What is hazard?

• A. The rate of pest reproduction
• B. The environmental persistence of a pesticide
• C. The toxicity of pesticide
• D. The cost of application

Answer: (C)

Hazard is the potential for harm a pesticide could cause, defined by its toxicity. It describes how poisonous the chemical is to humans, pets, non-target wildlife, or the environment, regardless of how much exposure actually occurs. In practice, a highly toxic pesticide carries a high hazard because even small exposures could be dangerous. The environmental persistence refers to how long the chemical stays in the environment, not how dangerous it is by itself; the rate of pest reproduction is about pest biology, and cost is an economic factor.