Toxicity labels /ref> viz; red label, yellow label, blue label and green label are mandatory labels employed on
pesticide
Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampri ...
containers in India identifying the level of
toxicity
Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subst ...
(that is, the toxicity class) of the contained pesticide.ExpressBuzz. 'List of substitutes issued for banned pesticides'. /ref> 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.Central Insecticides Board. Insecticides Rules, 1971. /ref>
The toxicity classification applies only to pesticides which are allowed to be sold in India. Some of the classified pesticides may be banned in somes 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
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...