| Nicotine |

Last updated: 25/10/2025
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(Not known by any other names) |
The following Pesticide Hazard Tricolour (PHT) alerts are based on the data in the tables below. An absence of an alert does not imply the substance has no implications for human health, biodiversity or the environment but just that we do not have the data to form a judgement. The alerts for Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs) are based on applying the FAO/WHO (Type 1) and the PAN (Type II) criteria to PPDB data. Further details on the HHP indicators are given in the tables below. Neither the PHT nor the HHP hazard alerts take account of usage patterns or exposure, thus they do not represent risk.
| PHT: Environmental fate |
PHT: Ecotoxicity |
PHT: Human health |
Highly Hazardous Pesticide |
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A general purpose, plant-derived non-persistent insecticide |
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Aphids; Thrips; Whiteflies |
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Fruit; Vegetables; Grapes; Protected ornamentals |
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- |
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- |
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- |
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Not approved |
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Expired |
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No UK approval for use as a plant protection agent |
| EC Regulation 1107/2009 (repealing 91/414) |
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Not approved |
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- |
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Expired |
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Not applicable |
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Yes |
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ATAustria |
BEBelgium |
BGBulgaria |
CYCyprus |
CZCzech Republic |
DEGermany |
DKDenmark |
EEEstonia |
ELGreece |
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ESSpain |
FIFinland |
FRFrance |
HRCroatia |
HUHungary |
IEIreland |
ITItaly |
LTLithuania |
LULuxembourg |
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LVLatvia |
MTMalta |
NLNetherlands |
PLPoland |
PTPortugal |
RORomania |
SESweden |
SISlovenia |
SKSlovakia |
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ISIceland |
NONorway |
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A chiral molecule. The technical material is a racemate composed of equimolar amounts of (R)- and (S)-nicotine. |
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C₁₀H₁₄N₂ |
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CN1CCCC1C2=CN=CC=C2 |
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CN1CCC[C@H]1C2=CN=CC=C2 |
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SNICXCGAKADSCV-JTQLQIEISA-N |
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InChI=1S/C10H14N2/c1-12-7-3-5-10(12)9-4-2-6-11-8-9/h2,4,6,8,10H,3,5,7H2,1H3/t10-/m0/s1 |
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Yes |
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Insecticide |
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Plant-derived substance; Alkaloid insecticide |
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950 g kg⁻¹ |
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EU dossier - None declared |
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Natural |
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Broad-spectrum and fast acting nerve toxin. Mainly respiratory action but some contact and stomach activity. Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) channel blocker. |
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Isolated from tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum) and from other plants including those belonging to the Lycopodiaceae, Grassulaceae & Leguminosae families |
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Crop protection |
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Aphids; Thrips; Whiteflies |
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Fruit; Vegetables; Grapes; Protected ornamentals |
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- |
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54-11-5 |
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200-193-3 |
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8 |
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056702 |
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- |
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162.23 |
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- |
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(S)-3-(1-methylpyrrolidin-2-yl)pyridine |
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3-((2S)-1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinyl)pyridine |
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| UK Poisons List Order 1972 |
Rotterdam Convention |
Montreal Protocol |
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| Stockholm Convention |
OSPAR |
EU Water Framework Directive |
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- |
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- |
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Yes [ C1 Criterion 1: Pesticide active ingredients that meet the criteria of classes Ia or Ib of the WHO Recommended Classification of Pesticides by Hazard ] |
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Yes [ R01 Rule 1: Pesticide active ingredients that meet the criteria of classes Ia or Ib of the WHO Recommended Classification of Pesticides by Hazard (or those with a CLP classification of H330) ] |
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- |
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Not applicable |
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Not applicable |
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4B |
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Not applicable |
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- |
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Colourless liquid with brown tint |
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Current |
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pre-1940, introduced |
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- Dow AgroSciences
- Nicobrand
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- Black Leaf 40
- Tobacco Dust
- Nicotine 40% Shreds
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Often used as smoke generating formulations within glasshouses and potato chitting houses. Typically around 225g product per 560 cubic metres are used. |
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Commercial production of nicotine pesticide typically involves extracting nicotine from tobacco plants. Tobacco plants, such as Nicotiana tabacum and Nicotiana rustica, are cultivated and harvested. The leaves of these plants contain the highest concentration of nicotine. The harvested tobacco leaves are dried and then subjected to a solvent extraction process. Common solvents include water, ethanol, or hexane. The solvent dissolves the nicotine from the leaves. The nicotine-laden solvent is then purified to remove impurities. This can involve filtration, distillation, or other chemical processes to isolate the nicotine. Recent approaches include extraction from cigarette waste |
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There is no published figure for kg CO₂e per kg of nicotine, but based on tobacco’s environmental profile, it is likely to be carbon-intensive compared to microbial or mineral-based biopesticides. According to multiple sources global tobacco cultivation contributes approximately 84 million tonnes of CO₂e annually from around 6 million tonnes of tobacco grown. This includes land use change and deforestation, pesticides and fertilisers, energy for curing, water and irrigation. It also includes transport and general processing. This would suggest that 1 kg of nicotine emits around 14 kg of CO₂e. This is inline with general data for insecticides which tends to be between 14 and 19 kilograms of CO₂e is emitted per kilogram of insecticide produced. |
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1000000 |
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High |
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Miscible |
L3 L = Pesticide manuals and hard copy reference books / other sources 3 = Unverified data of known source Ethanol |
- |
| Miscible |
L3 L = Pesticide manuals and hard copy reference books / other sources 3 = Unverified data of known source Diethyl ether |
- |
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-79 |
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- |
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247 |
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- |
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247 |
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- |
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101 |
L3 L = Pesticide manuals and hard copy reference books / other sources 3 = Unverified data of known source |
- |
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1.48 X 1001 |
Calculated |
- |
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1.17 |
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Low |
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Insoluble |
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- |
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Regulatory data based on LogP |
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- |
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1.01 |
L3 L = Pesticide manuals and hard copy reference books / other sources 3 = Unverified data of known source |
- |
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3.1 |
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| Nicotine is a base pKb1= 6.16; pKb2= 10.96 (CA3) |
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5620 |
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Highly volatile. If applied directly to plants or soil, drift is a concern & mitigation is advisable |
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9.0 X 10-04 |
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Non-volatile |
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- |
- |
- |
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- |
- |
- |
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- |
- |
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- |
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2 |
Q2 Q = Miscellaneous data from online sources 2 = Unverified data of unknown source |
Non-persistent |
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- |
- |
- |
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- |
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- |
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- |
- |
- |
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- |
- |
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Best available data |
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- |
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11.6 |
R4 R = Peer reviewed scientific publications 4 = Verified data |
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Published literature RL₅₀ range 3.5-28.0 days, 3 field crops, various matrices, n=3 |
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As this parameter is not normally measured directly, a surrogate measure is used: ‘Photochemical oxidative DT₅₀’. Where data is available, this can be found in the Fate Indices section below. |
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| Soil adsorption and mobility |
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- |
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Moderately mobile |
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100 |
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Estimated |
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- |
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- |
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- |
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- |
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| Known groundwater metabolites |
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None
| Terrestrial ecotoxicology |
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50 |
Rat |
High |
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- |
- |
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- |
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- |
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> 17.8 |
Unknown species |
High |
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- |
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- |
- |
- |
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- |
- |
- |
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- |
- |
- |
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> 50 |
Q2 Q = Miscellaneous data from online sources 2 = Unverified data of unknown source |
Moderate |
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- |
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- |
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- |
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Harmful |
Q2 Q = Miscellaneous data from online sources 2 = Unverified data of unknown source Aphidius rhopalosiphi |
- |
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- |
- |
- |
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- |
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- |
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- |
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- |
- |
- |
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- |
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4.0 |
Oncorhynchus mykiss |
Moderate |
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2.9 |
Q2 Q = Miscellaneous data from online sources 2 = Unverified data of unknown source Oncorhynchus mykiss |
Moderate |
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> 8.11 |
Danio rerio Eggs |
Moderate |
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0.242 |
Daphnia pulex |
Moderate |
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0.2 |
Daphnia pulex |
Moderate |
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- |
- |
- |
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- |
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- |
- |
| Regulatory Threshold Levels (RTLs) used to calculate Total Applied Toxicity (TAT) |
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5 |
Worst case of acute and chronic mammals |
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1.78 |
Worst case of acute and chronic birds |
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No data |
No data for acute and chronic earthworms |
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No data |
No data for non-target plants vegetative vigour and seedling emergence |
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1 |
Worst case of contact and oral honeybees |
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No data |
No data for parasitic wasps and predatory mites |
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0.04 |
Worst case of temperate acute and chronic fish |
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0.00242 |
Worst case of temperate acute and chronic aquatic invertebrates |
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No data |
No data for free-floating plants, rooted plants, acute and chronic algae |
| HUMAN HEALTH AND PROTECTION |
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High (class III) |
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- |
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50 |
Rat |
High |
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- |
- |
- |
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- |
- |
- |
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50.0 |
L3 L = Pesticide manuals and hard copy reference books / other sources 3 = Unverified data of known source Rat |
- |
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- |
- |
- |
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Subcutaneous LD₅₀ = 25 mg kg⁻¹ |
Rat |
- |
| Intraperitoneal LD₅₀ = 5.9 mg kg⁻¹ |
Mouse |
- |
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0.0001 |
Humans SF=1000 |
- |
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0.0001 |
Humans SF=1000 |
- |
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- |
- |
- |
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0.001 |
Humans SF=1000 |
- |
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- |
- |
- |
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- |
- |
- |
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Bystanders may be exposed during glasshouse venting operations |
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High risk of operator exposure via inhalation |
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- |
- |
- |
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| Carcinogen |
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Endocrine disruptor |
XNo, known not to cause a problem |
A0 A = Chromosome aberration (EFSA database) 0 = No data ; B0 B = DNA damage/repair (EFSA database) 0 = No data ; C0 C = Gene mutation (EFSA database) 0 = No data ; D0 D = Genome mutation (EFSA database) 0 = No data ; E1 E = Unspecified genotoxicity type (miscellaneous data source) 1 = Positive |
No data found |
| Reproduction / development effects |
Acetyl cholinesterase inhibitor |
Neurotoxicant |
✓Yes, known to cause a problem |
XNo, known not to cause a problem |
✓Yes, known to cause a problem |
| Respiratory tract irritant |
Skin irritant |
Skin sensitiser |
| No data found |
✓Yes, known to cause a problem |
XNo, known not to cause a problem |
| Eye irritant |
Phototoxicant |
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?Possibly, status not identified |
No data found |
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Highly toxic May cause cardiovasular diseases Some data suggests nicotine may be carcinogenic |
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Not explosive or oxidising IMDG Transport Hazard Class 6.1 |
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Health: H300, H310, H330 Environment: H400 |
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Ib (Highly hazardous) |
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UN1654 |
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Packaging Group II (moderate danger) |
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- |
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nicotine |
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nicotine |
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Nikotin |
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nikotin |
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nicotina |
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nicotina |
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- |
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nikotyna |
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- |
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- |
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- |
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| Record last updated: |
25/10/2025 |
| Contact: |
aeru@herts.ac.uk |
| Please cite as: |
Lewis, K.A., Tzilivakis, J., Warner, D. and Green, A. (2016) An international database for pesticide risk assessments and management. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal, 22(4), 1050-1064. DOI: 10.1080/10807039.2015.1133242 |
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