Bioaccumulation, describing selective transfer of a chemical from compartments into organisms, and biomagnification, describing such a transfer from organisms of lower trophic levels to organisms of higher trophic levels in food chains, are environmental partitioning processes that have received special attention because of their potential toxicological significance. Both phenomena are determined by certain physicochemical properties of a given chemical and by the environmental systems concerned, as well as by the chemical and metabolic degradability of the chemical in these systems. A number of correlations between the physicochemical properties and the bioaccumulation potential of a chemical have been established of which the relationship between the n-octanol/water partition coefficient and the bioaccumulation factor is the most relevant. The predictive value and the limitations of these correlations have been discussed. Included in this discussion is the question as to what extent degradability allows the predicted bioaccumulation potential of a chemical to come into effect in different species. A pragmatic use of the established relationships and bioaccumulation test results in a stepwise approach is recommended to provide a realistic estimate of the bioaccumulation potential of a chemical for the assessment of its environmental risk.
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