Using Pesticides Safely

Read labels thoroughly and follow directions.

Keep all pesticides in places where they cannot be reached by children, irresponsible people, pets or wildlife. Never store them near or with food, feed, seed, clothing or other materials or objects which could be contaminated. Pesticides should always be kept in their original containers with labels intact.

Insecticides, fungicides, weed killers and other pesticides are valuable tools in the home garden, but they can be extremely dangerous if handled improperly or an unsuitable pesticide is used .

Read the label…

Before purchasing or using any pesticide, read the label carefully. You should learn from the label if the product is too dangerous to be used around homes or by non-professionals. The label should tell you how to protect yourself, other people and pets. It should tell you what steps to take if someone is poisoned. You should use a pesticide only for those uses that are listed on the label and exactly according to directions. You should be especially careful to observe all warnings and precautions.

Heed signal words…

Pesticide products are required by law to have signal words on their labels to indicate their level of toxicity. Those which the words danger or poison carry the skull and cross bones symbol on the label are highly toxic and should not be used in home gardens or by untrained persons. Moderately toxic products bear the word warning. Home gardeners should used those products which bear the word caution and are slightly or very slightly toxic. All pesticide products must have on their labels Keep Out of Reach of Children .

Store safely

People, especially children, are most frequently poisoned by swallowing pesticide from unlabeled containers, particularly when the container is one that is associated with food or beverage.

Clean up any pesticide spill immediately.

When mixing and applying pesticides, you should wear at least a wide brimmed hat, long sleeved shirt and long pants of tightly woven material, socks non-porous shoes. Leather shoes are usually adequate, but avoid fabric shoes or open sandals.

If you get pesticide on yourself, immediately remove affected clothing and wash that area of your body with soap and water.

Before mixing or applying pesticides, you should remove from the area, other people, pets, and toys or other objects that later poison a pet or person. Do not re-wear clothing worn when mixing pesticides until it has been laundered. Shower thoroughly after using pesticides.

Apply pesticide only to the intended target. Do not apply pesticides when the wind would cause them to drift away from the intended area. Do not allow spray of dust to drift back on yourself. Keep people and pets out of treated areas at least until dusts have settled or sprays have dried.

Dispose of excess pesticides and empty containers properly. Remember, it is impossible to wash all of a pesticide from a container, so a pesticide container should never be used for another purpose.

Rinse empty liquid containers three times and pour the water into your sprayer for use in the next application. Containers which held pesticides intended for use around homes can usually be safely discarded in a sanitary landfill or in the garbage, if you have trash pickup. If you have neither of these, bury containers at least 18 inches deep in an area where they will not contaminate water and will not accidentally be dug up.

Once you have purchased a pesticide, you are responsible for protecting yourself, other people, pets, and the environment from poisoning and other adverse affects from it.

For more information on using pesticides safely, contact your local County Extension Office.