1Properties and toxicity
Physicochemical properties (solubility, Koc, half-lives, log Kow) and ecotoxicity endpoints are typical or regulatory agreed values compiled from:
- PPDB — Pesticide Properties DataBase, Agriculture & Environment Research Unit, University of Hertfordshire (Lewis et al. 2016). The principal source.
- BPDB — Bio-Pesticides DataBase, University of Hertfordshire, for biologicals.
- European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) peer-review conclusions and the EU Pesticides Database (EU approval status).
- US EPA ecological risk assessments and the US EPA ECOTOX knowledgebase.
- The WHO Recommended Classification of Pesticides by Hazard (2019 edition, published 2020) for WHO classes.
- NZ EPA application and reassessment reports, which tabulate the data used to set NZ approval conditions.
Where sources disagree, KiwiPest uses the regulatory endpoint (for toxicity, usually the most sensitive valid study) and the typical field or laboratory value (for fate).
2NZ status, products and withholding periods
- Regulatory status follows Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) decisions under the HSNO Act, including the organophosphate and carbamate reassessment (diazinon approvals end 1 July 2028; fenamiphos and methamidophos ended 2024), the chlorpyrifos reassessment (approvals revoked July 2025 with a staged phase-out), the paraquat reassessment (2020), the methyl bromide reassessment (2021; ship-hold fumigation banned from 2023, phase-out by 2033), the hydrogen cyanamide reassessment (May 2024; continued with tighter rules), and the chlorothalonil reassessment (2017). Status was checked in October 2026; it changes, so confirm with the EPA before relying on it.
- Trade names are examples of products registered under the ACVM Act at some time. They are not a complete or current list; the ACVM register (MPI) and the New Zealand Agrichemical Manual are.
- Withholding periods are indicative values typical of NZ labels. They are set per product and crop and printed on the label; export markets may impose longer intervals. The NZ Food Notice: Maximum Residue Levels for Agricultural Compounds (MPI) sets the residue limits.
- Vertebrate toxic agents: caution and livestock withholding periods follow MPI and Ministry of Health guidance, which groups poisons by persistence (fast-acting agents such as cyanide and PAPP shortest; pindone and diphacinone about two months; 1080 and coumatetralyl about four months; brodifacoum up to three years).
- Organic status reflects inputs generally permitted under BioGro and AsureQuality organic standards, with restrictions (for example copper limits). Check your certifier's current input list.
Drinking-water standards and soil guideline values come from KiwiChem, the site's dataset of guideline values, for the 24 actives it also lists: the New Zealand maximum acceptable values are from the Water Services (Drinking Water Standards for New Zealand) Regulations 2022, and each value carries its own instrument in the active's details. They are shown beside the assessment and do not enter the risk index. Where KiwiChem's fate and property values differ from KiwiPest's by more than a factor of two, the details show both: the two datasets were compiled separately, and the difference is the spread in the published literature.
3IPM and biocontrol notes
The non-chemical options for each target draw on Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research's weed biocontrol programme, AgResearch pasture pest research, the Department of Conservation's weed and animal pest guidance, NIWA aquatic weed management, Zespri and NZ Winegrowers spray programmes, and Plant & Food Research IPM work.
4Reliability
Fate properties vary widely: published soil half-lives for one active can span an order of magnitude, and Koc depends on soil type and pH. A single typical value is enough to rank actives against one another, but not to predict a concentration in a particular stream or bore.
- Records marked ≈ in the database have values that are approximate or from limited sources — mostly vertebrate toxic agents, fumigants, growth regulators and some older or niche actives.
- Formulations and co-formulants are not represented. Esters, salts and surfactants can change both toxicity and fate.
- Typical rates are representative single applications, not label maxima.
Corrections are welcome: each record lives in data/actives.js, and the key to its fields is at the top of that file.
5Disclaimer
KiwiPest is a screening and teaching tool, not a recommendation to use any product. The product label, the EPA approval and its controls, the ACVM registration conditions, the MRL Food Notice, regional plan rules and NZS 8409:2021 Management of agrichemicals govern every use. Agrichemicals should be applied by a trained applicator (for example GROWSAFE-certified), and vertebrate toxic agents only under the required licences and permissions.
KiwiScience and the University of Canterbury accept no liability for any decision made with KiwiPest or for any loss arising from its use. The data are provided as is, without warranty of accuracy, completeness or currency.
6Privacy
KiwiPest runs entirely in your browser. It makes no network requests beyond loading its own files, uses no analytics, and stores your situation only in your browser's local storage and in files you choose to save.