Pesticide databaseFumigants and soil disinfectantsChecked 2026-10-01
Methyl isothiocyanate メチルイソチオシアネート
Soil disinfectantsRegistered in JapanActive ingredient: deleterious substanceWHO IINot approved in the EU
Soil disinfectants: Spread gas through the soil before planting to reduce nematodes and pathogens.
In Japan
- Registration
- Registered as a pesticide (first registered January 13, 1976). 2 formulated products contain it.
- Main registered crops
- Welsh onion, wakegi (scallion), asatsuki chives, onion, fuki (butterbur), tomato and others (32 crop names in the registered uses)
- Toxicity class
- Active ingredient: Deleterious substanceClasses of the 2 formulated products (diluted products sold): deleterious substance 2Classes under Japan's Poisonous and Deleterious Substances Control Act.
- ADI (acceptable daily intake)
- 0.004 mg per kg of body weight per day
- ARfD (acute reference dose)
- 0.1 mg per kg of body weight
- Evaluation
- Food Safety Commission of Japan, January 31, 2024
- Note
- Evaluated as a group of dazomet, metam and methyl isothiocyanate (MITC). See no. 172.
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.
Evaluations abroad
- WHO acute toxicity class
- II (Moderately hazardous), LD50 72 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
- 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 Methyl isothiocyanate (January 31, 2024) (Japanese)
- WHO Recommended Classification of Pesticides by Hazard 2019
- EU Pesticides Database (Methyl isothiocyanate)
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.
Pesticides registered in Japan are approved by the government with set crops, amounts, numbers of applications and days before harvest. This page lists facts stated in laws and in evaluations by public bodies; it does not judge whether anything is good or bad.