Determination of the strength or biological activity of a substance, such as a drug or hormone, by comparing its effects with those of a standard preparation on a test organism.

An e-mail to the network from Janet Anderson, director of the EPA's bio pesticides division, says "there is no record of a review and/or clearance to field test" the organism.

Remember that the environment in which you test will inevitably have slight differences from the production environment: While you're building your SOA, your current environment is a living organism.