Figure 1. What happens to pesticides following their application, and the potential for exposure to users, has been studied extensively. Registered pesticides, when used according to label, are deemed safe for the end user. However, this remains a complicated subject and there is not one clear answer for all questions.
Proper control of weeds, insects and diseases is an important and necessary component of any turfgrass management system. On athletic fields this is not only for the purpose of aesthetics but also from the standpoint of insuring that the turfgrass system provides proper traction and footing which hopefully reduces the possibility of injury to the users of the field. Depending on which pest you consider, pesticides are either a tool that can be used to make the management of turfgrass pests easier (for example, dandelions and other tap-rooted weeds), or perhaps they are the only plausible way of dealing with a particular pest (for example, grey leaf spot or another pathogen).
