A pyrethroid is a synthetic chemical that kills most insects. They are similar to the natural chemical pyrethrum produced by the flowers of a chrysanthemum. Pyrethroids are common in commercial products such as household insecticides and insect repellent. They are usually broken apart by sunlight and the atmosphere in one or two days, and do not significantly affect groundwater quality. Pyrethroids are usually combined with piperonyl butoxide a known inhibitor of key liver enzymes. Combined, pyrethroids are toxic to most beneficial insects like bees or dragonflies. There is a strong probablility they are estrogen disruptors. Pyrethrum (Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium, Family Asteraceae) is a perennial African plant with a daisy-like appearance and white, pink or red flowers. ... Species - tricolor daisy - pyrethrum - pyrethum daisy - crown daisy - marguerite - daisy - florists chrysanthemum C. segetum - corndaisy Ref: ITIS 35791 See also Daisy (disambiguation) The chrysanthemum, also known as the mum, is a flowering perennial plant of the genus Chrysanthemum in the daisy family (Asteraceae). ... Insecticide application by crop spraying An insecticide is a pesticide whose purpose is to kill or to prevent the multiplication of insects. ... Commercial insect repellents. ... In chemistry and biology, degradation is the decomposition of a chemical compound by stages, with well-defined intermediate products. ... Groundwater is water flowing within aquifers below the water table. ...
Pyrethroids are manufactured chemicals that are very similar in structure to the pyrethrins, but are often more toxic to insects, as well as to mammals, and last longer in the environment than pyrethrins.
Most commercial pyrethroids are not one single molecule; rather, they are several molecules with the same chemical formula that have their atoms joined together in the same sequence, but have a different arrangement of the atoms in space.
Certain pyrethroids, such as permethrin, phenothrin, and resmethrin, are sprayed to control mosquitos during the spring and summer.
Pyrethroids are a class of compounds represented by permethrin, first marketed in 1973, and various other chemicals usually ending in the suffix -thrin.
Though pyrethroids are used far less than organophosphates like diazinon and chlorpyrifos, their use in California has risen rapidly in recent years because of increased regulation of the spraying of organophosphates, due to health threats to farm workers and increased toxic runoff from fields.
He and his colleagues are now trying to measure the level of pyrethroid that kills amphipods, which is around 3 parts per billion in sediments, and whether levels of PBO need to be considered in order to estimate the true toxicity of pyrethroid pesticides.