Is the NanoFlashing™ Air Filter a pesticide?

Is the NanoFlashing™ Air Filter a pesticide?

The company classifies the NanoFlashing™ Air Filter as a device under Section 2(h) of FIFRA, 7 U.S.C. § 136(h), and 40 C.F.R. § 152.500(a), not as a pesticide.

FIFRA and the regulation define the two separately. Section 2(u) defines a pesticide as “any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any pest”. 40 C.F.R. § 152.500(a) defines a device as “any instrument or contrivance (other than a firearm) intended for trapping, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any pest or any other form of plant or animal life (other than man and other than a bacterium, virus, or other microorganism on or in living man or living animals) but not including equipment used for the application of pesticides (such as tamper-resistant bait boxes for rodenticides) when sold separately therefrom.” An air filter is an instrument. A charge is a physical property. It is not a substance or a mixture of substances. The filter therefore incorporates no substance or mixture of substances to perform its intended pesticidal purpose. A device is not required to be registered under FIFRA section 3, and 40 C.F.R. § 152.500(b) lists the requirements that apply to a device instead. The company accepts that each of them applies to the article.

Source: Statement of Classification for the NanoFlashing™ Air Filter, sections 3.6, 3.7 and 4.1, issued by NF Technical Products Inc.; Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, section 2(u), 7 U.S.C. § 136(u), text as posted by EPA, https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fifra.pdf; 40 C.F.R. § 152.500, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-E/part-152/subpart-Z/section-152.500.

Reviewed on 21 September 2026.