Pesticide Registration Toolkit

Terms and definitions M

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Manufacturer:

Corporation or other entity in the public or private sector (including an individual) engaged in the business or function (whether directly or through an agent or entity controlled by or under contract with it) of manufacturing a pesticide active ingredient or preparing its formulation or product. [Source: International Code of Conduct]

Manufacturing specification:

Minimum purity of the active ingredient in a technical grade active ingredient together with the identity and maximum concentrations of all impurities (including “unknowns”) produced by a manufacturer using a single process, derived from analysis of representative production batches. In general, the impurities are those with manufacturing specification limits at or above 1 g/kg but lower limits apply to exceptionally hazardous impurities. Where the same active ingredient is produced at different sites by the same manufacturer and manufacturing route, the profile should encompass all sites. Where the manufacturing route differs between sites, or the manufacturers differ, the impurity profiles should be defined separately. Whereas the minimum purity of the active ingredient and on identity and maximum levels of relevant impurities after evaluation are published in the specification, the information on nonrelevant impurities is kept confidential. [Source: JMPS]

Maximum allowable (admissible, acceptable) concentration (MAC):

Regulatory value defining the concentration that if inhaled daily (in the case of work people for 8 hours with a working week of 40 hours; in the case of the general population, 24 h) does not, in the present state of knowledge, appear capable of causing appreciable harm, however long delayed during the working life or during subsequent life or in subsequent generations. [Source: IUPAC]

Maximum residue level:

The maximum residue level is estimated by the JMPR as the maximum concentration of residues (expressed as mg/kg) which may occur in a food or feed commodity following Good Agricultural Practices. The estimated maximum residue level is considered by the JMPR to be suitable for establishing Codex Maximum Residue Limits (MRL). [Source: JMPR]

Maximum Residue Limit (MRL):

Maximum concentration of a residue that is legally permitted or recognized as acceptable in or on a food or agricultural commodity or animal feedstuff. [Source: International Code of Conduct]

Median effective concentration (EC50):

Statistically derived median concentration of a substance in an environmental medium expected to produce a certain effect in 50 % of test organisms in a given population under a defined set of conditions. Note: ECn refers to the median concentration that is effective in n % of the test population. [Source: IUPAC]

Median effective dose (ED50):

Statistically derived median dose of a chemical or physical agent (radiation) expected to produce a certain effect in 50 % of test organisms in a given population or to produce a half-maximal effect in a biological system under a defined set of conditions. Note: EDn  refers to the median dose that is effective in n % of the test population. [Source: IUPAC]

Median lethal concentration (LC50):

Statistically derived median concentration of a substance in an environmental medium expected to kill 50 % of organisms in a given population under a defined set of conditions. [Source: IUPAC]

Median lethal dose (LD50):

Statistically derived median dose of a chemical or physical agent (radiation) expected to kill 50 % of organisms in a given population under a defined set of conditions. [Source: IUPAC]

Median lethal time (TL50):

Statistically derived median time interval during which 50 % of a given population may be expected to die following acute administration of a chemical or physical agent (radiation) at a given concentration under a defined set of conditions. [Source: IUPAC]

Metabolism:

Physical and chemical changes that take place in a substance within an organism, including biotransformation to metabolites. [Source: IUPAC]

Metabolite:

Intermediate or product resulting from metabolism. [Source: IUPAC]

Microcosm:

Experimental model ecosystem Artificial test system that simulates major characteristics of the natural environment for the purposes of ecotoxicological assessment. Note: Such a system would commonly have a terrestrial phase, with substrate, plants, and herbivores, and an aquatic phase, with vertebrates, invertebrates, and plankton. The term “mesocosm” implies a more complex and larger system than the term “microcosm”, but the distinction is not clearly defined. [Source: IUPAC]

Minimum effective dose:

Dose of a plant protection product that is the minimum necessary to achieve sufficient efficacy against the target pest across the broad range of situations in which the product will be applied (also referred to as lowest effective rate). [Source: FAO Efficacy guidelines]

Minor uses:

Those uses of plant protection products in which either the crop is considered to be of low economic importance at national level (minor crop), or the pest is not important on a major crop (minor pest). [Source: FAO Efficacy guidelines]

Monitoring:

Continuous or repeated observation, measurement, and evaluation of health and (or) environmental or technical data for defined purposes, according to prearranged schedules in space and time, using comparable methods for sensing and data collection. [Source: IUPAC]

Mutation:

Permanent change in the amount or structure of the genetic material in a cell. The term mutation applies both to heritable genetic changes that may be manifested at the phenotypic level and to the underlying DNA modifications when known (including, for example, specific base pair changes and chromosomal translocations). [Source: GHS]

Mutagen:

Agent giving rise to an increased occurrence of mutations in populations of cells and/or organisms. (See also the more general term genotoxicity; also see germ cell mutagen) [Source: GHS]