| Title: |
Food Web–Specific Biomagnification of Persistent Organic Pollutants (Canada)
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| Resource Type: |
document --> technical publication --> journal article
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| Country: |
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| Year: |
2007 |
| Availability: |
Science, Vol 317 pp 182-183
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| Author 1/Producer: |
Barry C. Kelly,
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| Other Authors/Producers: |
Michael G. Ikonomou, Joel D. Blair, Anne E. Morin, Frank A. P. C. Gobas
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| Author / Producer Type: |
University research group / research institute
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EUGRIS Keyword(s): |
Contaminated land-->Contaminants-->Others
Contaminated land-->Risk assessment-->Exposure pathways
Diffuse pollution-->Contaminants-->Persistent Organic Pollutants
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| Short description: |
Substances that accumulate to hazardous levels in living organisms pose environmental and human-health risks. Regulatory authorities identify bioaccumulative substances as hydrophobic, fat-soluble chemicals having high octanol-water partition coefficients. This paper argues that moderately hydrophobic substances, which do not biomagnify (that is, increase in chemical concentration in organisms with increasing trophic level) in aquatic food webs, can biomagnify to a high degree in food webs containing air-breathing animals (including humans). These chemicals represent a third of organic chemicals in commercial use. They constitute an unidentified class of potentially bioaccumulative substances that require regulatory assessment to prevent possible ecosystem and human-health consequences.
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Submitted By:
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Professor Paul Bardos WhoDoesWhat?
Last update: 02/09/2007
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