Lufenuron ルフェヌロン
Insect growth regulators (IGRs): Disrupt the way insects grow, such as molting and metamorphosis.
In Japan
- Registration
- Registered as a pesticide (first registered August 31, 1998). 6 formulated products contain it.
- Main registered crops
- apple, mikan (mandarin orange), citrus, sweet potato, cabbage, tea and others (37 crop names in the registered uses)
- Toxicity class
- Active ingredient: Ordinary substanceClasses of the 6 formulated products (diluted products sold): ordinary substance 5, deleterious substance 1Classes under Japan's Poisonous and Deleterious Substances Control Act.
- ADI (acceptable daily intake)
- 0.014 mg per kg of body weight per day
- ARfD (acute reference dose)
- not evaluated
- Evaluation
- Food Safety Commission of Japan, June 17, 2014
ADI: the amount considered to have no effect on health even if eaten every day for a lifetime. ARfD: the amount considered to have no effect on health when eaten at one time (within 24 hours). Both are set by the Food Safety Commission of Japan, mainly from animal studies.
In Japan's national residue testing (fiscal 2024)
| Produce | Detected / tested | Detection rate | Over the limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic | 38 / 2,571 | 1.5% | 1 |
| Imported | 28 / 1,619 | 1.7% | 0 |
Found in domestic foods: strawberry, cucumber (including gherkin), kyona (mizuna), komatsuna (Japanese mustard spinach), other citrus fruits, napa cabbage, spinach, bok choy (chingensai), tomato, tea (max. 0.33 ppm)
Found in imported foods: edamame, Welsh onion (including leek), bell pepper (max. 0.08 ppm)
Tests are counted as pesticide × sample. Any detection counts as “detected” — it does not mean the limit was exceeded. For pesticides outside the top 20, figures are summed from the food-by-food tables of the full report.
Evaluations abroad
- WHO acute toxicity class
- III (Slightly hazardous), LD50 >2000 mg/kgBased on the toxicity of the undiluted active ingredient given once, mainly to rats by mouth (LD50 = the dose that kills half; the smaller, the stronger the acute toxicity). It is not an assessment of the safety of residues in food.
- EU
- Not approved in the EU (approval ended December 2019)Designated a “candidate for substitution” (to be replaced if safer alternatives exist).EU ADI: 0.015 mg/kg bw/day; ARfD: —
- IARC (carcinogenicity)
- No matching entry in the IARC list (not evaluated or out of scope, including Group 3)
Related explainers
Sources
- FAMIC (Food and Agricultural Materials Inspection Center), pesticide registration information (as of Sept. 30, 2026) (Japanese)
- Food Safety Commission of Japan, risk assessment report on Lufenuron (June 17, 2014) (Japanese)
- MHLW, results of pesticide residue testing in foods, fiscal 2024 (Japanese)
- Consumer Affairs Agency, daily intake survey of pesticide residues in foods, fiscal 2024 (Japanese)
- WHO Recommended Classification of Pesticides by Hazard 2019
- EU Pesticides Database (Lufenuron)
Last checked 2026-10-01. Registrations and evaluations change over time. This page is a translation of our Japanese page; if they differ, the Japanese page is the reference.