The Levels Of Concern are the smallest amount of a compound or substance that causes a measureable health effect.

How The Levels Of Concern Were Determined

Determination of PAH-related hazard identification (a PAH toxic equivalence) in the seafood involved use of a cell culture-based bioassay that makes use of established biochemical pathways central to the onset of multiple toxic responses induced by PAHs.Measurements relied on the relative signal strength (or read out) comparing a test sample (e.g., PAH extract from a seafood sample) with a calibration curve of a reference compound (e.g., BaP). Based on the level of concern for BaP (21.45 ng BaP per kg body weight per day) as a carcinogen associated with an increased cancer incidence of 1 in a hundred thousand following a 5-year exposure window, the amount of seafood (by species, location and date) that could be safely consumed was calculated to establish a seafood consumption guideline stratified by body weight. Please note that Average PAH levels and Levels of Concern that appear in Sampling Matrix Web Map data boxes are expressed in parts per billion (ppb) as this more familiar unit of measure is equivalent to nanograms (ng).