Bioaccumulation potential of air pollutants
It is shown that air pollutants with a blood–air partition coefficient of 5 or higher, have a high bioaccumulation potential (BAF ≥ 60 dm3 kg− 1 wet wt.) unless they are biotransformed at a sufficiently rapid rate. This bioaccumulation potential is similar in humans and rodents as variation in tissue-composition is relatively small across mammals (Hendriks et al., 2005). However, as is shown in Fig. 4 the bio- accumulation potential strongly depends on the biotransformation capacities. This biotransformation capacity is largely chemical- and species-specific and differences in bioaccumulation potential between humans and rodents will arise due to variation in biotransformation rates (Pastino et al., 2000).