Toxicity label

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title: "Toxicity label" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["chemical-safety", "pesticides", "certification-marks-in-india"] description: "Labels on pesticide containers" topic_path: "geography/india" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxicity_label" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Labels on pesticide containers ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox certification mark"]

Field	Value
name	Toxicity labels
image	[[File:Toxicity labels.svg
caption	Red, yellow, blue and green labels.
region	India
founded	1971
products	Pesticides
legalstatus	Mandatory
mandatorysince	1971
::

| name = Toxicity labels | image = [[File:Toxicity labels.svg|180px|]] | caption = Red, yellow, blue and green labels. | expansion = | agency = | region = India | founded = 1971 | defunct = | predecessor = | successor = | products = Pesticides | type = | legalstatus = Mandatory | mandatorysince = 1971 | homepage =

Toxicity labels viz; red label, yellow label, blue label and green label are mandatory labels employed on pesticide containers in India identifying the level of toxicity (that is, the toxicity class) of the contained pesticide. The schemes follows from the Insecticides Act of 1968 and the Insecticides Rules of 1971.

The labeling follows a general scheme as laid down in the Insecticides Rules, 1971, and contains information such as brand name, name of manufacturer, name of the antidote in case of accidental consumption etc. A major aspect of the label is a color mark which represents the toxicity of the material by a color code. Thus the labelling scheme proposes four different colour labels: viz red, yellow, blue, and green.

::data[format=table]

Label	Name	Level of toxicity	Oral lethal dose (mg/kg)	Listed chemicals
[[File:Red toxicity label indicating "Highly Toxic" substance SVG.svg	80px]]		Red label	Extremely toxic
[[File:Yellow toxicity label.svg	80px]]		Yellow label	Highly toxic
[[File:Blue toxicity label.svg	80px]]		Blue label	Moderately toxic
[[File:Green toxicity label.svg	80px]]		Green label	Slightly toxic
::

The toxicity classification applies only to pesticides which are allowed to be sold in India. Some of the classified pesticides may be banned in some states of India, by decision of the state governments. Some of the red-label and yellow-label pesticides were banned in the state of Kerala following the Endosulfan protests of 2011.

References

References

1. [http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030331/agro.htm The Tribune. 'Knowing labels can save lives' by Divender Gupta.]
2. "ExpressBuzz. 'List of substitutes issued for banned pesticides'.".
3. [http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/kerala/article2142339.ece The Hindu. 'Chemicals safe, says Rubber Board'.]
4. [http://ppqs.gov.in/sites/default/files/insecticides_rules_1971.pdf Central Insecticides Board. Insecticides Rules, 1971.]

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::