Analysis of Factors Causing Differences in the Human Hazards of Permetrin

Pyrethroid insecticides are known to be relatively safe for mammals and are widely used indoors. However, the safety of pyrethroids in humans remains controversial, and there are insufficient systematic comparative analyses of studies showing conflicting results. In this study, six studies on the effect of permethrin, a representative pyrethroid, on the human body were compared, and the factors responsible for the differing results were examined. Each study was analyzed based on five criteria: experimental method, test subject, type of chemical substance used in the experiment, concentration of the chemical substance, and exposure time of the chemical substance. The cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of permethrin showed significant differences depending on the experimental method, test subject, type of chemical, and the cell donors used. Thus, this study could contribute to the systematic analysis of existing studies on the human hazards of pyrethroids, to generate a more balanced consensus on their safety in humans.