Author(s)

Karsten Strey

Scientific Writer, Hamburg, Germany.

The lethal dose LD₅₀ represents the most important experimental value for acute toxicity. The simple logarithmic calculation of -log₁₀ LD₅₀ = value leads to the possible poison power pLD. As with the pH or pK value, respectively, for acid or the scale of earthquake intensities the logarithm helps making large differences of orders of magnitude easier to understand since they are more comparable. The higher the pLD value, the higher is the power of poison. An increase of the pLD value by 1 stands for a tenfold increase in toxicity. The lethal acute dose for water, one of the most important and at the same time non-toxic substances of all, is about one tenth of the body weight. This leads to a possible pLD value for water of 1, an ideal starting value for a logarithmic poison scale.

LD₅₀, Lethal Dose, Toxicity, Water, Glyphosate, Poison Scale

Strey, K. (2024) Water as a Standard Substance of a Logarithmic Poison Scale. Journal of Biosciences and Medicines, 12, 86-92. doi: 10.4236/jbm.2024.121008.