Tissue screening concentration values for assessing ecological risks of chemical residues in aquatic biota
- URS Consultants, Seattle, WA (United States)
Ecological risk based screening concentrations for aquatic biota tissue residues have been developed for 74 chemicals. These tissue screening concentrations (TSC`s) are non-site specific and applicable to a wide variety of both freshwater and marine biota. Chemical residues in tissues at concentrations below the TSC are presumed to pose little or no risk to aquatic biota, allowing chemicals to be quickly eliminated from further consideration in an ecological risk assessment. Compared with human health risk assessments, relatively few screening tools are available to ecological risk assessors which allow them to quickly reduce the number of chemicals which need to be carried through the complete risk assessment process. To date, only ambient water quality criteria and sediment quality guidelines have been widely used as screening tools in ecological risk assessment. It is believed that the tissue screening concentrations described will provide ecological risk assessors with another tool for rapidly identifying contaminants of concern to aquatic biota, while allowing those chemicals which do not pose significant risks to aquatic biota to be eliminated from the risk assessment. Computational methods for deriving TSC`s will be shown, and the TSC`s for 74 chemicals, covering a wide range of chemicals, both metals and organic compounds, will be presented. The results of a literature survey for over 40 chemicals, comparing whole body tissue residues associated with toxic responses to the calculated TSC`s will be shown. This review indicates that for most chemicals, the TSC`s describe tissue residues for aquatic biota which, if not exceeded, are indicative of chemical concentrations which pose little or no risks to aquatic biota.
- OSTI ID:
- 230877
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9511137-; ISBN 1-880611-03-1; TRN: IM9623%%187
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) world conference, Vancouver (Canada), 5-9 Nov 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Second SETAC world congress (16. annual meeting): Abstract book. Global environmental protection: Science, politics, and common sense; PB: 378 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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