Formula C10H11ClN4 Appearance white powder | Density 1.17 g/cm³ | |
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Acetamiprid is an organic compound with the chemical formula C10H11ClN4. It is an odorless neonicotinoid insecticide produced under the trade names Assail, and Chipco by Aventis CropSciences. It is systemic and intended to control sucking insects on crops such as leafy vegetables, citrus fruits, pome fruits, grapes, cotton, cole crops, and ornamental plants. It is also a key pesticide in commercial cherry farming due to its effectiveness against the larvae of the cherry fruit fly.
Safety
Acetamiprid is classified as unlikely to be a human carcinogen. Acetamiprid has a low acute and chronic toxicity in mammals with no evidence of carcinogenicity, neurotoxicity or mutagenicity. It is classified as toxicity category rating II in acute oral studies with rats, toxicity category III in acute dermal and inhalation studies with rats, and toxicity category IV in primary eye and skin irritation studies with rabbits. It is mobile in soil, but degrades rapidly via aerobic soil metabolism, with studies showing its half life between <1 and 8.2 days. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not consider it to be environmentally persistent. The EPA considers it "only moderately toxic" to bees; however, some media sources and the recent documentary Vanishing of the Bees have blamed neonicotinoids like acetamiprid for colony collapse disorder.
A recent study has implicated acetamiprid as a cause of erectile dysfunction in human males and may be implicated in the problem of declining human fertility, and called into question its safety, particularly where its use may be subject to abuse.
