Whenever we apply pesticides either at home or as part of our job, there is a potential that our clothes may pick up pesticides. If there’s an accident, we might end up with pesticide-drenched clothes. Washing your work clothing properly can lower your risk and prevent you and your family from getting sick. If clothing is drenched, throw it away.
Lowering the risk for you and your family
Wear clean work clothing every day.
Wash work clothing after each and every pesticide application to maximize removal of chemicals.
Remove clothing with pesticides as soon as you can, to keep pesticides from rubbing off onto your skin. Otherwise, you can continue to be exposed to the pesticide as long as you wear the clothing.
Read the pesticide label. Some pesticide product labels have specific washing instructions for contaminated clothing.
Separate clothing with pesticide residue from the family laundry to avoid contaminating other clothes.
Wash only a few items at a time and use the highest water level.
Use hot water - the hotter the better.
Use heavy-duty laundry detergent.
Double rinse or re-wash if needed.
Laundry additives such as chlorine bleach or ammonia don’t help. They do not improve removal of pesticide residues.
Remove any leftover pesticides from the washer by running an "empty load" through the complete cycle with hot water.
Line dry, if possible. Sunlight breaks down many pesticides and it can prevent residues from collecting in the dryer.
If you have to use a dryer, run it until the clothes have completely dried.
All of these options can reduce the risk of pesticide exposure. Long-term exposure to low levels of pesticides can cause harm even if there is no sign of immediate illness.
Pesticides on Clothes: How do I clean them?
Dirty Work Clothes: How Should I Wash Out Pesticides? Episode 6 - A specialist explains how to handle and launder clothes that are contaminated with pesticides.
Download and Listen, View Transcript - 1:33 min., 3.57MB
If you have questions about this, or any pesticide-related topic, please call NPIC at 1-800-858-7378 (8:00am - 12:00pm PST), or email us at npic@ace.orst.edu.