The best advice?
Because thresholds for toxicity to environmental toxins and food additives are based on group averages, it is normal practice to incorporate a margin of safety when setting a public health standard for an acceptable level of exposure to a particular toxicant. The quantum applied depends on the quality of data and whether they are derived from human or animal sources. A safety factor of 10 is commonly applied to doses of exposure at which no adverse effects can be found within a species. When public health standards are established on the basis of animal studies, another factor of 10 is commonly applied to account for interspecies variation (G Neville, Senior Medical Officer, Environmental Health Unit, Queensland Health, personal communication). According to Australian Government guidelines on acceptable daily intakes of agricultural and veterinary toxins for humans: “The most common safety factor is 100 which takes into account that humans may be 10 times more sensitive to the chemical
