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| "Inert"
Ingredients in Pesticides |
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Ingredients in
Pesticides NOT on the Label |
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You may think you can determine how
hazardous a product is by reading the label. Forget about reading the
label on a bottle of pesticides and making judgment calls. Only “active”
ingredients are listed on the label. There are over 1,700 “inert”,
ingredients which are not listed on the label. Inert does not mean
harmless. Inert simply means an ingredient is not the primary chemical
used to kill the bugs. The manufacturer, not the government or EPA,
decides which chemicals to consider inert. By law, inert ingredients are
considered trade secrets2. Almost 99% of the ingredients may
be listed as “inert”. Many of these are more harmful than the active
ingredients. Most have not even been tested for potential health
effects.
Inert ingredients may be used for delivery, emulsifying and for quick,
knock-down effects. Common inert ingredients include toluene, ethyl
benzene and xylene. These are central nervous system depressants and
carcinogens. In a freedom of information Act lawsuit, the Northwest
Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP) obtained from the EPA a
list of 1,400 of the 2,000 substances currently being used as inert
ingredients in pesticides. These included Chicago sludge, hazardous
waste, asbestos, and some banned chemicals such as DDT3.
Remember Vietnam? A component of Agent Orange, 2, 4-D, is used in about
1,500 lawn care products4. Because many people have a
misleading impression of the term "inert ingredient," believing it to
indicate harmless ingredients, the EPA permits and encourages
manufacturers to substitute the more neutral term "Other ingredients" on
their pesticide labels5. How many pesticide manufacturers
have chosen to do this?
Sometimes pesticides are mixed in the tank on the back of the truck of
the pest exterminator. The pest exterminator may have had some product
left over from the previous job or added new and different chemicals to
what was leftover. He may think he’s doing you a favor by giving you
something better (a more toxic brew) than what you asked for. The
exterminator knows not what he has done. A recent study found that
combining pesticides can make them up to 1,600 times more potent (toxic)
6. |
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Copyright © 2014-2017 Healthy Living Spaces LLC.
All rights reserved.
877-992-9904
Revised:
July 05, 2017.
Information in this document is subject to
change without notice.
Other products and
companies referred to herein are trademarks or
registered trademarks
of their
respective companies or trademark holders. |
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