Normalizing the Biomagnification Factor

Following a recent proposal of normalizing the experimentally derived biomagnification factor (BMF) to a 5% lipid content in fish, we explore the normalization of the BMF of lipophilic chemicals in fish. We illustrate with theoretical models and experimental data that the BMF of lipophilic chemicals is a function of the lipid content of the diet and that poorly metabolizable, lipophilic chemicals biomagnify in organisms to a greater degree when present in higher-lipid content food. The proposed normalization of the laboratory BMF to the lipid content of the fish and subsequent standardization to a 5% fish lipid content, which is numerically identical to normalizing the BMF to a 5% dietary lipid content, has the potential to underestimate the biomagnification potential of lipophilic substances in aquatic food webs. The BMF normalized to both the lipid content of the fish and the lipid content of the diet, which is the biomagnification metric included in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's bioaccumulation testing guideline 305, better represents real-world biomagnification than the proposed BMF normalized and standardized to a 5% lipid content in fish. Environ Toxicol Chem 2021;40:1204-1211. © 2020 SETAC.