Some see this practice as harmless, some see it as necessary, some see it as poisoning the landscape and the people who live on it. Many people would say no, pointing to the extensive testing done by the manufacturers of these chemicals as proof of their harmlessness. However, others see glaring problems with the testing process. One of the main problems is that the testing is only done on lab animals, not humans. No one knows for sure if the chemicals have the same effects on these lab animals as they would on humans.
Toxicity is defined as the inherent capacity of a substance to cause injury or death.
Considering the lack of knowledge on safe exposure levels for humans, this claim is doubtful. Most manufacturers of pesticides have certain tests that they perform on the chemical they are looking to sell. Results of tests on lab animals are used as a guide to how toxic the chemical would be to humans. New chemicals are tested on a variety of organisms - from rats to rabbits. A statistical value called the LD 50 of the chemical is found through these tests.