Baygon is a pesticide brand produced by S. C. Johnson & Son. It is an

insecticide Insecticides are pesticides used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. The major use of insecticides is in agriculture, but they are also used in home and garden settings, i ...

used for extermination and control of household pests such as

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

s, roaches,

ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

carpenter ant Carpenter ants (''Camponotus'' spp.) are a genus of large ants (workers ) indigenous to many parts of the world. True carpenter ants build nests inside wood, consisting of galleries chewed out with their mandibles or jaws, preferably in dead, ...

spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

silverfish The silverfish (''Lepisma saccharinum'') is a species of small, primitive, wingless insect in the order Zygentoma (formerly Thysanura). Its common name derives from the insect's silvery light grey colour, combined with the fish-like appearanc ...

and

mosquito Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...

es. In 1975, Baygon introduced Australia’s first surface spray for killing cockroaches, ticks and other crawling insects. Baygon was introduced by the German chemical manufacturer

Bayer Bayer AG (English: , commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies and biomedical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer' ...

in 1967. In 2003, Bayer sold the brand to S. C. Johnson & Son. As part of the agreement, the

active ingredient An active ingredient is any ingredient that provides biologically active or other direct effect in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease or to affect the structure or any function of the body of humans or animals. ...

s used in the pesticides are still manufactured by Bayer and supplied non-exclusively to SC Johnson.

Composition

Baygon products contain the

pyrethroids A pyrethroid is an organic compound similar to the natural pyrethrins, which are produced by the flowers of pyrethrums (''Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium'' and '' C. coccineum''). Pyrethroids are used as commercial and household insecticides. In ...

cyfluthrin Cyfluthrin is a pyrethroid insecticide and common household pesticide. It is a complex organic compound and the commercial product is sold as a mixture of isomers. Like most pyrethroids (MoA 3a), it is highly toxic to fish and invertebrates, but ...

, transfluthrin,

cypermethrin Cypermethrin (CP) is a synthetic pyrethroid used as an insecticide in large-scale commercial agricultural applications as well as in consumer products for domestic purposes. It behaves as a fast-acting neurotoxin in insects. It is easily degrad ...

, prallethrin and the

carbamate In organic chemistry, a carbamate is a category of organic compounds with the general Chemical formula, formula and Chemical structure, structure , which are formally Derivative (chemistry), derived from carbamic acid (). The term includes orga ...

propoxur Propoxur (Baygon) is a carbamate non-systemic insecticide, produced from catechol, and was introduced in 1959. It has a fast knockdown and long residual effect, and is used against turf, forestry, and household pests and fleas. It is also used in ...

and organophosphorus

chlorpyrifos Chlorpyrifos (CPS), also known as chlorpyrifos ethyl, is an organophosphate pesticide that has been used on crops, animals, in buildings, and in other settings, to kill several pests, including insects and worms. It acts on the nervous systems ...

, as active ingredients. In the concentrations used in consumer product insecticides, pyrethroids may also have

insect repellent An insect repellent (also commonly called "bug spray" or "bug deterrent") is a substance applied to the skin, clothing, or other surfaces to discourage insects (and arthropods in general) from landing or climbing on that surface. Insect repellent ...

properties and are generally harmless to human beings in low doses but can harm sensitive individuals. If ingested in sufficient quantities, they can lead to a variety of ill effects, including tremors,

dyspnea Shortness of breath (SOB), known as dyspnea (in AmE) or dyspnoea (in BrE), is an uncomfortable feeling of not being able to breathe well enough. The American Thoracic Society defines it as "a subjective experience of breathing discomfort that ...

, and paralysis. The active

biocide A biocide is defined in the European legislation as a chemical substance or microorganism intended to destroy, deter, render harmless, or exert a controlling effect on any harmful organism. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses a sli ...

in Baygon, prallethrin, while considered effective as a mosquito repellent, has been flagged by the WHO and in other studies, as "highly toxic" to honeybees and fish.

References

External links

* {{SCJohnson Products introduced in 1975 Insecticide brands S. C. Johnson & Son brands Former Bayer brands 2003 mergers and acquisitions