Table 2.
Toxic Load Indicator (TLI) values for 12 herbicides used as alternatives to paraquat (source: adapted from Neumeister (2016) and updated by L. Neumeister, May 2022)
| # | Mammalian toxicity (MT) | Environmental toxicity (ET) | Environmental fate and transport | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active ingredient | Total TLI score | Sum 1 MT WFa = 2 |
Acute toxicity | Carcinogenicity | Repro. Tox | Mutagenicity | AOELb /ADIc | Sum 2 ET | Algae | Daphnia /fish | Birds | Bees | Beneficials | Sum 3 EF and T | Bioaccumulation | Persistence | Half-life on plant | Leaching potential | Volatility | |
| 1 | Imazapyr | 35d | 12e | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 |
| 2 | Carfentrazone-ethyl | 43 | 24 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 13 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 3 | Dicamba | 65 | 34 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 19 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| 4 | Imazethapyr | 68 | 34 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 25 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 10 | 5 |
| 5 | Glyphosate | 69 | 38 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 14 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 17 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| 6 | 2,4-D | 74 | 46 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 14 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 2 |
| 7 | Haloxyfop- R-methyl | 75 | 30 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 28 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 8 | Glufosinate ammonium | 81 | 54 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| 9 | Paraquat dichloride | 88 | 42 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 24 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 22 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| 10 | Diquat dibromide | 90 | 42 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 26 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 22 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| 11 | Diuron | 90 | 48 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 19 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 23 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 2 |
| 12 | Quizalofop-P-ethyl | 91 | 54 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 23 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 14 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 2 |
aWF, a weight factor of 2 is given to human health toxicity, i.e., the toxic load sum is doubled compared with environmental toxicity, fate, and transport to reflect the priority concerns to protect human health, and a default value of 5 is given for any criteria where no data is available for a particular active ingredient
bAOEL, acceptable operator exposure level
cADI, acceptable daily intake
dNumbers in bold signify the total TLI score
eNumbers in italic signify the sum score per TLI category