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Searchable Systemic Insecticides List

As a group, insecticides are perilous for insect life, including bees and other beneficial insects. Those insecticides designed to permeate plants from within—systemic insecticides—move through plants and may be present in all tissues after application, including pollen and nectar, posing unique risks for pollinators.

Given their widespread use, Xerces decided to offer an easily accessible reference to the insecticides currently registered  in the U.S. that are known to—or possess the potential to—exhibit systemic movement in plants. 

With this reference, you can retrieve information about these chemicals, such as their toxicity to bees, their persistence, the strength of their systemic activity, and where they can be legally used.

To read more about systemic insecticides, the risks they pose, how translocation works, and other details, click here. 

This information was last updated Dec. 1, 2021. The next update is scheduled for Feb. 1, 2022. 

You can explore the data using the filters below to narrow your search. If you filter on more than one field at a time, the data returned in the tiles will meet all search conditions  ("AND" query, not "OR" query). Click on tiles to bring up the details.

The name by which the insecticide active substance is commonly known, as identified on a pesticide product label.
The larger chemical group to which the active ingredient belongs, usually as defined by chemical structure.
The dose that results in 50% of the test population dying, under an acute (short-term) oral exposure, for adult Apis mellifera (honey bee). The most conservative estimate (lowestvalue) available for oral acute toxicity is shown here. EPA uses the lowest LD50 value available from the scientific literature in its modeling of risk.
"High" is assigned when the oral LD50 value in the Adult Bee Toxicity field is less than 2 µg/bee, "Moderate" when the oral LD50 is 2-10.99 µg/bee, and "Low" when the oral LD50 is 11 µg/bee and higher. The term "Non-definitive" is assigned when oral acute toxicity was reported with a "less than" or "greater than" value. The toxicity group assigned follows the EPA's system for classifying acute toxicity to bees. Currently EPA does not have a classification system for oral acute.
The dose that results in 50% of the test population dying, under an acute (short-term) oral exposure, for adult Apis mellifera (honey bee). The most conservative estimate (lowestvalue) available for oral acute toxicity is shown here. EPA uses the lowest LD50 value available from the scientific literature in its modeling of risk. For many active ingredients, no value is currently available
Persistence ratings are based on the National Pesticide Information Center classification of half-lives: Low (less than 16 days), Medium (16-59 days) and High (60 days or more).
The value indicates the predicted relative strength of systemic transport, based on a model of the active ingredient's solubility, hydrophobicity (octanol−water partition coefficient (Kow), and acid dissassociation constant (pKa). A Relative Index score of 1.0 is equivalent to the mean predicted activity of the well-known systemic neonicotinoids imidacloprid, clothianidin, and thiamethoxam (Mineau 2021). Hence, active ingredients with scores higher than one would be predicted to be more likely to translocate than these three neonics; active ingredients with scores lower than 1.0 would be expected to show lesser potential for movement. Value from Mineau (2021) Appendix 2 ("Best RISA Estimate Available").
"Agricultural" indicates current registered uses in the U.S. include one or more food agricultural uses including seed treatments. "Nursery" indicates current registered uses includes one or more plant production use sites (nurseries, greenhouses, etc.). "Landscape" indicates current registered uses include one or more landscape uses such as landscape trees, landscape ornamental, uses in parks and/or residences, golf courses, turf, or other types of landscape use. "Non-crop" indicates current registered uses include one or more non-crop uses such as mosquito control (whether residential, wetland, natural or park areas, commercial/industrial etc.), structural uses, pest control on the premises of food-handling or livestock or food storage facilities, use on crops intended for livestock (such as alfalfa), and use on manure, Christmas trees, natural areas or other non-crop sites.
Yes indicates active ingredient is currently registered in the U.S. as a seed treatment for one or more crops. No indicates no seed treatment uses.

Terms of Use: This data is provided only as a guide. It offers science-based information to help you make informed decisions about the use of systemic insecticides and   the risk to pollinators and other beneficial insects. The insecticide user has sole and complete responsibility to comply with the applicable laws and the pesticide label instructions.  Xerces   and Xerces’ employees are not licensed insecticide or pesticide applicators or advisors.  Xerces makes no warranty, expressed or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, completeness, legality, reliability or usefulness of any information made available through this search function or in a downloaded table and assumes no liability resulting from use of such information.  Risk of personal or ecological injury or property damage from any insecticide use is assumed by the insecticide user. By accessing the data through the search function or downloading the table, you agree and acknowledge that you understand these Terms of Use.

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Field Names and Definitions

Active Ingredient
The name by which the insecticide active substance is commonly known, as identified on a pesticide product label.

Chemical Group

The larger chemical group to which the active ingredient belongs, usually as defined by chemical structure. 

Adult Bee Toxicity
The dose that results in 50% of the test population dying, under an acute (short-term) oral exposure, i.e., adult oral LD50 in units of µg/bee for Apis mellifera (honey bee). The most conservative estimate (lowest value) available for oral acute toxicity is shown here. EPA uses the lowest LD50 value available from the scientific literature in its modeling of risk.

Adult Bee Toxicity Group
"High" is assigned when the oral LD50 value in the Adult Bee Toxicity field is less than 2 µg/bee, "Moderate" when the oral LD50 is 2-10.99 µg/bee, and "Low" when the oral LD50 is 11 µg/bee and higher. The term "Non-definitive" is assigned when oral acute toxicity was reported with a "less than" or "greater than" value. The toxicity group assigned follows the EPA's system for classifying acute toxicity to bees.

Larval Bee Toxicity
Larval oral LD50, in units of µg/bee for Apis mellifera (honey bee). The most conservative estimate (lowest value) available for larval oral acute toxicity is shown here. EPA uses the lowest LD50 value available from the scientific literature in its modeling of risk. In several cases, no value is currently available.

Persistence Half-life (days)
Where available, the most conservative (longest) estimate of terrestrial dissipation half-life, in days. If this value was unavailable, the aerobic soil metabolism half-life value used by EPA to model persistence in its most recent ecological risk assessment for this active ingredient was used. If this value was unavailable, the most conservative estimate (longest value) of aerobic soil metabolism half-life presented in the ecological risk assessment. Note that some persistence data inside plants is available, however methods for collecting this information differs, and very little persistence data is available for pollen, flowers, or nectar. Moreover, treated soil may transfer systemics to plants over a long period of time. With these considerations, the more traditional soil-based measures of persistence are presented here.

Persistence Rating
Persistence ratings are based on the National Pesticide Information Center classification of half-lives: Low (less than 16 days), Medium (16-59 days) and High (60 days or more).

Relative Index of Systemic Activity
The value indicates the predicted relative strength of systemic transport, based on a model of the active ingredient's solubility, hydrophobicity (octanol−water partition coefficient (Kow), and acid dissassociation constant (pKa). A Relative Index score of 1.0 is equivalent to the mean predicted activity of the well-known systemic neonicotinoids imidacloprid, clothianidin, and thiamethoxam (Mineau 2021). Hence, active ingredients with scores higher than one would be predicted to be more likely to translocate than these three neonics; active ingredients with scores lower than 1.0 would be expected to show lesser potential for movement. Value from Mineau (2021) Appendix 2 ("Best RISA Estimate Available").

Use Categories
"Agricultural" indicates current registered uses in the U.S. include one or more food agricultural uses including seed treatments. "Nursery" indicates current registered uses includes one or more plant production use sites (nurseries, greenhouses, etc.). "Landscape" indicates current registered uses include one or more landscape uses such as landscape trees, landscape ornamental, uses in parks and/or residences, golf courses, turf, or other types of landscape use. "Non-crop" indicates current registered uses include one or more non-crop uses such as mosquito control (whether residential, wetland, natural or park areas, commercial/industrial etc.), structural uses, pest control on the premises of food-handling or livestock or food storage facilities, use on crops intended for livestock (such as alfalfa), and use on manure, Christmas trees, natural areas or other non-crop sites.

Registered Uses (USA)
A general summary of the insecticide's currently registered uses in the U.S, based primarily on examination of EPA registration documents. Current products and labels posted at cdms.net and http://npic.orst.edu/NPRO/# were also consulted. For a master list of all products and sites by active ingredient, see https://ordspub.epa.gov/ords/pesticides/f?p=PPLS:1:. We also conducted searches for PRIA label amendments (EPA’s process for amending labels) for some chemicals to determine uses. Note that Special Local Use Authorizations or emergency use authorizations are not necessarily reflected in our list of Registered Uses. Section 18 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) authorizes EPA to allow an unregistered use of a pesticide for a limited time if EPA determines that an emergency condition exists. To check emergency authorizations, visit https://ordspub.epa.gov/ords/pesticides/f?p=CHEMICALSEARCH:1:.

Seed Treatment Use
Yes indicates active ingredient is currently registered in the U.S. as a seed treatment for one or more crops. No indicates no seed treatment uses.

Seed Treatment Crops
Crops for which seed treatments are currently registered in the U.S. These crops were located using the same general process as other uses described in the Registered Uses (USA) field definition. In some cases we searched cdms.net or used google searches to identify these. This field only addresses seed coatings and does not describe whether or not other soil application methods are available, such as in-furrow uses, soil band treatments, soil incorporations, soil injections, soil drenches, pre-plant dips, granular treatments, etc. This field may not reflect emergency use authorizations.

Further Information
As needed, selected additional information.

Systemic Reference(s)
Source(s) for confirmation of systemic movement.

Toxicity Reference(s)
Source(s) for toxicity values shown in fields Adult Bee Toxicity and Larval Bee Toxicity. In most cases the values for oral bee toxicity were drawn from U.S. EPA Ecological Risk Assessments or from the University of Hertfordshire Pesticide Properties Database (Lewis and Tzilivakis et al. 2016). In some cases, the toxicity database maintained by U.S. EPA (ECOTOX database, US EPA 2021) was the source.

Persistence Reference(s)
Source(s) for persistence value shown in field Persistence Half-Life (Days). In most cases the values for oral bee toxicity were drawn from U.S. EPA Ecological Risk Assessments or from the University of Hertfordshire Pesticide Properties Database (Lewis and Tzilivakis et al. 2016).

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