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.
Diazinon
General Information
- Fact Sheet: Diazinon.pdf
- Product Names:
- Chemical Class: Organophosphate insecticide
- Uses: Agriculture almonds, apples, apricots, bananas, beets (red, table), blackberries, blueberries, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cherries, collards, sweet corn, cranberries, cucumbers, endive (escarole), figs, filberts, ginseng, grapes, hops, kale, lettuce, loganberries, melons, mushrooms, nectarines, onions, parsley, parsnips, peaches, pears, peas, peppers, pineapples, plums, Irish potatoes, prunes, radishes, radishes (Chinese), raspberries, rutabagas, squash, spinach, strawberries, sugar beets, sweet potatoes, Swiss chard, tomatoes, turnips, walnuts, and watercress, seed treatment on beans (except soybeans), field corn, sweet corn, lima beans, peas, and snap beans; non-lactating cattle.
- Alternatives: Organic agriculture
- Beyond Pesticides rating: Toxic
Health and Environmental Effects
- Cancer: Not documented
- Endocrine Disruption: Yes (36)
- Reproductive Effects: Yes (13)
- Neurotoxicity: Yes (11)
- Kidney/Liver Damage: Yes (7)
- Sensitizer/ Irritant: Yes (4)
- Birth/Developmental: Yes (11)
- Detected in Groundwater: Yes (4)
- Potential Leacher: Yes (4)
- Toxic to Birds: Yes (8)
- Toxic to Fish/Aquatic Organisms: Yes (8)
- Toxic to Bees: Yes (8)
Residential Uses as Found in the ManageSafe™ Database
Additional Information
- Regulatory Status:
- EPA Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) signed (7/2006)
- Diazinon lawsuit filed against EPA by Beyond Pesticides et. al. (2008)
- Beyond Pesticides' Revised Risk Assessment comments.
- Most residential uses phased out 2002
- Beyond Pesticides' phaseout press release
- Supporting information:
- Daily News Blog entries (Beyond Pesticides)
- Asthma, Children and Pesticides (Beyond Pesticides)
- Children & Lawn Chemicals Don't Mix (Beyond Pesticides)
- The Safer Choice (Beyond Pesticides)
- Threatened Waters: Turning the Tide on Pesticide Contamination (Beyond Pesticides)
- NCAP Diazinon Factsheet (Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides)
- Extoxnet Diazinon Factsheet (Extension Toxicology Network)
- PAN Pesticides Database:Diazinon (Pesticide Action Network)
- PAN-UK Diazinon Factsheet (Pesticide Action Network UK)
- EWG Diazinon Report (Environmental Working Group)
- NPTN Diazinon Factsheet (National Pesticide Telecommunications Network)
- ABC Diazinon Factsheet (American Bird Conservancy)
- Studies:
- Prenatal and infant exposure to ambient pesticides and autism spectrum disorder in children: population based case-control study. von Ehrenstein, et al. 2019. BMJ 2019;364:l962
- Cancer incidence among male pesticide applicators in the Agricultural Health Study cohort exposed to diazinon. Beane Freeman, L.E., et al. 2005. American Journal of Epidemiology 162(11):1070-1079
- Cohort mortality and nested case-control study of lung cancer among structural pest control workers in Florida (United States). Pesatori, A.C., et al. 1994. Cancer Causes and Control 5:310-318.
- Diazinon and parathion diverge in their effects on development of noradrenergic systems. Slotkin TA, Skavicus S, Seidler FJ. 2017. Brain Res Bull. 130:268-273.
- Does early-life exposure to organophosphate insecticides lead to prediabetes and obesity. Slotkin, T.A. 2011. Reproductive Toxicology. 31: 297–301.
- Evidence for diazinon-mediated inhibition of cis-permethrin metabolism and its effects on reproductive toxicity in adult male mice.. Wang D, Kamijima M, Okamura A, et al. 2012. Reprod Toxicol. 34(4):489-97
- Genotoxicity studies on permethrin, DEET and diazinon in primary human nasal mucosal cells. Tisch, M., et al. 2002. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 259:150-153.
- Associations between persistent organic pollutants and endometriosis: A multiblock approach integrating metabolic and cytokine profiling. Matta, K., Lefebvre, T., Vigneau, E., Cariou, V., Marchand, P., Guitton, Y., Royer, A.L., Ploteau, S., Le Bizec, B., Antignac, J.P. and Cano-Sancho, G. Environment International, 158, p.106926.
- Influence of Pesticides Contamination on Microbial Population of Selected Farmlands. Uneze, D.P., Kugbenu, G.J. and Obire, O. (2024) Influence of pesticides contamination on microbial population of selected farmlands, British Journal of Environmental Sciences. Available at: https://eajournals.org/bjes/vol12-issue-5-2024/influence-of-pesticides-contamination-on-microbial-population-of-selected-farmlands/.
- Organophosphate pesticide levels in blood and urine of women and newborns living in an agricultural community. Huen, K. et al. (2012) Organophosphate pesticide levels in blood and urine of women and newborns living in an agricultural community, Environmental Research. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935112001740.
- Exposures of 129 Preschool Children to Organochlorines, Organophosphates, Pyrethroids, and Acid Herbicides at Their Homes and Daycares in North Carolina. Morgan, M.K., Wilson, N.K. and Chuang, J.C. (2014) Exposures of 129 Preschool Children to Organochlorines, Organophosphates, Pyrethroids, and Acid Herbicides at Their Homes and Daycares in North Carolina, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Available at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4025031/.
- Persistent diazinon induced neurotoxicity: The effect on inhibitory avoidance memory performance, amyloid precursor proteins, and TNF-α levels in the prefrontal cortex of rats. Afshari S, Sarailoo M, Asghariazar V, Safarzadeh E, Dadkhah M. Persistent diazinon induced neurotoxicity: The effect on inhibitory avoidance memory performance, amyloid precursor proteins, and TNF-α levels in the prefrontal cortex of rats. Human & Experimental Toxicology. 2024;43. doi:10.1177/09603271241235408
- Persistent neurobehavioral and neurochemical anomalies in middle-aged rats after maternal diazinon exposure. Andrew B. Hawkey, Erica Pippen, Bruny Kenou, Zade Holloway, Theodore A. Slotkin, Frederic J. Seidler, Edward D. Levin, Persistent neurobehavioral and neurochemical anomalies in middle-aged rats after maternal diazinon exposure, Toxicology, Volume 472, 2022, 153189, ISSN 0300-483X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tox.2022.153189.