ABSTRACT
Toxicity testing on animals, as opposed to humans, is centred on exposing a known number of animals to known concentrations of the suspect toxic substance in their diet and ascertaining the number of mortalities or the number of adverse effects occurring in a specified time span. The test substance can be fed to the animal in a liquid form or as a solid diet, or in the case of fish and crustacea, it can be added in controlled amounts to the water in which the tests are conducted. By using seawater and river water, it is possible to compare relative effects of particular concentrations of test substances in saline and non-saline media. An additional test that can be carried out is the measurement of the concentration of test substances in the tissues and organs of the test animal, in which many test substances concentrate to a much higher concentration than is present in the surrounding water.
