John William Trevan’s concept of Median Lethal Dose (LD50/LC50) – more misused than used

Abstract

Introduction. Median lethal dose (MLD) has been a controversial subject among biologists and animal ethicists since its inception in 1927 by Trevan. Toxicologists use MLD (LD 50 ) as the first step to assess the toxicity of a substance. Animal ethicists criticize LD 50 tests because animals suffer pain, and LD 50 is irreproducible. The disadvantage of classifying chemicals based on LD 50 , the importance of the 'characteristics' proposed by Trevan, and the ideal mortality range for determining the best estimate of LD 50 are also discussed.

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