United States      Prevention, Pesticides     EPA712-C-96-020
          Environmental Protection    and Toxic Substances     August 1996
          Agency        (7101)
&EPA   Product Properties
          Test Guidelines
          OPPTS 830.6303
          Physical State

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                           INTRODUCTION
     This guideline is one  of a series  of test guidelines  that have been
developed by the Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances,
United States Environmental Protection Agency for use in the testing  of
pesticides and toxic substances, and the  development of test data that must
be submitted to the Agency  for review under Federal regulations.

     The Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances (OPPTS)
has  developed this guideline through  a  process of harmonization that
blended the testing  guidance and requirements that existed in the Office
of Pollution Prevention and Toxics  (OPPT) and appeared in Title 40,
Chapter I,  Subchapter R of the Code of Federal Regulations  (CFR), the
Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) which appeared in publications of the
National Technical  Information Service (NTIS) and  the guidelines pub-
lished by the Organization  for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD).

     The purpose of harmonizing these guidelines into a single set  of
OPPTS  guidelines is to minimize variations among the testing procedures
that must be performed to meet the data  requirements of the U. S. Environ-
mental Protection Agency  under the Toxic  Substances Control Act (15
U.S.C. 2601) and the Federal Insecticide,  Fungicide and Rodenticide Act
(7U.S.C. I36,etseq.).

     Final  Guideline Release: This document is available from the U.S.
Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402 on The Federal Bul-
letin  Board.   By  modem  dial   202-512-1387,   telnet   and  ftp:
fedbbs.access.gpo.gov     (IP     162.140.64.19),    internet:     http://
fedbbs.access.gpo.gov, or call 202-512-0132 for disks or paper copies.
This guideline is available in ASCII and PDF (portable document format)
from the EPA Public Access Gopher (gopher.epa.gov) under the heading
"Environmental Test Methods and Guidelines."

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OPPTS 830.6303   Physical state.
     (a) Scope—(1) Applicability. This guideline is intended to meet test-
ing requirements of the Federal  Insecticide, Fungicide,  and Rodenticide
Act (FIFRA) (7 U.S.C. 136, et seq.}.

     (2) Background. The source material used in developing this har-
monized OPPTS test guideline is  OPP guideline 63-3 Physical state (Pes-
ticide Assessment Guidelines, Subdivision D: Product Chemistry, EPA Re-
port 540/9-82-018,  October 1982)  and  40 CFR  158.190 Physical  and
chemical characteristics.

     (b) Test method—(1) Objective. Data on the physical and chemical
characteristics of pesticide active ingredients and products are used to con-
firm or provide supportive  information on their identity.  Such data are
also used in reviewing  the  production or formulating  process  used to
produce the  pesticide or product. Physical state, color, and odor are needed
for the Agency to respond to emergency  requests for  identification of
unlabeled pesticides involved in accidents or spills. Physicians, hospitals,
and  poison  control centers  also request this  information to aid in their
identification of materials implicated in poisoning episodes.

     (2) Test details. The description of the  physical state of each sub-
stance shall be based  on a  visual inspection of the  substance at 20  °C
or 25 °C.

     (c) Reporting. (1)  Report the physical state including the  form of
the substance. Conventional terms such as  "solid," "granular,"  "semi-
solid,"  "crystalline solid,"  "amorphous solid," "mixture of liquid and
solid,"  "aqueous  solution," "emulsion," "volatile liquid," "powder,"
"gas,"  and similar terms such as those  used to describe  compounds in
the "Handbook of Chemistry  and Physics"  (see  paragraph (d)  of this
guideline) shall be used, as appropriate, to describe each substance.

     (2) Any methods used to characterize the physical properties of a
pesticide shall be referenced  or described in the application for registration.
If the methods used are listed in paragraph (d) of this guideline, reference
to the method will suffice. If other methods are used, copies of such meth-
ods must be submitted with the application.

     (d) References. The following references should be  consulted for ad-
ditional background material on this test guideline.

     (1) Handbook of Chemistry and Physics,  CRC Publishing Co., Boca
Raton, FL, latest edition.

     (2) [Reserved]

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