Pesticides, widely used in modern agriculture, are applied in formulations that contain the main ingredient (active ingredient) and additional chemicals like solvents and surfactants (co-formulants). Both active ingredients and co-formulants can cause human and environmental toxicity. However, under European Union and United States law, the full details of the co-formulant composition are kept secret from the public and researchers. Only the producer and regulators know the full details. Here I argue that legislators should end ‘co-formulant secrecy’ and require all the ingredients in a pesticide be listed openly, including their concentrations. To this end I draw parallels between the legislation for pesticides with that of medicines, review the counterarguments, and discuss the impacts on research and regulation. Co-formulants can be toxicologically relevant, and some are even more toxic than the active ingredient in the formulation. Pesticide users, consumers and scientists deserve to have transparency in understanding what co-formulants are included in pesticide formulations. The stated rationale for secrecy is to protect innovation and reward companies for undertaking expensive research and development. However, secrecy is ineffective at protecting innovation, as it is possible to reverse engineer a formulation’s composition. Further, patents are already utilised, so secrecy adds no additional benefit to industry. I argue that co-formulant secrecy only serves to stifle and limit the ability of independent scientists to conduct research.

中文翻译：

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结束复合配方保密

农药广泛应用于现代农业，其配方中含有主要成分（活性成分）以及溶剂和表面活性剂等其他化学品（助配方剂）。活性成分和复合配方都会对人体和环境造成毒性。然而，根据欧盟和美国法律，复合配方成分的全部细节对公众和研究人员保密。只有生产商和监管机构知道全部细节。在这里，我认为立法者应该结束“联合配方保密”，并要求公开列出农药中的所有成分，包括它们的浓度。为此，我将农药立法与药品立法进行了比较，回顾了反驳意见，并讨论了对研究和监管的影响。辅助配方可能具有毒理学相关性，有些甚至比配方中的活性成分毒性更大。农药使用者、消费者和科学家应该透明地了解农药配方中包含哪些助剂。保密的既定理由是保护创新并奖励公司进行昂贵的研发。然而，保密对于保护创新是无效的，因为可以对配方的成分进行逆向工程。此外，专利已经被使用，因此保密不会给行业带来额外的好处。我认为联合配方保密只会扼杀和限制独立科学家进行研究的能力。