Chemical fate, bioconcentration, and environmental effects testing: Proposed testing and decision criteria

Abstract Chemicals should have a minimum amount of available chemical fate, bioconcentration, and environmental effects data toidentifythose chemicals with potentially problematic environmental partitioning or persistence, or those with potential to bioconcentrate or cause adverse effects. Professional judgment, estimates of a chemical's mode(s) of action or mechanism of action, and its susceptibility to rapid transport or transformation should be utilized to determine the types of chemical fate, bioconcentration, and environmental effects data that should be available. Data‐supported decision criteria should be used to develop additional data tocharacterizethe persistence, bioconcentration, and adverse effects of chemicals that have been identified as potentially problematic. To facilitate an understanding of minimum chemical fate and bioconcentration data that should be available, recommended chemical fate and bioconcentration data from previously published testing schemes or approaches were evaluated. For environmental effects data, the types of organisms recommended for developing aquatic toxicity data in previously published testing schemes or approaches were evaluated. To facilitate an understanding of available testing decision criteria, those criteria that were used (as of December 31, 1988) to propose or require chemical fate, bioconcentration, on aquatic toxicity tests under section 4 of the Toxic Substances Control Act and those criteria recommended in previously reported testing schemes were evaluated. Based on this comprehensive evaluation it was possible to propose (1) a base set of chemical fate and aquatic toxicity tests, (2) organisms for conducting aquatic toxicity tests, and (3) decision logic and testing scheme for developing chemical fate and aquatic toxicity test data.