Comprehensive Pesticide Residue Testing
Advanced screening to detect and monitor chemical residues for safer, higher-quality food.
1-Naphthylacetamide and 1-naphthylacetic acid
Synthetic Auxins / Growth Regulators
1-Naphthylacetamide and 1-naphthylacetic acid is a plant growth regulator — Auxin analogues in use since the 1930s; used in India on apple, mango, grape and cotton. Mimics or blocks the plant's own hormones to control ripening, fruit set, size, height or drop. WHO class III, slightly hazardous. It remains approved in the EU. Used to thin fruit and prevent pre-harvest drop. A residue here says the fruit was chemically managed for uniformity and shelf life.
Skin and eye irritant; low chronic concern at residue levels.
Low.
Applied close to harvest as a drop-control spray, so residue on fruit skin is expected rather than accidental. Frequently systemic; absorbed into the tissue being modified.
6-Benzyl adenine
Plant growth regulator
6-Benzyl adenine is a plant growth regulator — Synthesised 1959; one of the first commercial cytokinins; used in India on grape, apple and ornamentals. Mimics or blocks the plant's own hormones to control ripening, fruit set, size, height or drop. WHO class U, unlikely to present acute hazard in normal use. It remains approved in the EU. Synthetic cytokinin used to increase cell division and fruit size. A cosmetic input — nothing is being protected, only enlarged.
Low acute toxicity; the concern is what its use signals — fruit enlarged by hormone rather than grown to size.
Low.
Absorbed into the tissue it is intended to enlarge.
2,4-D
Synthetic Auxins / Growth Regulators
2,4-D is a synthetic auxin — Discovered 1941, commercialised 1945; used in India on wheat, rice, sugarcane and non-crop. Floods the plant with a hormone signal it cannot switch off, forcing uncontrolled growth until the vascular system collapses. WHO class II, moderately hazardous. It remains approved in the EU. 10 countries record a complete ban. One of the two components of Agent Orange. The dioxin contamination concern belongs to 2,4,5-T, its partner compound, but the association has shaped 2,4-D's regulatory history ever since.
Occupational cohorts show elevated non-Hodgkin lymphoma; the 2015 IARC review cited strong evidence of oxidative stress in exposed workers. Cancer classification: Group 2B — possibly carcinogenic (IARC, 2015). On the PAN International list of Highly Hazardous Pesticides.
Vapour-drift damage to grapevines, cotton and tomatoes is documented kilometres from treated fields; volatile ester forms are the worst.
Soil half-life of roughly a week to a month; not persistent, but readily washed into surface water after rain.
- PubChem — compound record, full toxicology
- EU Pesticides Database — approval status
- IARC Monographs — agents classified
- PAN International — consolidated list of banned pesticides
- FAO/WHO — Highly Hazardous Pesticide criteria
- NPOP (India) — National Standards for Organic Production, 8th Ed. 2024
- USDA NOP — National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances
- EU organic production — Regulation (EU) 2018/848
Abamectin
Avermectins / Macrocyclic Lactones
Abamectin is an avermectin / macrocyclic lactone — Merck, 1985; used in India on cotton, chilli, tomato and tea. Opens glutamate-gated chloride channels found only in invertebrates, paralysing the pest. WHO class II, moderately hazardous. It remains approved in the EU. Fermentation-derived, yet listed as a Highly Hazardous Pesticide by PAN on acute toxicity grounds — a useful correction to the assumption that natural origin implies low hazard.
Acutely neurotoxic at high dose; the 2003 Chinese poisoning series showed coma and respiratory failure from ingestion of formulated product. On the PAN International list of Highly Hazardous Pesticides.
Among the most toxic compounds known to aquatic invertebrates — Daphnia LC50 in the parts-per-trillion range — and highly toxic to bees.
Breaks down within hours in sunlight but moves into the leaf, where it persists for weeks.
- PubChem — compound record, full toxicology
- EU Pesticides Database — approval status
- FAO/WHO — Highly Hazardous Pesticide criteria
- NPOP (India) — National Standards for Organic Production, 8th Ed. 2024
- USDA NOP — National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances
- EU organic production — Regulation (EU) 2018/848
4-Bromo-2-chlorophenol
Residue marker / degradation product
4-Bromo-2-chlorophenol is a residue marker / degradation product — Degradation marker for profenofos. Not applied to crops.
Not itself a regulated toxicant; its presence indicates profenofos exposure.
Marker only.
Outlasts the parent compound in plant tissue, which is what makes it useful to a laboratory. Not applicable.
Acephate
Organophosphates & Phosphorus Compounds
Acephate is an organophosphate — Chevron, 1971; used in India on cotton, rice, chilli and pulses. Binds irreversibly to acetylcholinesterase, the enzyme that clears acetylcholine from nerve synapses. WHO class III, slightly hazardous. It is not approved in the EU. Metabolises in the body and in the plant to methamidophos, which is far more toxic than acephate itself and is banned in around 90 countries. The parent is legal in India; its breakdown product is not.
Comparatively low acute toxicity for an organophosphate, but converts in the body to methamidophos, which is around fifty times more toxic. On the PAN International list of Highly Hazardous Pesticides.
Highly toxic to bees; its metabolite is the greater risk to birds.
Systemic, and the methamidophos it forms inside the plant persists after the parent has cleared.
- PubChem — compound record, full toxicology
- CIB&RC / Govt of India — banned, refused and restricted list
- EU Pesticides Database — approval status
- PAN International — consolidated list of banned pesticides
- FAO/WHO — Highly Hazardous Pesticide criteria
- EU MRL rules — default 0.01 mg/kg where no limit is set
- NPOP (India) — National Standards for Organic Production, 8th Ed. 2024
- USDA NOP — National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances
4-Chloro-3-methylphenol
Residue marker / degradation product
4-Chloro-3-methylphenol is a residue marker / degradation product — Preservative and disinfectant (chlorocresol). Not applied to crops.
A recognised contact allergen; patch-test positive in a measurable share of dermatology patients because of its use in cosmetics and topical medicines.
Toxic to fish; enters watercourses from hospital and industrial effluent rather than farms.
A finding in grain or flour points at a disinfectant used in the mill or the warehouse. Not applicable.
Acetamiprid
Neonicotinoid
Acetamiprid is a neonicotinoid — Nippon Soda, 1995; used in India on cotton, vegetables, citrus and tea. Permanently activates the insect's nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. WHO class II, moderately hazardous. The one neonicotinoid to survive the EU outdoor ban, on the basis of a comparatively lower pollinator risk profile. Still fully systemic and not removable by washing.
EFSA lowered its acceptable daily intake in 2024 after reviewing developmental neurotoxicity data; detected in the urine of most sampled European children.
Lower bee toxicity than the other neonicotinoids, which is why it survived the 2018 EU outdoor ban.
Fully systemic; half-life in soil of days to weeks.
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