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Safety of Napropamide Herbicide

The herbicide napropamide is used as a control method for broadleaf grasses and annual grasses. Cranberries, strawberries, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants and tobacco are regularly treated with napropamide; 368,000 lbs. of napropamide are applied to crops each year.

  1. Carcinogenicity

    • Napropamide has been classified as Group E by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which means there is no evidence the chemical causes cancers.

    Toxicity

    • Napropamide has a low acute toxicity when ingested, breathed in or placed on skin (EPA Category III/IV). It is moderately irritating to eyes (Category II) but does not irritate skin or cause skin sensitivity. There is no evidence napropamide causes damage to the neurological system or to embryos or fetuses in the womb.

    Dietary Risk

    • According to the EPA, lifetime ingestion of napropamide from foods and water is well under the EPA's acceptable safety limits.

    Exposure

    • Exposure to napropamide through pesticide use can be through skin or inhalation. Occupational skin exposure and inhalation is under the acceptable level of EPA concern. Cases of napropamide poisoning have been presented to Poison Control and to the California Pesticide Illness Surveillance Program; most were eye irritation illnesses.

    Environmental Effects

    • Napropamide is classified as practically nontoxic when ingested by mammalian species and avian species but is moderately toxic to marine and estuarine invertebrates and fish and slightly toxic to estuarine and marine fish and freshwater invertebrates.

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