What is Bioconcentration?

Bioconcentration is a situation where the levels of toxin in the body exceed the levels of this toxin in the surrounding environment. This term is often used specifically in relation to the aquatic environment and aquatic organisms, unlike related "bioacumulation", which may apply to toxins and organisms found in different environments. Bioconcentration is an area of ​​interest in many advocates of environmental and scientists, as well as people responsible for the formulation of politics and the development of new consumer products. If fish cannot express hormones, they build in the body, leading to a situation where the fish body contains more hormones than the surrounding water. Scientists can use a concept known as a bioconcentric (BCF) factor to express the bioconcentration levels in a numerical way.

In order to determine the bioconcentration factor, the levels of toxin are divided by levels in the surrounding water to find the ratio. The higher the ratio, the more serious the bioconcentration. High BCF can lead to health problems such as genetiMutations transmitted to descendants, cancer, death or illness. For example, in fish populations, pharmacies were identified in the waterways that were contaminated by pharmacies.

Bioconcentration can also lead to a situation called biomagnification. In biomagnification, toxins levels increase higher, one moving on the food chain. For example, toxin may be present in small levels in plants that are consumed by small fish. Fish must eat a lot of plants to survive, developing higher BCF. Larger fish species that little fish have had a high level of toxins in his body and the bear, which eats these fish, is developing a high level of toxins. Toxin can also be handed over to birds who eat fish together with people. Bioconcentration explains how to find burning retarders in women's breasts around the world: these women did not directly consume these chemicals, enjoyed them with the food of the organisms that experiencedBiomagnification.

Bioconcentration and biomagnification explain why seemingly low toxin levels can become a problem, because if the animal has problems with expressing toxin from the body, the toxin will accumulate if the body is exposed. Chemical DDT is often quoted as an example; When it was originally used, it seemed toxic to insects only. For a long period of time, however, biomagnification appeared, which resulted in the fact that the bird egg with a thin shell caused serious damage to many bird species. This led to a extensive ban on chemicals.