What term is used to describe a pesticide's capacity to cause short-term acute or long-term chronic injury?

The appropriate term to describe a pesticide's capacity to cause short-term acute or long-term chronic injury is toxicity. Toxicity refers to the degree to which a substance can harm humans, animals, or the environment. It encompasses both the immediate effects (acute toxicity) that can occur quickly after exposure and the delayed or long-term effects (chronic toxicity) that may arise from prolonged or repeated exposure to the substance.

Understanding toxicity is crucial for evaluating the safety and risks associated with pesticide use, as it helps in assessing potential health risks to humans, animals, and ecosystems. While effectiveness refers to how well a pesticide can combat a pest, stability pertains to how well a pesticide maintains its chemical composition over time under various environmental conditions, and reactivity refers to how a substance interacts chemically with other substances, none of these terms convey the specific implications of harm associated with pesticide exposure like toxicity does.