Researching pesticides can be a daunting task. There are almost 900 pesticides registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and these are formulated into over 20,000 products. Most pesticide ingredients have unfamiliar-sounding chemical names and these names come in many different variations.

If you want to find out about the health effects of a particular pesticide, most libraries will not have the resources to help you. Fortunately, more and more information on pesticides is becoming available on the Web.

Follow the steps below to do research on your own. Remember that NCAP can help if you have problems: 1-541-344-5044 (9:00 to 5:00 PST) OR email: info@pesticide.org

PART I -- IDENTIFYING THE INGREDIENTS

• Identify as many ingredients as possible in the pesticide product you're researching. Pesticide products may have one or more "active" ingredients (the ingredients that control the pest), as well as other ingredients ("inert" ingredients) that are usually not identified.
• You will need to establish the 'common' name and the CAS number for each chemical (See below)
• Product labels and MSDSs:
  If you have product labels or material safety data sheets (MSDSs), they list the active ingredients and, sometimes, other ingredients as well. Note the CAS numbers and the chemical names (these may not be the 'common' name).
  For more information on using MSDSs and product labels see the following articles.
  • Identifying Pesticide Ingredients Using an MSDS. [PDF 43K]
  • Pesticide Labels: Where Can I Get One? How Are They Useful? [PDF 179K]
• You can get information from NCAP at 1-541-344-5044 (9:00 to 5:00 PST) OR email: info@pesticide.org .
• Another source is the National Pesticide Telecommunications Network (NPTN): 1-800-858-7378. You will need to tell them the product name. Ask them for 'common' name and the CAS number of each ingredient.

'Common' names

• Many pesticide ingredients have multiple names. Scientists, agencies, manufacturers, and even the EPA do not always use the same name for the same chemical. This can be very frustrating.
• Most chemicals, however, do have a 'common' name. This is used as a keyword in most sources of information on pesticides . You should use the 'common' name as your search term.
• Keep a record of other names by printing out synonyms from the two sources listed below. You may need to try using some of these synonyms or trade names as your search term.

CAS number

• The CAS number is a standard way of identifying a particular chemical. CAS numbers are also known as the Chemical Abstract Services number , the CAS #, CAS Reg. No. or CASRN.
• This number, if available on a record, will let you know that you have found information on your chemical, even if the chemical name is different from the one you thought was the 'common' name.

EPA's Pesticide Related Database           top
(hosted by California. Dept. of Pesticide Regulation)
http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/epa/epamenu.htm

• Use the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) pesticide products database to help identify ingredients in pesticide products.
  
• This database is not currently being updated. You can also try California EPA databases, PAN database, or call NPTN.
• Choose the 'pesticide product database' from the menu and do a search by product name (trade name).
• Then check off the names of any products you're researching and click the report button.
• Each report lists ingredients of a product. Click on the highlighted number for each ingredient to view EPA's chemical name record.
• Print out each record so you have the list of the 'common' name (if it's given) and synonyms and the CAS number.
• If a common name is not identified in the EPA record, try using the 'scientific' name instead.

California EPA Dept. of Pesticide Regulation            top
California Product/Label Database Queries & Lists http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/label/labelque.htm

• This database contains only pesticides registered for use in California.
• Choose 'By Product Name' (or 'Using Multiple Variables'. Search by product name.
• Check off the boxes of any products you are interested in and then click 'Report'
• The ingredients are listed by common name under 'Ingredients Found'. There are a few cases when the common name used by California EPA is not the same as the one used by the US EPA.
• For more information about uses of product click on 'Full Product Information Report'

ChemID plus            top
http://chem2.sis.nlm.nih.gov/chemidplus/chemidlite.jsp
OR http://chem.sis.nlm.nih.gov/chemidplus (This version requires plug-ins)

• ChemIDplus is a database of over 350,000 chemical records which include links to information in other databases.
• ChemIDplus is a useful source of synonyms and CAS numbers. The CAS number indicated by "RN:"
• Often, but not always, the chemical name in the heading is the 'common' name. You should note that name anyway, because it means that some agencies or scientists may use it as a common name.
• If you only have a product name, use the EPA pesticide database or the California EPA database or the NPTN hotline to verify the active ingredients.
• Click on 'Names and Synonyms' and print out for reference.
• Data search type (for plug-ins version):
  *CAS number--select 'registry number'. Use this search mode if possible. Type in CAS# with or without hypens. If you do not find it and the CAS# begins with a zero or zeros, delete any zero(s) at the beginning of the number.
  OR
  *Chemical name -- This is a good source for possible synonyms. Do not rely on this if you only have a pesticide product name (eg. Roundup)
• The response screen that appears for the individual chemical has locator codes. Clicking blue, underlined links will take you to other resources. You can click on other boxes for different types of information.

ChemFinder           top
http://www.chemfinder.com

• ChemFinder is a useful source of synonyms and CAS numbers. Often, but not always, the chemical name in the heading is the 'common' name. You should note that name anyway, because it means that some agencies or scientists may use it as a common name.
• If you only have a product name, use the EPA pesticide database or the California EPA database or the NPTN hotline to verify the active ingredients.
• Print out each record so you have the list of chemical names (synonyms) and the CAS number.
• ChemFinder also has links to other websites that contain information about individual chemicals.
• You must register to use ChemFinder. It is well worth doing. You may register as an individual and use ChemFinder for free. (Businesses pay to use ChemFinder).

PART 2 -- RESOURCES FOR HEALTH INFORMATION            top

When using any of the resources below, you should first try using the 'common' name of the pesticide ingredient as your search term.

If you aren't finding as much information as you need, use the synonyms and CAS numbers identified.

Information on pesticides tends to be somewhat technical. The resources below vary widely in the degree to which they explain terms used. Glossaries (definitions) are noted below when available.

Be aware that these resources vary in their sources of information and their biases. Health hazards may not be emphasized. Use as many of these resources as you can, and look carefully for information on adverse effects.

The primary sources of information on pesticides are 1) studies submitted to the EPA by the pesticide manufacturer and 2) research found in articles published in scientific journals or in books.

Most of the sites listed in this have search features which allow you to locate information by typing the name of a chemical. If not, use the 'Find in Page' command on your browser .

FACT SHEETS

Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP)
NCAP Publications            top
http://www.pesticide.org/factsheets.html

• NCAP has written about only a few commonly-used pesticides, but the fact sheets are detailed and emphasize hazards.

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry            top
ToxFAQs
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaq.html

• Contaminants found at hazardous waste sites. Most are not pesticides.
• Alphabetic list of chemicals by common name.
• For in-depth information, consult the accompanying 'Toxicological Profile'

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry            top
Toxicological Profiles
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxpro2.html

• Contaminants found at hazardous waste sites. Most are not pesticides.
• Alphabetic list of chemicals by common name.
• These are actually books with detailed information on the health effects, potential for exposure, and in some cases, methods of mitigating exposure.

EPA Office of Pesticide Programs            top
Biopesticides - All Active Ingredients
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/biopesticides/ingredients/index.htm

• Biopesticides include pesticides derived from natural materials as such as certain minerals, plant-derived substances, microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, protozoa), genetic material from bacterial toxins which are added to plants, and biochemical substances such as pheromones.
• Scroll through alphabetical list.

• Chemicals registered since 1997.
• Alphabetical list of pesticides by common name.

EPA Office of Pesticide Programs            top
Pesticide Reregistration Eligibility Decisions (REDs)
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/status.htm

• These are some of the pesticides that were originally registered before November 1984.
• The R.E.D fact sheets are brief summaries of the Registration Eligibility Decisions (books)
• The Reregistration Eligibility Decisions are large documents that review information known about the health and environmental effects based on data submitted by manufacturers
• Alphabetical list of pesticides mostly by common name.
• Be sure to look at the WHOLE LIST, because some REDs cover more than one pesticide. Sometimes pesticide ingredients are 'hidden' in a case name (e.g. Mineral acids). Or they may be listed under a not-so-common name or a trade name.

• Fact sheets on pesticides with some information on health effects, ecological effects, and persistence in the environment. Information is based on a limited number of resources.

• Focus on hazardous substances in the workplace.
• Look for the chemical name in the alphabet without using any prefixes. Do not use numbers or any letters in front of a hyphen at the beginning of a chemical name.
• Wait for home page to load completely before clicking on anything

CANCER STUDY DATA & CANCER RISK ASSESSMENT

EPA. Office of Research and Development.            top
National Center for Environmental Assessment
IRISIntegrated Risk Information System
http://www.epa.gov/iris/index.html

• Focuses mainly on cancer risk assessment and toxicity of oral and inhalation exposure. Summarizes studies on these and other kinds of adverse health effects.
• Has glossary of terms, search hints, and complete list of chemicals
• 'Select a substance menu' provides complet list of the chemicals availble
• Or choose 'Search IRIS by Substance Name or CASRN'
• If you don't find your chemical by the common name, be sure to try the CAS number.
• Also available at the ToxNet site (with fewer helpful features)

• Summarizes research on cancer-causing potential of over 800 agents (including things like human viruses and cabinet making), some of which are pesticides
• To search, choose the link: SEARCH IARC Agents and Summary Evaluations.
• If the common name does not work, either try the CAS number or type in the name of the chemical without preceding numbers. (This search feature does not handle chemical names that have two or more numbers together.)

• Provides data from laboratory studies that look to see if a chemical causes cancer (carcinogenicity), or causes mutations (mutagenicity).
• It also includes related studies on the chemical's ability to encourage the formation of tumors (tumor promotion), or to prevent the formation of tumors (tumor inhibition).
• A POSITIVE result in a particular study means that the chemical did cause the effect that was researched. For example, a positive result in a carcinogenicity study means that the chemical did cause cancer in that study.
• Provides citation for article in which the data was found.
• The TOXNET Toxicology data files have an excellent interface for dealing with chemical names. CHEMID is used to link to the appropriate records even if you have used a different 'common' name than the agency which created each database.
• When a record is displayed, you may click the 'Full Display' box to see all the information, then click the 'Select' button.

LISTS

California EPA. Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
Proposition 65            top
[i.e. Chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity]
http://www.oehha.ca.gov/prop65/prop65_list/Newlist.html

• This is a LIST only. No extra information is given.
• Chemicals ARE NOT listed in ONE alphabet, but are in alphabetical order for each of the four categories: 1. Causes cancer 2. causes developmental toxicity (birth defects) 3. causes female reproductive toxicity 4. causes male reproductive toxicity
• Click on 'Go to download area' which takes you to thee bottom of the page. Select preferred format.
• Use 'Find in Page' browse feature to search chemical, using the common name.
• If you find your chemical listed, scroll back up to find out which category the chemical is listed in.
• Repeat 'Find in page' after each 'find' because a chemical may appear in more than one list.
• Use the CAS number without hyphens if the name does not work. 'Find in page' does not work well for chemicals with numbers in the name.

Federal Register Online at GPO Gate            top
http://www.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html

• Toxicity information can be found in rulemaking documents that relate to 'tolerances'. For any food-use pesticide, a tolerance is the amount of residue that is permitted on food products after harvest. Manufacturers petition EPA to allow a certain amount of pesticide residue. Such a petition is published as a'notice' in the Federal Register. The data in these documents has not been reviewed by EPA. EPA then reviews the data and issues a 'final rule'. Toxicity information is buried in these documents. (There is also a lot of regulatory information.) Because there are different regulatory considerations for different crops, it may be worthwhile to look at tolerances for several crops.
• Click on the year(s) that you want to search. I suggest one or two at a time so you don't exceed the 40 item limit.
• Scroll down page to 'Search Terms' and type in the common name of the chemical
• If the chemical name is made up of more than one part or word, use quotation marks
• Look for a 'Final Rule' in the results.
• Skip emergency exemption tolerances -- they do not have much information.
• Other toxicology information may also be available. This is especially true for organophosphates.

MUTAGENICITY STUDY DATA

CCRIS            top
(Chemical Carcinogenesis Research Information System)
found at TOXNET:
http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/sis1/index.html

• See description above.

• EPA reviews and recommends systems for testing for mutagenicity. This database provides data from laboratory studies that were reviewed by the GENE-TOX program. A citation is provided for each review article.
• A POSITIVE result in a particular study means that the chemical did cause mutations.
• These citations do not appear in the CCRIS database.
• The TOXNET Toxicology data files have an excellent interface for dealing with chemical names ­ CHEMID is used to link to the appropriate records even if you have used a different 'common' name than the agency which created each database.
• When a record is displayed, you may click the 'Full Display' box to see all the information, then click the 'Select' button.

TOXICOLOGY STUDY SUMMARIES

HSDB (Hazardous Substance Data Bank)            top
http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?HSDB

• Focuses on toxicology of potentially hazardous chemicals, but covers many other topics occupational safety, fate in the environment, disposal, and regulatory information.
• Has brief summaries of information from a variety of sources (e.g. books, government publications and journal articles). Sources are cited.
• When there is little information on a particular chemical, HSDB will reference information about the larger chemical family to which an individual substance belongs.
• When a record is displayed, you may click the 'Full Display' box to see all the information, then click the 'Select' button.

• The National Library of Medicine created TOXNET to provide access to a number of databases on toxicology, hazardous chemicals and related areas. The six databases which are most useful for researching health effects of pesticides are described in more detail elsewhere on this web page. They are

  CCRIS	EMIC	HSDB
  DART/ETIC	GENE-TOX	TOXLINE

TOXICOLOGY INDEXES/ABSTRACTS

The following four databases are indexing/abstracting resources. You will find mostly citations for articles published in scientific journals. Some databases also include books and other kinds of documents. Most entries will have abstracts (summaries) which can be quite informative.

The most detailed instructions are provided for PubMed (Medline) because I have the most experience with this database.

DART/ETIC (Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology and Environmental Teratology Information Center)            top
http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?DARTETIC.htm

• This database contains citations for articles that relate to effects of substances on: birth defects (teratology), development of organisms from embryo to adult (developmental toxicology) and the reproductive system (reproductive toxicology).
• Many of the citations have accompanying summaries (abstracts) that contain useful information.
• Many of these articles will also appear in TOXLINE and PubMed, but using DART/ETIC helps locate articles that are focused just on reproductive effects.

• This database contains citations for articles that relate effects of substances on mutations
• Many of the citations have accompanying summaries (abstracts) that contain useful information
  
• Many of these articles will also appear in TOXLINE and PubMed, but using DART/ETIC helps locate articles that are focused just on mutagenicity

• TOXLINE contains citations and abstracts covering the biological effects of drugs and other chemicals
• TOXLINE Special was created by merging all or selected records from a number of databases. Some of these subfiles are periodically updated while others are archival
• Because the records in this database are taken from different sources, there are no standardized keywords. This also means that there are a number of duplicate citations
• Many of the citations have accompanying summaries (abstracts) that contain useful information. However, abstracts from the BIOSIS database are truncated.
• Choose TOXLINE Special button
  Don't use the 'TOXLINE Core on PubMed'. Instead do a PubMed search separately
• You may choose the 'Limits' button to access advanced searching features
• "For chemicals, add synonyms and CAS numbers to search"
  • No: For chemicals about which there is a substantial amount of research, use 'No'
  • Yes: Choose this for chemicals about which there is little information.
    The 'Yes' feature searches trade names and other synomyms for a chemical. This kind of search can turn up materials unrelated to your chemical because the computer cannot distinguish between a product called 'Assert' , 'Merit', 'Vision' or 'Strike' and the normal use of these words. Also parts of chemical names or acronyms may be used for more than one chemical.
    You will need to check these items carefully to make sure they are really about your chemical. You can see why items are being retrieved by looking at the highlighted words. Compare the CAS numbers if you can.

• PubMed provides access to the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE indexing and abstracting database as well as other databases related to medicine.
• The MEDLINE database in PubMed contains citations and author abstracts from more than 4,500 mainly English-language journals that cover topics in medicine, health care and veterinary medicine.
• Abstracts (summaries) which accompany many citations can be useful sources of information by themselves.
• It is possible that your local library can obtain a copy of individual articles for you. There may be a fee to do this.
• There are links to full-text journals at the Web sites of participating publishers in this database. These may require that you register, subscribe, or pay a fee.

• Search PubMed for: [type in word/words] and click 'Go'.
• If you want to limit the years of publication, click on 'Limits', fill in years, and then click 'Go'.
• To show more than 20 items (results) on the 'page', select a larger number and click on 'Display'.
• Select titles that interest you by clicking on boxes. (To see all titles, don't click on any boxes).
• To see abstracts, select 'Abstract' from the pulldown menu that says 'Summary'. To get both abstracts and MeSH terms (NLM's subject headings), choose 'Citation' from the pulldown menu that says 'Summary'.
• There are more instructions on searching strategies available at this Web site.

PubMed: Chemical names: Researching individual pesticide ingredients            top
Common name:

• For most searches, you just type in the common name of the chemical.
• This searches all fields, including the title and abstract

• In some cases, however, more than one chemical name is commonly used in the scientific literature. The primary database in PubMed, MEDLINE, does not always add a MeSH (standardized keyword) term for the common name of every chemical mentioned in an article. So you must rely on the terms used by the authors in the title and abstracts.
• You can try expanding your search by adding other synonyms. Synonyms can include widely-used trade names. However you may not want to use trade names that are also words with everyday meanings: 'Dacthal' will work fine, but 'Rally' or 'Tilt' will find articles unrelated to pesticides.
• To add synonyms, type names, separated by 'OR' in capital letters.

  Examples:

  phenothrin OR sumithrin OR d-phenothrin

  dacthal OR DCPA

• If there a hundreds of articles on your chemical, you may want to limit the search.
• In the example below you can see one way to limit the number of 'hits'. This example uses portions of Medline's standardized keyword system (MeSH terms), to help find some of the toxicity information.
• Be sure to capitalize 'AND' and 'OR' in a Boolean statement like this.

  Examples:

  malathion AND (adverse OR chemically induced OR poisoning)

• Perhaps you want to find information on a broader topic. Questions like 'What are the effects of pesticides on farmworker health?' or 'Is there a relationship between pesticide exposure and asthma?' require a different search strategy.
• You should do this kind of search in two steps. First you do an exploratory search using words than make sense to you. Your terms will be searched in all fields, including the title and abstract.
  Example 1: farmworkers AND pesticides
  Example 2: asthma AND pesticides

• When you find article titles/abstracts that closely match your question, select those articles by clicking in the boxes. Then select choose the 'Citation' format from the pulldown menu and click 'Display'. Items will now show citation, abstract, and MeSH terms.
• You are trying to find out what standardized keywords (MeSH terms) are used in MEDLINE to describe your topic, so that you can expand the number of 'hits'. (Very new articles will often not have MeSH terms yet)
  Example 1: You will find that the MeSH terms don't include 'farmworkers' or 'farm workers' . One keyword often used is: "Agricultural Workers' Diseases".
  Example 2: You will see that 'Asthma' works well because it is the same keyword used in MeSH terms.

• Now you could expand your search using your terms, other commonly used words, and the MeSH terms
• Create a statement like the one below. Be sure to capitalize 'OR' and 'AND'. Separate similar terms (synonyms) by 'OR'. Enclose the string of 'OR' terms in parentheses on either side of the word 'AND'.
• The second half of the 'Boolean' statements below is one I have developed from experience.
  Example 1: (farmworkers OR farm workers OR field workers OR agricultural workers) AND (pesticide OR pesticides OR insecticide OR insecticides OR fungicide OR fungicides OR herbicide OR herbicides)
  Example 2: asthma AND (pesticide OR pesticides OR herbicide OR herbicides OR insecticide OR insecticides OR fungicide OR fungicides)