diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index dad442d2522..f6bd54ab483 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
   ([#1441](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/1441))
 
 ### Added
+- Added the ability to disable instrumenting libraries specified by OTEL_PYTHON_DISABLED_INSTRUMENTATIONS env variable, when using opentelemetry-instrument command.
+  ([#1461](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/1461))
 - Add `fields` to propagators
   ([#1374](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/1374))
 - Add local/remote samplers to parent based sampler
diff --git a/opentelemetry-instrumentation/README.rst b/opentelemetry-instrumentation/README.rst
index aed9909a041..97ebc5e7c49 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-instrumentation/README.rst
+++ b/opentelemetry-instrumentation/README.rst
@@ -82,6 +82,12 @@ The code in ``program.py`` needs to use one of the packages for which there is
 an OpenTelemetry integration. For a list of the available integrations please
 check `here <https://opentelemetry-python.readthedocs.io/en/stable/index.html#integrations>`_
 
+* ``OTEL_PYTHON_DISABLED_INSTRUMENTATIONS``
+
+If set by the user, opentelemetry-instrument will read this environment variable to disable specific instrumentations.
+e.g OTEL_PYTHON_DISABLED_INSTRUMENTATIONS = "requests,django"
+
+
 Examples
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
diff --git a/opentelemetry-instrumentation/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/auto_instrumentation/sitecustomize.py b/opentelemetry-instrumentation/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/auto_instrumentation/sitecustomize.py
index 2a51d0b8034..3465619ea3c 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-instrumentation/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/auto_instrumentation/sitecustomize.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-instrumentation/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/auto_instrumentation/sitecustomize.py
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
 
 from pkg_resources import iter_entry_points
 
+from opentelemetry.configuration import Configuration
+
 logger = getLogger(__file__)
 
 
@@ -27,8 +29,19 @@ def _load_distros():
 
 
 def _load_instrumentors():
+    package_to_exclude = Configuration().get("DISABLED_INSTRUMENTATIONS", [])
+    if isinstance(package_to_exclude, str):
+        package_to_exclude = package_to_exclude.split(",")
+        # to handle users entering "requests , flask" or "requests, flask" with spaces
+        package_to_exclude = [x.strip() for x in package_to_exclude]
+
     for entry_point in iter_entry_points("opentelemetry_instrumentor"):
         try:
+            if entry_point.name in package_to_exclude:
+                logger.debug(
+                    "Instrumentation skipped for library %s", entry_point.name
+                )
+                continue
             entry_point.load()().instrument()  # type: ignore
             logger.debug("Instrumented %s", entry_point.name)
         except Exception as exc:  # pylint: disable=broad-except