A greater public, political and regulatory awareness of chemicals in general, and in particular of their environmental behaviour, has led to increased attention being given to the so called ‘inert’ ingredients of pesticide formulations. Specific controls of these ‘inerts’ have been developed and introduced in the USA whilst in Europe the approach at national and Community level has been more broad‐based. These legislative controls and their associated influence on the labelling and data requirements for pesticide formulations are discussed. The positive move towards ‘safer’ formulations is to be welcomed and will hopefully not lose momentum in the light of increasing regulatory pressure on the individual constituents. Copyright © 1990 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
