Food & Drink / Compounds / Fenbendazole

Fenbendazole in food: ingestion safety

Low risk

(People-specific data is limited; this page draws from human adult context.) Fenbendazole is a benzimidazole anthelmintic (dewormer) widely used in veterinary medicine for dogs, cats, horses, and livestock. Very low mammalian toxicity: oral LD50 rat >10,000 mg/kg. NOAEL 12.5 mg/kg/day in chronic studies. Mechanism: selectively binds parasite beta-tubulin (not mammalian tubulin). Growing off-label human interest for potential anti-cancer properties (Joe Tippens Protocol) — based on in vitro tubulin disruption and p53 stabilization. FDA has not approved fenbendazole for human use. Related compound mebendazole is WHO-essential medicine for human deworming.

What is fenbendazole?

Also known as: Panacur, Safe-Guard, Fenbenol, Hoechst 33258.

CAS number
43210-67-9
Molecular formula
C15H13N3O2S
Molecular weight
299.35 g/mol
SMILES
COC(=O)NC1=NC2=C(N1)C=C(C=C2)SC3=CC=CC=C3
PubChem CID
3334

Risk for people

Low risk

Fenbendazole is a benzimidazole anthelmintic (dewormer) widely used in veterinary medicine for dogs, cats, horses, and livestock. Very low mammalian toxicity: oral LD50 rat >10,000 mg/kg. NOAEL 12.5 mg/kg/day in chronic studies. Mechanism: selectively binds parasite beta-tubulin (not mammalian tubulin). Growing off-label human interest for potential anti-cancer properties (Joe Tippens Protocol) — based on in vitro tubulin disruption and p53 stabilization. FDA has not approved fenbendazole for human use. Related compound mebendazole is WHO-essential medicine for human deworming.

Regulatory consensus

2 regulatory and scientific bodies have classified Fenbendazole. The classifications differ — that's the data.

AgencyYearClassificationNotes
FDA CVM1983Approved for use in dogs, cattle, horses, swine, game birds
EU/EMA2010MRL established for food-producing animals (Regulation 37/2010)

Regulators apply different standards of evidence — animal-data weighting, exposure-pattern assumptions, epidemiological power thresholds — which is why two scientific bodies can review the same data and reach different conclusions. The disagreement is the data.

Where you encounter fenbendazole

  • Veterinary Medicine
  • Food
  • Off Label Human Use

Safer alternatives

Lower-risk approaches that achieve a similar outcome to Fenbendazole:

  • Mebendazole
    Trade-offs: FDA-approved for human use. Same benzimidazole class. Better human pharmacokinetic data. Also under cancer investigation.
    Relative cost: Higher (human formulation)

Frequently asked questions

No FAQ entries generated.

See Fenbendazole in the food app

Look up products containing fenbendazole, compare to alternatives, and explore the full data record.

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Sources (2)
  1. FDA Green Book — Fenbendazole Approvals — fda
  2. Fenbendazole as anti-cancer agent — preclinical evidence — pubmed

Reference data, not professional advice. Aggregates publicly available regulatory and scientific data; not a substitute for veterinary, medical, legal, or regulatory advice. Why we built ALETHEIA →