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Finding out about pesticide risk
Simply not using pesticides is certainly the easiest and most practical solution to the problem of pesticide risk. Safer alternatives abound. However, inquiring minds will want to dig deeper into the complex area of pesticide risk, whose broad span covers the fields of chemistry, biology, ecology, hydrology, medicine, epidemiology and public health. Here is a place to start.
Learning about the active ingredients:
Obtain trade name of pesticide product.
Get active ingredients by either a) Viewing label or b) Searching on product name.
Look up active ingredient toxicity at either a) Consumer fact sheets and/or b) Extoxnet toxicity profiles.
Look up public research studies on this chemical, in Environmental Health Perspectives.
Be aware that lack of evidence of harm does not mean evidence of safety. Most chemicals have not been examined for their full range of health and environmental effects. Not all pesticides will be listed here, particularly recently developed chemicals about which comparatively little is known.
Some common pesticides (see fact sheets):
Imidacloprid (e.g. Merit), insecticide
Glyphosate (e.g. Roundup), herbicide
Diazinon, insecticide
Chlorpyrifos (e.g. Dursban), insecticide
Trichlorfon (e.g. Dylox), insecticide
Clopyralid (e.g. Confront), herbicide
Malathion, insecticide
Carbaryl (e.g. Sevin), insecticide
All pesticides carrying EPA registration numbers are considered by the federal government to be toxic. Commonly used pesticides, including herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and repellents, are composed of both active and "inert" ingredients. Ingredients listed as inert are allowed to be toxic.
To begin to understand the risk of exposure to pesticides, you must first identify what is known, and not known, about the toxic properties of the active ingredients. This page is designed to help you with this.
The second step, to identify the toxic properties of the inert ingredients, unfortunately cannot be completed. The inert ingredients remain "trade secrets" and unknowable to the consumer, although the EPA clearly states that inert ingredients may be toxic in their own right.
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