Is Acephate banned in Europe?

What the EU does

Not approved. Acephate was reviewed under the EU pesticide system and never made it onto the approved list; the Commission ordered authorizations for products containing it to be withdrawn back in 2003. Under Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 an active substance that is not approved cannot be used in plant protection products, which in practice is a ban.

The concerns are the standard organophosphate ones: acephate and its more toxic breakdown product methamidophos act on the nervous system by blocking cholinesterase, and there are developmental-neurotoxicity worries at low doses. Residues can still reach the EU on imported produce, which is why it turns up in monitoring reports rather than on European farms.

Citation Acephate not approved under Reg (EC) No 1107/2009; authorizations withdrawn via Commission Decision 2003/219/EC (non-inclusion in Annex I to Directive 91/414/EEC)

What the US does

Registered. Acephate has been a US EPA-registered insecticide since 1973 and is used on a broad range of crops, from vegetables to soybeans, as well as in some non-food settings. It is one of the organophosphates the EPA has kept reviewing rather than cancelling.

In 2024 the EPA proposed sharply restricting most food uses over drinking-water and neurodevelopmental concerns, then floated a softer version that would keep some uses. As of this review the outcome is not final, so acephate remains legal and in use in the US while Europe has been without it for years.

Citation US EPA registered since 1973; 2024 EPA proposed interim decision on acephate (draft revocation of most food tolerances, subsequently revised); 40 CFR 180.108 (tolerances)

Products that commonly contain it

In the US, acephate can appear as a residue or a product on:

• Vegetables such as peppers, celery, and leafy greens
• Some fruit and bean crops
• Ornamental and turf products sold under the Orthene name
• Imported produce tested at the EU border, where it is not allowed

What to look for on a label

Acephate is a farm input, not a label ingredient, so you cannot read it off a package:

• Buying organic avoids synthetic organophosphate insecticides like acephate
• Washing and peeling reduces but does not eliminate surface residues
• In the EU, look to national residue-monitoring reports rather than the label

Or skip the squinting: paste the whole ingredient list into our checker and it flags everything in our database. Nothing you paste leaves your browser.

Frequently asked questions

Related ingredients

• Chlorpyrifos · Another organophosphate insecticide banned in the EU but litigated in the US
• Malathion · An organophosphate the EU restricts to greenhouses while the US uses it broadly
• Phosmet · An EU-banned organophosphate still used on US tree fruit

Related reading

• Why Do I Feel Better in Europe?
• REACH vs TSCA: How Europe and America Regulate Chemicals