What is LD50/LC50?

LD50 and LC50 are standard measures for expressing and comparing the toxicity of chemicals, LD50 is the abbreviation for lethal dose 50 and LC50 is the abbreviation for lethal concentration 50, usually in air or water. The value that is associated with either is the lowest amount of the chemical, given in one dose, which is required to kill 50% of the test subjects. Toxicologists can use many kinds of animals but testing is usually done with rats and mice.

Some of the subjects to be covered

Over the next few weeks we plan on discussing these topics:

• What is GHS/CLP and who does it affect?
• What do LD50 and LC50 mean?
• The German Water regulations (WGK)
• What are the CLP Classifications, Acute Toxic, STOT RE…..?
• The Hazard and Prevention statements
• The percentage of formulation statements that might appear in section 3.3 of the CLP MSDS (“Contains x% of components with unknown hazards to the environment” and “x percent of the mixture consists of component(s) of unknown toxicity”)
• What are OEL/WEL limits
• Environmental controls
• UN Transport codes

If there is any topic to do with Material Safety Data Sheets that you would like discussed please contact me on billp@minerva-mix.com