All insecticides are classified as poisons, although there are considerable variations in the degree of toxicity to warm blooded animals.
Toxicity refers to the degree to which a specific insecticide is poisonous to animals.
It usually requires less insecticide to kill when administered through the mouth, although the greatest potential for occupational hazard in the use of insecticides is more closely associated with skin contamination. The tests used to determine the toxicity of insecticides involve laboratory animals. Toxicity is expressed as LD 50 which means the lethal dosage required to kill 50 percent of the test animal population.