Persistent Organic Pollutants
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are compounds that resist degradation and thus remain in the environment for years. Some pesticides, including aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, mirex, and toxaphene, are considered POPs. POPs have the ability to volatilize and travel great distances through the atmosphere to become deposited in remote regions. The chemicals also have the ability to bioaccumulate and biomagnify, and can bioconcentrate (i.e. become more concentrated) up to 70,000 times their original concentrations. POPs may continue to poison non-target organisms in the environment and increase risk to humans by disruption in the endocrine, reproductive, and immune systems; cancer; neurobehavioral disorders, infertility and mutagenic effects, although very little is currently known about these chronic effects. Some POPs have been banned, while others continue to be used.
Read more about this topic: Environmental Effects Of Pesticides
Famous quotes containing the words persistent and/or organic:
“The passion of self-aggrandizement is persistent but plastic; it will never disappear from a vigorous mind, but may become morally higher by attaching itself to a larger conception of what constitutes the self.”
—Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)
“The following general definition of an animal: a system of different organic molecules that have combined with one another, under the impulsion of a sensation similar to an obtuse and muffled sense of touch given to them by the creator of matter as a whole, until each one of them has found the most suitable position for its shape and comfort.”
—Denis Diderot (1713–1784)