Pesticide residue
What remains on or in a crop after treatment, and in the textiles made from it. Cotton is one of the most heavily treated crops grown, and residue can survive into finished fabric. Food tolerances are set per chemical rather than for the mixture people actually eat.
Definition and health context from EPA.
We checked 3,681 products and found pesticide residue reported or likely in 1 of them.
Where pesticide residue turns up
Categories we grade, worst first, as a share of what we scored in each.
| Category | Flagged | Scored | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tampons | 13 | 43 | 30% |
| Frozen French Fries & Frozen Food Bags | 4 | 15 | 27% |
| Stain-Resistant Bed Sheets | 2 | 15 | 13% |
| Area Rugs | 2 | 15 | 13% |
| Scrubs | 1 | 8 | 13% |
| Cosmetics | 1 | 8 | 13% |
| Clothing | 1 | 9 | 11% |
| Cast Iron Cookware Seasoning & Oil | 3 | 29 | 10% |
| Stain-Resistant Jeans | 1 | 15 | 7% |
| Beauty Primers & Setting Sprays | 1 | 15 | 7% |
| Disposable Plates | 1 | 15 | 7% |
| Period Pads | 1 | 43 | 2% |
| Food Packaging | 1 | 178 | 1% |
| Shampoo | 1 | 191 | 1% |
Where we found real evidence
Reported or likely, lowest scoring first. Not plausibility.
Lemongrass has documented repellent properties against certain flea and tick species, but efficacy is lower and shorter-duration than synthetic pesticides. Incomplete rinse or application on wet fur may leave residue; if ingested during grooming, botanical act
What to buy instead
Highest scoring products with no flag for it, in the categories where it is worst.
How to spot pesticide residue yourself
What is actually visible to someone holding the product, which for most of these is the only check available.
- Certified organic and GOTS certification both restrict what can be used on the crop.
- Conventional cotton is one of the most heavily treated crops grown, and residue can survive into finished fabric.
- OEKO-TEX Standard 100 tests the finished textile rather than the farming, which is a different guarantee.
- There is no residue labelling on produce at all, so the Dirty Dozen style lists are the only consumer signal.
Where it turns up outside our data
Conventional cotton clothing and bedding, fresh produce, and some botanical supplements.
What the rules actually say
The EPA sets a tolerance for each pesticide on each crop and the USDA Pesticide Data Program tests against them. Those tolerances are set per chemical, not for the mixture a person actually eats across a week, which is the gap the research keeps pointing at. Textiles carry no residue disclosure requirement.
Read alongside EPA and our state by state guide to PFAS bans.
Common questions
What is pesticide residue?
What remains on or in a crop after treatment, and in the textiles made from it. Cotton is one of the most heavily treated crops grown, and residue can survive into finished fabric. Food tolerances are set per chemical rather than for the mixture people actually eat.
Which products contain pesticide residue?
Of the 3,681 products we have graded, 34 are flagged for it and 1 on reported or likely evidence rather than plausibility. Tampons is the worst category at 30% of what we scored there.
Is pesticide residue in tampons?
More than in anything else we grade. 13 of the 43 tampons we scored carry a flag for it, which is 30%. The full breakdown per product is on each product page.
What can I buy instead?
In the categories where it turns up most, the highest scoring products with no flag for it are Lola Lola Organic Tampons at 100, Lola Non-Toxic Applicator Free Tampons at 100, Seventh Generation Seventh Generation Tampons at 100. Every one of those was graded on the same rubric as the products above.
How can I tell if a product has pesticide residue in it?
Certified organic and GOTS certification both restrict what can be used on the crop. Conventional cotton is one of the most heavily treated crops grown, and residue can survive into finished fabric. OEKO-TEX Standard 100 tests the finished textile rather than the farming, which is a different guarantee. It turns up in conventional cotton clothing and bedding, fresh produce, and some botanical supplements.
Is pesticide residue banned?
The EPA sets a tolerance for each pesticide on each crop and the USDA Pesticide Data Program tests against them. Those tolerances are set per chemical, not for the mixture a person actually eats across a week, which is the gap the research keeps pointing at. Textiles carry no residue disclosure requirement.
How do you know?
We do not lab test. Every grade here is built from published ingredient lists, materials, certifications, brand disclosures, recalls and third party lab results where those already exist. Where a product has been independently tested we use that result and say so, and where a brand publishes nothing we score the silence rather than guessing.
1% of everything we grade carries a flag for pesticide residue. See every hazard we track or browse the full products list.