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.
Naphthalene
General Information
- Fact Sheets: Naphthalene.pdf, Mothballs.pdf
- Product Names:
- Chemical Class: Polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)
- Uses: Indoor moth, squirrel, and bat repellant, outdoor repelant of animals such as snakes and rabbits
- Alternatives: Least-toxic moth control
- Beyond Pesticides rating: Toxic
Health and Environmental Effects
- Cancer: Yes (21)
- Endocrine Disruption: Not documented
- Reproductive Effects: Not documented
- Neurotoxicity: Yes (14)
- Kidney/Liver Damage: Yes (24)
- Sensitizer/ Irritant: Yes (7)
- Birth/Developmental: Not documented
- Detected in Groundwater: Not documented
- Potential Leacher: Yes (29)
- Toxic to Birds: Not documented
- Toxic to Fish/Aquatic Organisms: Not documented
- Toxic to Bees: Not documented
Additional Information
- Regulatory Status:
- EPA Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) signed 7/2008
- Supporting information:
- PAN Pesticides Database:Naphthalene (Pesticide Action Network)
- EWG Naphthalene Factsheet (Environmental Working Group)
- Scorecard Naphthalene Factsheet (Environmental Defense Fund)
- Studies:
- The nongenotoxic carcinogens naphthalene and para-dichlorobenzene suppress apoptosis in Caenorhabditis elegans, Kokel, D. 2006. Nature Chemical Biology 2: 338-345.
- Naphthalene and Reduced Fertility (Beyond Pesticides Daily News Archive)
- Halogenated POPs and PAHs in Blood Plasma of Hong Kong Residents. Qin YY, et al. 2011. Environ Sci Technol. [Epub ahead of print
- Levels and sources of volatile organic compounds in homes of children with asthma.. Chin JY, Godwin C, Parker E, et al. 2014. Indoor Air. 24(4):403-15.