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Trichlorfon

General Information

• Trichlorfon product names
• Chemical Class: Organophosphate insecticide
• Uses: golf course turf, home lawns, non-food contact areas of food and meat processing plants, ornamental shrubs and plants, and ornamental and bait fish ponds to control insects such as lepidopteran larvae (caterpillars), white grubs, mole crickets, cattle lice, sod webworms, leaf miners, stink bugs, flies, ants, cockroaches, earwigs, crickets, diving beetle, water scavenger beetle, water boatman backswimmer, water scorpions, giant water bugs and pillbugs
• Alternatives: Golf courses, Ornamental/ lawn
• Beyond Pesticides rating: Toxic

Health Effects

• EPA Acute Toxicity Class: II (moderately toxic)
• Cancer: Likely in high doses (12)
• Endocrine Disruption: Not documented
• Reproductive Effects: Yes (4)
• Neurotoxicity: Yes (22)
• Kidney/ Liver Damage:Yes (4)
• Sensitizer/ Irritant: Yes (4)
• Birth/ Developmental Defects: Yes (4)

Environmental Effects

• Detected in Groundwater: Not documented
• Detected in Streams: Not documented
• Potential Leacher: Yes (8)
• Toxic to Birds: Yes (8)
• Toxic to Fish/ Aquatic Organisms: Yes (4)
• Toxic to Bees: Not documented
• Toxic to Mammals: Not documented
• Long-Range Transport: Not documented

Additional Information

• Regulatory Information:
  • EPA Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) signed (7/2006)
  • Beyond Pesticides' Organophosphate cumulative risk comments.
• Supporting information:
  • Asthma, Children and Pesticides (Beyond Pesticides)
  • Extoxnet Trichlorfon Factsheet (Extension Toxicology Network)
  • PAN Pesticides Database:Trichlorfon (Pesticide Action Network)
  • Scorecard Trichlorfon Factsheet (The Pollution Information Site)
• Key Studies:
  • Incident Diabetes and Pesticide Exposure among Licensed Pesticide Applicators: Agricultural Health Study, 1993–2003. Montgomery, M.P., et al. American Journal of Epidemiology, 2009.