More About Pyrethroids
Pyrethroids are a class of insecticides that have been designed to improve upon the insecticidally active natural compound found in Chrysanthemum plant powders, known as pyrethrum. They are highly effective, causing the very rapid death of pest insects. When introduced in the 1970s and 80s, they were found to be as or more effective than the existing pool of insecticides and also had lower mammalian toxicity making them safer for applicators and the public.
Not only do they not bioaccumulate in the food chain like the organo-chlorine insecticides but they are also non-systemic which ensures they are not transported within plants – thus minimizing their effect on pollinators. Consequently, they rapidly became the most widely used class of insecticides across the USA and the world and this popularity continues to the present day.
Pyrethroids are very effective and therefore the amounts of chemical applied to create a given effect are much lower than many older-generation insecticides.
Despite the favorable toxicity profile for humans, animals and birds relative to other insecticides, the extreme toxicity of pyrethroids to insects does mean that they need to be used carefully to ensure safety to non-target terrestrial insects such as pollinators and other beneficial organisms.
Most importantly, pyrethroids are highly toxic to aquatic insects and fish and this has led PWG, government scientists and regulators as well as academics to generate a remarkable body of data on this topic. The aquatic fate and effects of pyrethroids are the most carefully researched and well-understood areas of insecticide science; PWG has tracked and documented all of this research (databases available from PWG upon request).
US EPA recently performed a registration review of the pyrethroids to ensure that any risks associated with their use were understood and mitigated to meet current, more stringent, regulations. The EPA focused on aquatic fate and effects and mandated considerably more strict specifications for use to reduce any potential risks to acceptable levels. California State regulators have also recently added additional restrictions to pyrethroid use labels to ensure that the continued use of pyrethroids does not result in unacceptable risk.
Pyrethroids are advanced insecticides inspired by the natural pyrethrum found in Chrysanthemum plants, offering enhanced effectiveness in pest control.
