The Chemicals that will not Go Away: Implications for Human Exposure to Reservoirs of POPs

Abstract

POPs continue to fascinate and at times disturb (horrify) researchers, policy-makers and the public. As earlier chapters of this book describe, POPs are found globally in every natural and disturbed ecosystem. Our understanding of the ability of POPs to cause a wide range of subtle adverse health effects at relatively low concentrations continues to grow. We continue to revise our estimates of their persistence upwards as monitoring shows their very slow degradation rates under a range of environmental conditions.In response to the continuing discovery of the persistence, bioaccumulative properties, and toxicity of POPs, regional, national and international policies ban the intentional production of compounds, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), several organochlorine pesticides, such as mirex and dieldrin, and the brominated flame retardants polybrominated diphenyl ethers (penta-BDE and octa-BDE, and most recently, deca-BDE). Policies and programs have also targeted the unintentional production and release of POPs such as polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs). Evidence of the success of these policies has been seen in immediate reductions of air concentrations, followed by declining concentrations in water bodies, soils, biota and our food supplies Persistent Organic PollutantsEdited by Stuart Harrad

Distribution and Potential Sources of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Urban Surface Dust and Soil of Shanghai, China

“…There is a long list of hazardous chemicals used in, and emanating from cities [1]. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are perhaps the most infamous of the hazardous trace organics released by industry and people [2].…”