Persistent Organic Pollutant — organochlorine pesticide

Aldrin in the bedroom

By — 19-year firefighter and entrepreneur. Published July 2026.

Aldrin is a chlorinated cyclodiene insecticide used from the 1950s through the 1980s, primarily for termite control in building foundations and agricultural pest management. It converts rapidly to dieldrin in the environment and in the body. The Stockholm Convention lists it as an Annex A POP (elimination). Canada prohibits it under SOR/2025-270 (in force 30 June 2026). IARC classifies aldrin as Group 3 (not classifiable as to carcinogenicity), but its toxicity, persistence, and bioaccumulation drove the global ban. Its bedroom relevance is the same as other legacy OCPs: it persists in household dust and soil around treated structures for decades.

Aldrin — Embr Bedroom Chemistry Atlas

At a glance

Chemical familyOrganochlorine — cyclodiene insecticide (converts to dieldrin in environment)
CAS number309-00-2
ClassificationIARC Group 3 (not classifiable as to carcinogenicity to humans); Stockholm Convention Annex A (elimination); Canada SOR/2025-270 prohibited
Where you encounter itLegacy termite treatments in building foundations; agricultural soil; household dust in homes built before 1990 in regions where it was applied
Sleep micro-environment relevanceNot in any modern product. Present through persistence in soil and dust around homes treated for termites before the 1980s. Converts to dieldrin, which is even more persistent

Regulatory & certification status

European UnionPOP Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 — banned. One of the original dirty dozen Stockholm POPs. Regulatory
United StatesEPA cancelled all registrations (1974 most uses; 1987 remaining). CERCLA hazardous substance. California Proposition 65 listed (cancer). Regulatory
CanadaProhibited under the Prohibition of Certain Toxic Substances Regulations, 2025 (SOR/2025-270), in force 30 June 2026. Regulatory — Canada authority
InternationalStockholm Convention Annex A (elimination) — original dirty dozen POP. IARC Group 3. No exemptions remain. Regulatory — International authority

What it is

Aldrin is a chlorinated cyclodiene compound developed in the 1940s by Julius Hyman and named after the Diels-Alder reaction used to synthesise it. It was one of the most widely used termite pesticides in the world, applied directly to building foundations and soil. In the environment and in living organisms, aldrin converts to dieldrin — a more stable and more toxic metabolite. This conversion is so rapid that most environmental monitoring detects dieldrin rather than aldrin. IARC classified aldrin as Group 3 (not classifiable) in 1987, meaning there is inadequate evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and limited evidence in animals. Despite this, the combination of extreme persistence, bioaccumulation, and acute toxicity led to its inclusion in the original Stockholm Convention dirty dozen.

Where it shows up in bedding

Aldrin was never an ingredient in bedding. Its bedroom relevance is structural: homes built before the late 1980s in regions where aldrin was used for termite control (the US Southeast, Australia, parts of Asia) may still have measurable aldrin/dieldrin in foundation soil and household dust. During sleep, dust ingestion and inhalation are secondary exposure pathways. The primary concern is cumulative body burden through food-chain bioaccumulation.

The Embr Exposure Ledger: Aldrin

One chemical, several public questions, answered from independent datasets and joined here — the environment it shows up in, the body burden it carries, how it is regulated, and what actually reduces it.

This compound appears in 4 of the Embr Exposure Ledger’s 10 exposure datasets.
At what level would it matter?
Published benchmarks exist: a residential indoor-air screening level of 0.00057 µg/m³, set on a cancer endpoint (1-in-a-million excess lifetime risk). A screening level is the concentration at which EPA would look further, not a boundary between safe and harmful. The ledger holds no measured sleeping-environment concentration for this compound, so there is nothing here to compare the benchmark against — it tells you what would matter, not what is in any room.Source: US EPA, Regional Screening Levels (RSL) Summary Table — consolidated toxicity values from IRIS, PPRTV, ATSDR, Cal EPA and OPP
Who releases it?
10 US facilities reported releasing it in 2024 across 7 states and territories. These are self-reported quantities leaving a facility, not levels anyone encountered, and the two national programs are not added together — they use different reporting thresholds.Source: US EPA, Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Basic Data File, 2024 reporting year; Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI), releases 1993-present
Does the law flag it?
Listed under California Proposition 65 for cancer since 1988. Carries an EU-wide binding classification as carcinogenic (category 2). That classifies the substance itself; it does not restrict any product. Banned in the EU under the persistent organic pollutants Regulation: manufacture, sale and use are prohibited. Specific exemptions apply.Source: California OEHHA Proposition 65 List (Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986)Source: EU CLP Annex VISource: EU POPs Regulation

Detection and body-burden figures are occurrence data, not a personal measurement or a health diagnosis. Part of the Embr Exposure Ledger — an open, cross-dataset chemical join (download the data), reusable with attribution.

Citations

  1. IARC (1987). Aldrin and Dieldrin. IARC Monographs, Suppl. 7. Source Regulatory
  2. ATSDR (2002). Toxicological Profile for Aldrin/Dieldrin. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Source Regulatory
  3. Stockholm Convention. Listing of Aldrin — Annex A (Elimination). Source Regulatory

Frequently asked questions

  • Can aldrin still be in my home?

    If your home was built before the late 1980s and treated for termites in a region where aldrin was used (common in the US Southeast, Australia, and parts of Asia), residues of aldrin and its metabolite dieldrin may still be present in foundation soil and household dust. The compound does not break down readily in soil — half-lives of years to decades have been measured.

  • What is the difference between aldrin and dieldrin?

    Aldrin converts to dieldrin in the environment and in the body. They are closely related organochlorines with the same regulatory status. Dieldrin is more stable and more toxic than aldrin. Environmental monitoring typically detects dieldrin because aldrin converts so rapidly. Both are banned under the Stockholm Convention.

Related compounds

  • Dieldrin — the stable metabolite aldrin converts to
  • DDT — another original dirty dozen organochlorine POP
  • Mirex — another banned OCP that persists in dust
  • Lindane — an organochlorine once applied directly to bedding

Embr is a sleep environment company researching and addressing the chemistry of the bedroom. Research and product development in progress.

Last reviewed 2026-07-07. If you find a factual error, contact us.