Just because the bottle's green, that doesn't mean it's good for your lawn.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—Pesticides are known to be toxic, so it should be reassuring that major players in the pesticides market are coming out with "natural" pest-control products that claim to be just as effective as their hazardous counterparts without the nasty side effects. But despite any good intentions, the products some companies are debuting may not be much better than what's already out there.

THE DETAILS: "Organic" pesticides and lawn-care products should always be looked upon with some skepticism, considering that the term "organic" isn't regulated when it comes to home and garden products. Neither are terms like "eco-," "natural," or even "biodegradable," which make pesticides an easy mark for greenwashers—companies that make a product appear more environmentally friendly than it really is.

A number of big players, for instance, Scotts MiracleGro and SC Johnson (the makers of Raid brand pest-control products), have launched lines of less-toxic pesticides this year that include naturally derived active ingredients like soybean oil and canola. That's all fine and good until you start reading the fine print a little more closely. Many of these products contain pyrethrins, chemicals that exist naturally in chrysanthemums but are toxic to fish and birds. In humans, they can cause skin reactions, and a 2008 study from the Institute for Autism Research suggests that pet flea shampoos containing pyrethrins could be a contributing factor to the development or worsening of autism-spectrum disorders.

Furthermore, like most commercial products, these purportedly greener pesticides don't disclose all their ingredients. Even if the active ingredients are as benign as soybean oil, the inert ingredients, which aren't listed, could contain even more toxic substances, such as oils or petroleum distillates, that allow the active ingredient to penetrate surfaces. Some of these substances interfere with liver function and cause severe gastrointestinal problems if ingested or inhaled. A 2000 report from the New York State Attorney General found that roughly 200 chemicals used as "inert ingredients" in pesticides were listed in federal environmental regulations as hazardous air and water pollutants. "These new products are a step in the right direction," says Paul Tukey, founder of the nonprofit Safelawns.org, "but when they're hiding behind a veil of inert ingredients, we really don't know what's inside them, and you still need to use these products with caution."

WHAT IT MEANS: Read labels carefully before you buy any pesticide that advertises itself as safe or ecofriendly. Instead, look for products that list all the inert ingredients as well as the active ingredients so you don't wind up spraying mysterious chemicals all over your home or yard. A few brands do, including one called EcoSmart that's sold in some big-box retailers. That line of home and lawn pesticides contains active ingredients like geraniol (an oil derived from geraniums), peppermint oil, and cinnamon oil that are nontoxic to wildlife and less harmful to humans. EcoSmart is one of Tukey's favorite brands, he says, but he cautions that people need to realize it doesn't work the way regular pesticides do. "Insects are not going to drop dead in a second," he says. Sometimes, it can take up to a day for these less-toxic insecticides to be effective.