BaP has been considered to be one of the most potent carcinogenic
and representative PAHs. Since different PAHs differ in their
ability to produce a toxic effect, the toxicity equivalency factors
(TEFs) are used to express the relative carcinogenic potency of each
PAH compared to BaP, which is given a reference value of 1 (FAO/
WHO, 2006; Yoon, Park, Lee, Yang, & Lee, 2007). To assess the
hazard of PAHs mixture, the BaP equivalent (BaPeq) concentration
was obtained by multiplying the concentration of each PAH with its
TEF as reported earlier (Nisbet & LaGoy, 1992) (Table 3). The BaPeq
concentration was calculated according to Eq. (1):