ADR Class 6.1: Toxic Substances
Covers toxic substances which, from experience or from experiments carried out on animals in very small quantities, can be expected to cause damage to human health or even death by three routes: inhalation, dermal and ingestion.
Divisions of Class 6.1
Substances and objects of class 6.1 are subdivided into:
- T1 Liquid organic
- T2 Solid organic
- T3 Organometallic
- T4 Inorganic liquids
- T5 Inorganic solids
- T6 Liquid pesticides
- T7 Solid pesticides
- T8 Samples
- T9 Other toxic materials
- TF Flammable toxic materials:
- TF1 Liquids
- TF2 Liquids, pesticides
- TF3 Solid
- TS Toxic substances that undergo spontaneous heating, solids
- TW Toxic substances that give off flammable gases when in contact with water.
- TO Toxic oxidizing substances
- TO1 Liquids
- TO2 Solid
- TC Corrosive toxic materials
- TC1 Liquid organics
- TC2 Solid Organics
- TC3 Inorganic liquids
- TC4 Inorganic solids
- TFC Toxic flammable corrosive flammable materials
- TFW Toxic flammable substances which in contact with water release flammable gases.
Definitions Class 6.1
LD50: acute toxicity by ingestion, is the minimum dose that when administered orally once causes death after 14 days in half of a group of young adult albino rats and causes the death of 50% of the exposed population.
LD50water toxicity by skin absorption is the minimum dose that, when administered to the skin continuously for 24 hours, causes the death of half of the animals subjected, albino rabbits, within 14 days and causes the death of 50% of the exposed population.
LC50: determines the acute toxicity by inhalation, it is a concentration of vapor, mist, dust administered by continuous inhalation for one hour on a group of young albino rats for fourteen days, it is to check if during this period of time half of the population has perished.
For solids susceptible to generate dust, at least 10% of its weight must be able to generate dust, being the minimum aerodynamic diameter of the particle 10 microns. If a liquid material is capable of creating mists, it is also suitable for inhalation testing. Both liquid and solid matter more than 90% of the sample must consist of particles likely to be inhaled during the test.
Packaging groups
In the absence of observations in humans, the degree of toxicity is evaluated on animal tests:
- Packing group I: Highly toxic materials
- Packing group II: Toxic materials
- Packing Group III: Substances with a lower degree of toxicity
| Packaging group | Toxicity by ingestion LD50 (mg/kg) | Toxicity by dermal absorption LD50 (mg/kg) | Inhalation toxicity by inhalation of dusts and mists LC50 (mg/l) |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | ≤ 5 | ≤ 50 | ≤ 0,2 |
| >II | >5 y ≤ 50 | >50 y ≤ 200 | >0,2 y ≤ 2 |
| >III | >50 y ≤ 300 | >200 y ≤ 1000 | >2 y ≤ 4 |
Toxicity by inhalation of vapors
Liquids giving off toxic vapors are classified according to the diagram, where V is the volatility of the liquid versus its saturated vapor concentration in equilibrium with the liquid at 20ºC and one atmosphere of pressure:
| Packing group | ||
|---|---|---|
| Highly toxic | I | If V ≥ 10 LC50 and LC50 ≤ 1.000 ml/m3 |
| Toxic | II | If V ≥ LC50 and LC50 ≤ 3,000 ml/m3 and the criteria for packing group I are not met. |
| Which present a lower degree of toxicity | III | If V ≥ 1/5 LC50 and LC50 ≤ 5,000 ml/m3 and the criteria for packing group I and II are not met. |
Liquid mixtures
If the LC50 of the toxic substances that make up the mixture are known, it is only necessary to calculate the LC50 of the mixture: LC50(mixture):
The volatility of each component will be used to calculate the relative volatility of the R mixture.
Thus, the values obtained for the LC50 (mixture) i R: criteria are defined:
- Packing group I: R ≥ 10 and LC50 (mixture) ≤ 1,000 ml/m3.
- Packing group II: R ≥ 1 and LC50 (mixture) ≤ 3,000 ml/m3 and provided that the mixture does not meet the criteria of packing group I.
- Packing group III: R ≥ 1/5 and LC50 (mixture) ≤ 5,000 ml/m3 and provided that the mixture does not meet the criteria of packing groups I or II.
If the LC50s of the various components of the mixture are not known, they should be determined by means of simplified toxicity threshold tests:
For packing group I:
- We take a liquid sample that vaporizes in the air until a concentration of 1000ml/m3 is achieved, ten rats will be exposed for one hour to fourteen days to observe if half of them perish. If so, the mixture has an LC50 equal to or less than 1000.
- A sample of vapor in equilibrium with its liquid in the mixture is diluted with nine volumes and/or parts of air and ten rats are exposed for fourteen days until half of their limbs perish, if this occurs we consider the volatility of the mixture to be greater than 10 times the CL50 of the mixture.
For packing group II:
- We take a liquid sample to be vaporized in air to a concentration of 3000 ml/m3 ten rats will be exposed for a now to fourteen days in a row to observe how half of the population perishes, if this occurs, it is thought that the CL50 of the mixture is equal to or greater than 3000 ml/m3.
- A sample of vapor in equilibrium with its liquid forms a test atmosphere to expose ten rats for one hour daily for fourteen days the death of half of the population if this occurs the volatility of the mixture is equal to or less than CL50 of the mixture.
For packing group III:
- A liquid sample is vaporized in air to an atmosphere concentration of 5000 ml/m3 which will be exposed to ten rats for one hour daily for fourteen consecutive days until half of them perish, if this happens we adopt the measure that the CL50 of the mixture is equal to or greater than 5000ml/m3.
- A vapor sample in equilibrium with its liquid, if its volatility is equal to or greater than 1000 ml/m3, the volatility of the mixture is considered to be 1/5 of the LC50 of the mixture.
Calculation methods for acute toxicity by ingestion and dermal absorption in mixtures.
The LD50 of the mixture must be calculated. In case the mixture contains only one active substance with a known LD50, we will adopt the LD50 value of the mixture by means of the formula:
In case the mixture is made up of several toxic active ingredients, the calculation of the ld50 for the mixture will be:
Classification of pesticides
All pesticide active ingredients have known LD50s and should therefore be classified in class 6.1 and included in the appropriate SGs according to the criteria of class 6.1 itself. The official designation for the transport of a pesticide will be based on the active ingredient, the physical state of the pesticide and any subsidiary risks it may present. Substances and preparations presenting subsidiary hazards shall be classified according to the hazard ranking table according to 2.1.3.10 and assigned to the most appropriate collective heading as found in 2.2.61.3.
Personal protective equipment for Class 6.1
When handling ADR Class 6.1 materials, you must be properly equipped to be prepared for any incident that may occur. The necessary equipment is:
- Face shield
- Respiratory protection equipment, both nasal and facial.
- Antistatic protective gloves
- Antistatic chemical body protection: the generation of static electricity in the transfer of flammable liquids; the accumulation of electrostatic charges is the sum of two components: the formation, on the other hand inevitable in the case of flammable materials, and their dissipation, i.e. the ability of this material to recombine itself without the need to generate dangerous potentials.
Materials with a flash point equal to or lower than 61ºC must have the correct electrical conductivity for their correct handling. Therefore, equipotential connections and grounding points must exist throughout the plant in order to dissipate electrical charges and return them to ground, minimizing dangerous potentials.
Package labeling
- When ADR shipments of Class 6.1 materials are made, labeling must be visible together with the approval markings on the containers and packages.
