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Continued

5.4.3 Explanatory notes (description of content of information sheets)

CAS No.: Chemical Abstract Service Registry number

Registry name: Name according to common usage. Mainly for pesticides, these designations have become common practice.

Chemical name: Name according to chemical systematics (generally acc. to IUPAC)

Synonyms, Tradenames: Additional common and chemical names which are used less frequently and names given by major manufacturers to their proprietary products.

Chemical name (German): Generally the systematic name in German

Chemical name (French): Generally the systematic name in French

Appearance: Properties which may be perceived at first sight such as colour, physical state and odour

This section contains an outline of the most important chemical and physical data of the treated substance. For groups of substances, data are given on typical compounds. The data refer to room temperature (20°C / 293.15 K) and normal pressure (1.013 bar / 1.013 x 10⁵ Pa) if not indicated otherwise.

The following chemicophysical data are given for each of the treated substances:

Empirical formula / Chemical symbol:
Rel. molecular mass: / Rel. atomic weight:
Density:
Relative gas density:
Boiling point:
Melting point:
Vapour pressure:
Flash point:
Ignition temperature:
Explosion limits:
Odour threshold:
Solvolysis/solubility:
Conversions factors:

Notes:

°C Degree Celsius
T_C Temperature in degree Celsius
K Degree Kelvin
T_K Temperature in degree Kelvin
°F Degree Fahrenheit
T_F Temperature in degree Fahrenheit

Pressure units:

Notes:

1 kP/m² = 1 mm water column
1 Torr = 1 mm Hg

Decimal parts and multiples of SI units:

ORIGIN AND USE

This information block contains

- Usage
- Origin and derivation
- Production and emissions

Whereas there is usually clear-cut information available on the first two items, this is not the case for the latter. Data on production and emissions are mostly estimates and computations.

The toxicity data are the results of various tests. Although both the methods and the boundary conditions of these tests may vary significantly, they are usually not specified in the pertinent literature. Thus, a comparison of the data is generally impossible. An assessment of the toxicity of a substance is rendered even more difficult as the tests have been carried out with various animals, concentrations, methodology and times of exposure.

The toxicological data provided have been selected from the numerous values available for certain substances with a view to achieve comparability.

A brief description is given of important findings usually from the field of human medicine. In most cases they are the result of workplace exposure and not always epidemiological. The results of animal experiments are included for better understanding of the characteristic effects. Generally speaking, these are the only points of reference on the potential hazard of these substances to humans and other higher organisms.

The occurrence of substances and the environmental behaviour are reported for the following environmental components:

• Water
• Soil
• Air.

Because of the close links between the individual ecosystems, such a classification is merely formal. The brief description of the most important environmental media affected by a substance should not lead readers to ignore the exchange of substances between the various compartments. The data provided are intended to permit a rough estimate of the potential hazard of the substances in the respective areas. Certain variables such as accumulation and adsorption coefficients which are seldom incorporated into an environmental impact assessment, have deliberately not been included. If necessary, they can be taken from the literature cited.

In this section, a list of the substance-related laws, guidelines and recommendations is given from a wide range of countries, organisations and institutes. They have been arranged in tabular form according to environmental media and sectors in order to permit a direct comparison of identical or similar stipulations. In addition to the differences between the assessments of the chemical hazard, the special demands and prerequisites linked to individual regulations have to be considered.

Problems have frequently been encountered when assessing the status of laws and recommendations. Thus, five categories have been used:

L = Limit value set by law

(L) = Limit value suspected to be set by law

G = Guideline or recommendation from a government or non-governmental organisation

(G)

= Recommendation from a group of experts whose status has not been generally accepted as a national guideline yet
= There is no entry when the reported value cannot be assigned to any of the above categories.

Whenever there was any doubt on the status of a given value or its practical implementation, the next step down the scale was chosen. Thus, e.g. the American TWA/STEL values and the Russian PdK values are classed as (L). The column "Cat." (= Category) has only been filled in if it has been possible to clearly attribute the data to a comprehensive piece of legislation in the country concerned (TWA, PdK, MAK, MIK etc.). The column "Remarks" features a more detailed description of the reference to enhance comparability.

The data listed are intended to facilitate evaluation by way of comparison of comprehensible factors or situations at known locations. Whenever possible, the selection also includes extreme values to give an impression of the spectrum of data found in the literature.

The source reference "acc." indicates a secondary source (e.g. acc. UBA).

A brief text outlines the aspects to be considered for risk assessment. In certain cases, reference is made to special properties to be observed when handling and using the substance. However, these comments should not be taken as a summary of the information sheet.

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