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MISSION
The mission of the Bioaccumulation Project Committee is to develop tiered approaches for assessing the bioaccumulation of chemicals.
To address the scientific challenges associated with conducting bioaccumulation assessments for many chemicals, there is a need to develop alternatives for evaluating the thousands of chemicals that will be assessed over the next 5 years. Because bioaccumulation data are relatively scarce, 99% of the preliminary bioaccumulation assessments rely on QSAR and KOW-based model estimates for fish. Some chemical classes are outside the domain of some of the models used for evaluations, and other models do not have known domains.
Government, academic, and industry collaborations are exploring methods using aquatic and mammalian species that focus on absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME), because bioaccumulation occurs as a result of multiple physiological processes. These collaborations are leading to the development of a global ‘gold standard’ database of bioconcentration factor (BCF) values useful for model improvement and chemical class extrapolation; the development of fish liver S9, microsome, and hepatocyte assays to measure metabolism and accumulation within cells; the invention of a 96-hour cannulated fish test; the international acceptance and use of an in vivo dietary exposure test, and more.
The subcommittee hosted a series of workshops to improve the scientific basis for developing tiered approaches for assessing the bioaccumulation of chemicals.
Ø HESI/JRC/SETAC Europe Workshop on Bioaccumulation Assessments, May 5 - 6, 2006
Collaboratively with the European Chemicals Bureau (ECB) and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) the subcommittee also hosted a workshop to support European stakeholders in their preparation for REACH by promoting advancement and global alignment on bioaccumulation testing and assessment methods.
Ø HESI in vitro ADME Bioaccumulation Workshop, March 3 - 4, 2006
In conjunction with the Society of Toxicology (SOT) Annual Meeting, the committee hosted a workshop to explore the range of in vitro techniques which may be applied to evaluate the bioaccumulation potential of chemicals. The workshop was attended by approximately 30 experts from industry, government, and the academic community.
Ø HESI in vivo Bioaccumulation Database Workshop, November 11 -12, 2005
Chair............................Dr. Christina Cowan-Ellsberry
Vice-chair.....................Dr. Susan Erhardt
HESI Staff....................Dr. Michelle Embry
For more information, please contact: Dr. Michelle Embry at (202) 659-3306 or membry@hesiglobal.org
For an English version of the Bioaccumulation of Chemicals Project Committee fact sheet, click here.
AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals
BASF
Danish EPA
Dow Chemical
Dow Corning
DuPont
Environment Canada
European Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM)
European Chemicals Bureau (ECB)
European Joint Research Centre (JRC)
ExxonMobil Biomedical
Henkel
Novartis
Pfizer Pharmaceuticals
Procter & Gamble
RIVM
Syngenta
Trent University
University of Minnesota
US Environmental Protection Agency
OF INTEREST
Generic fish dietary bioaccumulation protocol agreed by the European Chemical Bureau Technical Committe on New and Existing Chemicals (TCNES) sub-group on PBT/vPvB Substances and POPs. This protocol can be applied for assessing the bioaccumulation potential of hydrophobic test substances that are difficult to test using standard aqueous exposures.
Summary of in-vivo fish bioaccumulation database developed by ExxonMobil Biomedical Sciences, Inc. using the generic dietary protocol (see above). All results are based on analysis of parent substance in fish tissue and exposure medium. These data have been used to estimate in-vivo fish biotransformation rates as described by J. Arnot, D. Mackay, T. Parkerton & M. Bonnell in the publication "A Database for Fish Biotransfromation Rates for Organic Chemicals" is currently in-press in Environ. Toxicol. & Chem