This reading refers to the amount of residue a person can ingest daily without causing harm. If this reading falls within the acceptable limits the pesticide is licensed for domestic, commercial and restricted use. In Ontario, farmers can only buy and use pesticides once they have passed an examination. The pesticide approval process in Canada is one of the toughest in the world. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, however, now lists pesticide pollution as the most urgent environmental problem in the country.
Plants develop their own poisons to fight off disease.
The natural pesticides found in potatoes, solanine and chaconine, are potent carcinogens, but 400 years of potato consumption does not appear to have increased the cancer rate in humans. Scientifically, there is no difference between naturally occurring chemicals and those produced synthetically. In addition, it is unlikely that any new chemical pesticide would be registered. These statistics suggest the pesticides rather than insect are the real problem. Perhaps if we stopped using pesticides, then the insects could be dealt with in a more suitable manner.