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You are here: NPIC Home Page Pesticide Ingredients Active Ingredients

Pesticide Active Ingredients

Active ingredients are the chemicals in pesticide products that kill, control, or repel pests. For example, the active ingredients in a herbicide are the ingredient(s) that kill weeds. Often, the active ingredients make up a small portion of the whole product. Pesticide product labels include the name of each active ingredient and its concentration in the product.

• The same active ingredient may be found in hundreds of pesticide products with different names.
• Products with similar brand names may have different active ingredients.
• Products with the same name and active ingredient(s) may have different concentrations.
• Some active ingredients work on a broad spectrum of pests. Others are more targeted, killing only certain things.
• There are families of active ingredients that work in the same basic way. Using active ingredients from different chemical families can slow the development of pesticide resistance.

If you're looking for information about a specific chemical, you are in the right place. Not finding what you're looking for? Call 1-800-858-7378 to speak with a Pesticide Specialist.

• Specific Chemical (Active Ingredient) Information
• Databases with Chemical Information
• Risk Assessment for Specific Chemicals

Additional Resources:

• Pesticide Reregistration Status - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• Identify Active Ingredients - Video from e-how.com

If you have questions about this, or any pesticide-related topic, please call NPIC at 1-800-858-7378 (8:00am - 12:00pm PST), or email us at npic@ace.orst.edu.

Related Topics:

What are pests?

What are pesticides?

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Please read our disclaimer | Contact us | About NPIC | En español

NPIC provides objective, science-based information about pesticides and pesticide-related topics to enable people to make informed decisions. NPIC is a cooperative agreement between Oregon State University and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (cooperative agreement #X8-83560101). The information in this publication does not in any way replace or supersede the restrictions, precautions, directions, or other information on the pesticide label or any other regulatory requirements, nor does it necessarily reflect the position of the U.S. EPA.