Exacting standards are necessary for consistency in evaluations of pesticide safety and for comparisons among chemicals. How the pesticide affects various animal species. How the pesticide affects various plant species. How the pesticide affects insects other than the ones the pesticide is intended to kill. Helps determine how much pesticide is present in the environment over time.
Helps determine exposure of non-target organisms.
Environmental Fate Other studies measure the interaction of pesticides with soils, air, sunlight, surface water, and ground water. EPA uses these tests to develop estimates of pesticide concentrations in the environment. Putting the Pieces Together To evaluate a pesticide's environmental risks, we look at all the data together. The process of comparing toxicity information and the amount of the pesticide a given organism may be exposed to in the environment is called risk assessment. A pesticide can be toxic at one exposure level, and have little or no effect at another.