Insect repellent

The minimum risk exemption

Updated October 2026

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What it is Both ingredient lists are closed The label conditions And the condition that catches everybody Exempt is not unregulated Check the current lists Keep the formulation inside the lists deliberately The exemption is federal, and states may differ References

There is a real route to a repellent without registration, and it is narrow and conditional rather than a loophole.

What it is

Section 152.25 is titled exemptions for pesticides of a character not requiring FIFRA regulation, and it includes a minimum risk exemption for products built from listed ingredients. That is how citronella, cedarwood and peppermint products reach the shelf without a registration number.

Both ingredient lists are closed

Active ingredients must come from the permitted list, and inert ingredients must also be drawn from the designated tables. A formulation that is mostly exempt ingredients plus one that is not is simply not exempt, which catches people who read only the active list.

The label conditions

Each active ingredient named, with its percentage by weight.
Inert ingredients listed by their designated names.
The company name and contact information, prominently.
No false or misleading statements.

And the condition that catches everybody

An exempt product may not claim to control disease-transmitting organisms or disease-carrying insects. That is the next page, because it removes exactly the thing people most want to say about a mosquito product.

Exempt is not unregulated

The conditions above are requirements, and failing them means the product is an unregistered pesticide rather than an exempt one. The exemption is conditional throughout, and the conditions are specific.

Check the current lists

The permitted ingredients are in the regulation and they are revised. Formulating against a list someone quoted in an article is not the same as formulating against the regulation as it stands.

Keep the formulation inside the lists deliberately

A fragrance added for feel, a preservative chosen for convenience or a carrier swapped for cost can each take a product out of the exemption without anybody intending it. Any formulation change is a check against both lists rather than a reformulation note.

The exemption is federal, and states may differ

Several states register pesticide products separately and do not all treat minimum risk products the same way. Selling nationally means asking that question per state rather than assuming the federal position travels.

References

40 CFR 152.25, Exemptions for pesticides of a character not requiring FIFRA regulation, including the minimum risk exemption: active ingredients named with their percentage by weight, inert ingredients by their designated names, company name and contact information, and no claim to control disease-transmitting organisms. law.cornell.edu

Written from federal regulation, not from a formulation lab. A sunscreen is an OTC drug and an insect repellent is a pesticide, and both carry requirements that a cosmetic does not. Nothing here clears a specific label, and the difference between a cosmetic claim and a drug claim is narrower than it looks.