incidence of Cancer in the Agricultural Health Study. Wesseling, C., et al. 1999. International Journal of Epidemiology 28: 365-374
• Reproductive Toxicity of Carbofuran to the Female Mice: Effects on Estrous Cycle and Follicles. BALIGAR, PN, KALIWAL, BB. 2002. Industrial Health. 40(4):345-352
• Sleep apnea and pesticide exposure in a study of US farmers. Baumert, B. et al. (2017) Sleep apnea and pesticide exposure in a study of US Farmers, Sleep Health: Journal of the National Sleep Foundation. Available at: https://www.sleephealthjournal.org/article/S2352-7218(17)30174-2/abstract.
• Carbamate Insecticides Target Human Melatonin Receptors. Popovska-Gorevski, M., Dubocovich, M. and Rajnarayanan, R. (2016) Carbamate Insecticides Target Human Melatonin Receptors, Chemical Research in Toxicology. Available at: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chemrestox.6b00301#.
• Pharmacological Actions of Carbamate Insecticides at Mammalian Melatonin Receptors. Glatfelter, G. et al. (2021) Pharmacological Actions of Carbamate Insecticides at Mammalian Melatonin Receptors, The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. Available at: https://jpet.aspetjournals.org/article/S0022-3565(24)25757-8/fulltext.
• Pesticide exposure and sleep disorder: A cross-sectional study among Thai farmers. Juntarawijit, C. et al. (2025) Pesticide exposure and sleep disorder: A cross-sectional study among Thai farmers, Heliyon. Available at: https://www.cell.com/heliyon/fulltext/S2405-8440(24)17154-X.
• Influence of pesticides on respiratory pathology – a literature review. Tarmure, S., Alexescu, T.G., Orasan, O., Negrean, V., Sitar-Taut, A.V., Coste, S.C. and Todea, D.A., 2020. Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine: AAEM, 27(2), pp.194-200.
• Pesticide exposure and lung cancer risk: A case-control study in Nakhon Sawan, Thailand. Kangkhetkron, T. and Juntarawijit, C., 2020. F1000Research, 9(492), p.492.