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EFFECTS ASSESSMENT<br />

i.e. without enhancement of solubility by the use of solubilisers. Also, the test duration is very<br />

important because <strong>for</strong> highly hydrophobic chemicals it may take a very long time be<strong>for</strong>e a true<br />

steady-state situation between water <strong>and</strong> organism has been reached. In addition, such lipophilic<br />

substances may be adsorbed onto biological surfaces such as gills, skin etc. which may lead to<br />

toxic effects in higher organisms after biomagnification.<br />

For a more detailed <strong>guidance</strong> on interpretation of bioaccumulation test data, the OECD <strong>guidance</strong><br />

document on environmental hazard classification (OECD, 2001c) may be consulted.<br />

3.8.3.4 Calculation of a predicted environmental concentration in food<br />

The concentration of contaminant in food (fish) of fish-eating predators (PECoralpredator) is<br />

calculated from the PEC <strong>for</strong> surface water, the measured or estimated BCF <strong>for</strong> fish <strong>and</strong> the<br />

biomagnification factor (BMF):<br />

Explanation of symbols<br />

PECoral predator = PECwater<br />

⋅ BCF fish ⋅ BMF<br />

, (76)<br />

PECoralpredator Predicted Environmental Concentration in food [mg . kgwet fish -1 ]<br />

PECwater Predicted Environmental Concentration in water [mg . l -1 ]<br />

BCFfish bioconcentration factor <strong>for</strong> fish on wet weight basis [l . kgwet fish -1 ]<br />

BMF biomagnification factor in fish [-]<br />

Table 21<br />

The BMF is defined as the relative concentration in a predatory animal compared to the<br />

concentration in its prey (BMF = Cpredator/Cprey). The concentrations used to derive <strong>and</strong> report<br />

BMF values should, where possible, be lipid normalised.<br />

An appropriate PECwater reflecting the <strong>for</strong>aging area of fish-eating mammals <strong>and</strong> birds should be<br />

used <strong>for</strong> the estimate. The <strong>for</strong>aging area will of course differ between different predators, which<br />

makes it difficult to decide on an appropriate scale. For example use of PEClocal may lead to an<br />

overestimation of the risk as fish-eating birds or mammals do also <strong>for</strong>age on fish from other sites<br />

than the area around the point of discharge. Also, biodegradation in surface water is not taken<br />

into account using PEClocal. However, using PECregional may have the opposite effect, as there<br />

may be large areas in the 200 .200 km region with higher concentrations. It has there<strong>for</strong>e been<br />

decided that a scenario where 50% of the diet comes from a local area (represented by the annual<br />

average PEClocal) <strong>and</strong> 50% of the diet comes from a regional area (represented by the annual<br />

average PECregional) is the most appropriate <strong>for</strong> the assessment.<br />

The biomagnification factor (BMF) should ideally be based on measured data. However, the<br />

availability of such data is at present very limited <strong>and</strong> there<strong>for</strong>e, the default values given in<br />

Table 21 should be used. By establishing these factors it is assumed that a relationship exists<br />

between the BMF, the BCF <strong>and</strong> the log Kow (<strong>for</strong> further explanation, see Section 4.3.3 on<br />

marine risk assessment). When measured BCF values are available, these should <strong>for</strong>m the basis<br />

<strong>for</strong> deciding on the size of the BMF.<br />

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