Gateway on Pesticide Hazards and Safe Pest Management
Cypermethrin
Includes alpha-cypermethrin
General Information
- Fact Sheets: Synthetic Pyrethroids.pdf, Cypermethrin.pdf
- Product Names:
- Chemical Class: Synthetic pyrethroid insecticide
- Uses: Agricultural use as a foliar application on food and feed crops including cotton, pecans, peanuts, broccoli, and sweet corn, livestock and horses. industrial, commercial, and residential sites; soil residual termiticide.
- Alternatives: Organic lawn care, Least-toxic insecticides, Organic Agriculture
- Beyond Pesticides rating: Toxic
Health and Environmental Effects
- Cancer: Possible (10)
- Endocrine Disruption: Yes (36)
- Reproductive Effects: Yes (13)
- Neurotoxicity: Yes (4)
- Kidney/Liver Damage: Yes (4)
- Sensitizer/ Irritant: Yes (6)
- Birth/Developmental: Yes (6)
- Detected in Groundwater: Not documented
- Potential Leacher: Not documented
- Toxic to Birds: Not documented
- Toxic to Fish/Aquatic Organisms: Yes (8)
- Toxic to Bees: Yes (8)
Residential Uses as Found in the ManageSafe™ Database
- Ants
- Carpenter Bees
- Centipedes
- Chiggers
- Fleas
- Wasps and Yellowjackets
- Termites
- Spiders
- Chinch Bugs
- Cockroaches
- Bagworms
- Bed Bugs
- Carpenter Ants
- Fire Ants
Additional Information
- Regulatory Status:
- EPA Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) signed (1/2008)
- Supporting information:
- Daily News Blog entries (Beyond Pesticides)
- Asthma, Children and Pesticides (Beyond Pesticides)
- NCAP Cypermethrin Factsheet (Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides)
- Extoxnet Cypermethrin Factsheet (Extension Toxicology Network)
- PAN Pesticides Database: Cypermethrin (Pesticide Action Network)
- Studies:
- Common Pesticides Poison Homes (Beyond Pesticides)
- Comparison of residents' pesticide exposure with predictions obtained using the UK regulatory exposure assessment approach.. Galea KS, MacCalman L, Jones K, Cocker J, et al. 2015. Regul Toxicol Pharmacol.73(2):634-43.
- Cypermethrin alters the status of oxidative stress in the peripheral blood: relevance to Parkinsonism.. Tripathi P, Singh A, Agrawal S, et al. 2014. J Physiol Biochem. 70(4):915-24.
- Cypermethrin induced pathological and biochemical changes in reproductive organs of female rats.. Sangha GK, Kaur K, Khera KS. 2013. J Environ Biol. 34(1):99-105
- Cytotoxicity induced by cypermethrin in Human Neuroblastoma Cell Line SH-SY5Y.. Raszewski G, Lemieszek MK, Łukawski K. 2016. Ann Agric Environ Med. 23(1):106-10.
- Developmental neurotoxic effects of two pesticides: Behavior and neuroprotein studies on endosulfan and cypermethrin.. Lee I, Eriksson P, et al. 2015. Toxicology. 335:1-10.
- Dopaminergic system modulation, behavioral changes, and oxidative stress after neonatal administration of pyrethroids.. Nasuti C, Gabbianelli R, Falcioni ML, et al.2007. Toxicology. 229(3):194-205.