Pyrethroid Insecticides

Pyrethoids were originally botanical insecticides extracted from dried pyrethrum and chrysanthemum flowers in China during the first century A.D. Synthetic derivatives entered the market in 1980 and now have greater than 30% of the market share. They are known for their rapid knock-down of flying insects. Many are contact sensitizers (skin) with occasional anaphylactic episodes reported. Because pyrethroids are readily detoxified both by enzymatic actions and environmentally, they are not persistent and have not posed severe environmental contamination problems.

(Amdur, Mary O., John Doull, and Curtis D. Klaassen. Toxicology, 1991, p. 593)

Their primary mechanism of action is similar to DDT, with repeated opening of neuronal sodium channels resulting in hyperactivity of nervous pathways and affects to Mg²⁺/Ca²⁺ ATPase.

(Amdur, Mary O., John Doull, and Curtis D. Klaassen. Toxicology, 1991, p. 595)

(Amdur, Mary O., John Doull, and Curtis D. Klaassen. Toxicology, 1991, p. 594)