| Did you take your poison today? |
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How dangerous are these chemicals to humans?
Most pesticides are poisonous, but some are more dangerous than others.
There are three systems being used in Thailand to classify the risk to human
health and warn people of the danger:
 | The Thai Government had introduced a colour code for pesticide
containers. A red stripe on the label indicates that the chemical is
highly poisonous, yellow indicates moderately poisonous and blue indicates
slightly poisonous. These colours are used at the bottom of the pesticide
label, with pictures to show the type of protective clothing that should
be used.
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| The World Health Organisation (WHO) has created a ‘toxicity
classification’ with five classes. This system is used in technical
documents, including those produced by the Thai Government. |
| The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a ‘toxicity ranking’
with four categories. The EPA warnings are often used on pesticide labels. |
The following table compares the three systems:
| WHO |
EPA |
Thai Government |
Example
chemical |
| Class |
Description |
Category |
Warning |
Colour code |
| Ia |
Extremely Hazardous |
I |
'Danger-Poison' |
Red label |
Methyl Parathion |
| Ib |
Highly Hazardous |
Methamidophos |
| II |
Moderately Hazardous |
II |
'Warning' |
Yellow label |
Paraquat |
| III |
Slightly Hazardous |
III |
'Caution' |
Blue label |
Malathion |
| IV |
Unlikely to be
hazardous |
IV |
None |
Blue lable |
Glyphosate |
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