ECO9-VUA: Relationships between BCF, BMF and BAF: Improving forecasting of residues in biota in the environment based on laboratory testing

Description

Objectives Overview

1. Identify the key properties and parameters impacting bioconcentration factor (BCF) measurements in the laboratory and those impacting field bioaccumulation factor (BAF) assessments.
2. Select a test set of chemicals which include high production volume (HPV) substances in the EU for which published laboratory data exist indicating a BCF > 2000. Chemicals in the test set should include highly hydrophobic recalcitrant chemicals and chemicals that can be biotransformed by various organisms in the field.
3. Design relevant ”field” study that test predictions and hypotheses of bioaccumulation assessments based on laboratory BCF studies, including substances with BCFs > 5000 which may or may not exhibit food web magnification and substances with BCFs < 5000 which may or may not reach steady state or trophic dilution.
4. Prepare a presentation of the test design for a SETAC 2008 Workshop addressing the evaluation of laboratory and field data. Refine the proposed studies based on the outcome of the workshop.
5. Execute the study as designed in Objective 3 and refined in Objective 4.
6. Compare field bioaccumulation potential to predictions based on laboratory bioconcentration tests, to assess validity of lab-field extrapolation. Address issues including how the test set of chemicals illustrates trends that can be applied to other groups of chemicals. Present in the form of report and manuscript for peer-reviewed publication.