title: Improving plant bioaccumulation science through consistent reporting of experimental data.
abstract: Experimental data and models for plant bioaccumulation of organic contaminants play a crucial role for assessing the potential human and ecological risks associated with chemical use. Plants are receptor organisms and direct or indirect vectors for chemical exposures to all other organisms. As new experimental data are generated they are used to improve our understanding of plant-chemical interactions that in turn allows for the development of better scientific knowledge and conceptual and predictive models. The interrelationship between experimental data and model development is an ongoing, never-ending process needed to advance our ability to provide reliable quality information that can be used in various contexts including regulatory risk assessment. However, relatively few standard experimental protocols for generating plant bioaccumulation data are currently available and because of inconsistent data collection and reporting requirements, the information generated is often less useful than it could be for direct applications in chemical assessments and for model development and refinement. We review existing testing guidelines, common data reporting practices, and provide recommendations for revising testing guidelines and reporting requirements to improve bioaccumulation knowledge and models. This analysis provides a list of experimental parameters that will help to develop high quality datasets and support modeling tools for assessing bioaccumulation of organic chemicals in plants and ultimately addressing uncertainty in ecological and human health risk assessments.
authors.affiliation: Quantitative Sustainability Assessment Division, Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Produktionstorvet 424, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark. Electronic address: pefan@dtu.dk.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fantke
authors.affiliation: ARC Arnot Research and Consulting, 36 Sproat Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M4M 1W4, Canada; Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario M1C 1A4, Canada.
authors.forename: Jon A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Arnot
authors.affiliation: Utah Water Research Laboratory, Utah State University, 8200 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322-8200, United States.
authors.forename: William J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Doucette
mesh_terms: D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D008954:Models, Biological; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D010944:Plants / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000493:pharmacokinetics
chemical_list: D009930:Organic Chemicals; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Bioaccumulation modeling; Biotransformation; Organic contaminants; Plant uptake; Reporting requirements; Testing guidelines