Completion of label information and Physico-chemical properties of commercial pesticide samples traded in Egyptian markets

Abstract EN

The current study was carried out to check the completion of label information and determine the physico- chemical properties of commercial pesti-cides samples traded in the Egyptian markets.

Twenty-nine market samples were collected during the years 2015 and 2016 for commercial formula-tions produced by different manufacturers from pesticide shops in four governorates (Cairo, Giza, Qaluobia and Sharqia).

The collected samples included 18 preparations in the form of Emulsifia-ble Concentrates (EC), 11 in the form wettable powder (WP).

Physico- chemical properties were determined for each formulation according to inter-national standard methods (CIPAC, 2003) through tests of pH value, Persistent Foam, Emulsion Sta-bility, Suspencibility and Wettability.

The obtained results showed that although the label data was complete for many of the packages, some infor-mation found be missing.

The missing information was related to directions for use (4%), safety pre-cautions and first aid (7%), anti-dote (12%), hazard category (6%), Pre-Harvest Interval, (PHI) (17%), registration number (13%) and Batch number (18%).

Regarding physico- chemical properties, the obtained data indicated that there was a differ-ence in the percentage of the foam layer for the tested formulations of chlorprifos-ethyl (6 prepara-tions) (Tafaban 48%EC, Pyrifos El-Nasr 48% EC, Pestiban 48% EC, Pyriban-A 48% EC, Chlorfan 48% EC and Chlorzan 48% EC).

These prepara-tions were in accordance with international stand-ards in terms of emulsion stability after half an hour, while the mismatching samples showed that the formed layer exceeded the standard volume