Each pesticide label must list what is in the product. This list is written so that you can quickly find what the active ingredients are and the percentage of each ingredient. Ingredient statements must list the official chemical names, common names for active ingredients, or both. Inert ingredients need not be named, but the label must show what percentage of the contents they comprise. Only EPA-approved common names may appear on the label.
Examples are Bacillus thuringiensis var.
When a common name is not available, the chemical or biorational name must be used in the active ingredients section of the label. If it is overly complex or noninformative a descriptive name is permitted. Read these names with care, particularly in accident cases. The chemical names of entirely different insecticides may differ only slightly. Also one chemical may have two or more correct chemical names that are alternative ways of writing the formula.