Tefluthrin
Identification Number: CASRN | 79538-32-2

  Substance Attributes

• Metabolic Interference or Disruption

  Interferes with human metabolism. This can be a very serious thing. Some of these interference mechanics are well established. However, often long term effects and health consequences remain largely unknown. Additionally an emerging area of concern and one that is not currently studied, is the combined synergistic effects these metabolically disrupting chemicals have on human health.

  
  

  Metabolic interference happens when the substance produces highly reactive and often damaging intermediates during detoxification or when the substance binds to specific enzymes, important structural groups on molecules, receptors and membranes or targets DNA or mimics key nutrients.

• Exposure Produces Health Symptoms

  Symptoms maybe short term or long term depending on the exposure duration and intensity and effects areas like Cardiovascular, Gastrointestinal, Cognition, Fatigue. A substance with this attribute may cause an allergic skin reaction, serious eye irritation, allergy or asthma symptoms or breathing difficulties if inhaled.

These attributes are ONLY based on peer-reviewed evidence. See link to Data Sources below. Everyone benefits from knowing this stuff. Please Share.

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• CATEGORIES: Pesticide | Household Toxin | Synthetic Toxin | PESTICIDE active ingredient | organic | insecticide | Pesticide or Plant Growth Regulator Approved in Australia | Pesticide approved or pending approval in EU
• SUBSTANCE LINEAGE: Organic Compounds | Benzenoids | Benzene and Substituted Derivatives | Benzyloxycarbonyls | Benzyloxycarbonyls
• SYNONYMS: Force | Forza | Tefluthrine | Tetrafluthrin
• DESCRIPTION: Tefluthrin is a pyrethroid (type 1) insecticide. A pyrethroid is a synthetic chemical compound similar to the natural chemical pyrethrins produced by the flowers of pyrethrums (Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium and C. coccineum). Pyrethroids are common in commercial products such as household insecticides and insect repellents. In the concentrations used in such products, they are generally harmless to human beings but can harm sensitive individuals. They are usually broken apart by sunlight and the atmosphere in one or two days, and do not significantly affect groundwater quality except for being toxic to fish. Insects with certain mutations in their sodium channel gene may be resistant to pyrethroid insecticides. Tefluthrin controls a wide range of soil insect pests in maize, sugar beet, and other crops. (L867, L811, L708)
• COMMENTS: Residues of this pesticide are NOT tested for on Australian Foods even though the Pesticide is approved in Australia. This is partly so because this pesticide is not usually used around food agriculture. | Pesticide approved in Australia
• 
• FORMULA: C17H14ClF7O2
• DATA SOURCES: DATA SOURCES: T3DB | PubChem | Consolidated Pesticide Information Dataset (CPI) from the USA EPA | Compendium of Pesticide Common Names | APVMA | EU Pesticides
• LAST UPDATE: 28/04/2018

  Health Associations

Mostly focused on Health Implications of Long Term Exposure to this substance

• SYMPTOMS: Following oral exposure, severe fine tremor, marked reflex hyperexcitability, sympathetic activation can occur. Nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain commonly occur and develop following ingestion. Sudden bronchospasm, swelling of oral and laryngeal mucous membranes, and anaphylactoid reactions have been reported after inhalation. Hypersensitivity reactions characterized by pneumonitis, cough, dyspnea, wheezing, chest pain, irritability to sound and touch, and bronchospasm may occur too. Dermatitis is the main effect of a dermal exposure to tefluthrin. (T36)
• POSSIBLE HEALTH CONSEQUENCES: As for every type I pyrethroids , tefluthrin effects typically include rapid onset of aggressive behavior and increased sensitivity to external stimuli, followed by fine tremor, prostration with coarse whole body tremor, elevated body temperature, coma, and death. Paresthesia, severe corneal damage, hypotension and tachycardia, associated with anaphylaxis can also occur following tefluthrin poisoning. (L857) | Tefluthrin is hydrolyzed rapidly in the liver to its inactive acid by microsomal carboxylesterase. Further degradation and hydroxylation of the alcohol at the 4' position then occurs, and oxidation produces a wide range of metabolites and alcohol components. There is some stereospecificity in metabolism, with trans-isomers being hydrolyzed more rapidly than the cis-isomers, for which oxidation is the more important metabolic pathway. Tefluthrin is excreted mainly as metabolites in urine but a proportion is excreted unchanged in faeces. (L867)
• ACTION OF TOXIN: Pyrethroids exert their effect by prolonging the open phase of the sodium channel gates when a nerve cell is excited. They appear to bind to the membrane lipid phase in the immediate vicinity of the sodium channel, thus modifying the channel kinetics. This blocks the closing of the sodium gates in the nerves, and thus prolongs the return of the membrane potential to its resting state. The repetitive (sensory, motor) neuronal discharge and a prolonged negative afterpotential produces effects quite similar to those produced by DDT, leading to hyperactivity of the nervous system which can result in paralysis and/or death. Other mechanisms of action of pyrethroids include antagonism of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-mediated inhibition, modulation of nicotinic cholinergic transmission, enhancement of noradrenaline release, and actions on calcium ions. (T18, L857) | This pyrethroid inhibits Na+/K+ ATPase and Ca2+ and Mg2+ ATPase, which are essential for the transport of calcium across membranes. This results in the accumulation of intracellular free calcium ions, which promotes release of neurotransmitters from storage vesicles, the subsequent depolarization of adjacent neurons, and the propagation of stimuli throughout the central nervous system. (T10)
• TOXIN SITES OF ACTION IN CELL: "Membrane"
• Additional Exposure Routes: Pyrethroids are used as insecticides. (L857)

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