New POPs
Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are organic chemical substances, that is, they are carbon-based. They possess a particular combination of physical and chemical properties such that, once released into the environment, they:
- remain intact for exceptionally long periods of time (many years);
- become widely distributed throughout the environment as a result of natural processes involving soil, water and, most notably, air;
- accumulate in the fatty tissue of living organisms including humans, and are found at higher concentrations at higher levels in the food chain; and
- are toxic to both humans and wildlife.
(Reference:http://chm.pops.int)
NEW POPs
- Alpha hexachlorocyclohexane
- Beta hexachlorocyclohexane
- Chlordecone
- Decabromodiphenyl ether (commercial mixture, c-decaBDE)
- Hexabromobiphenyl
- Hexabromocyclododecane
- Hexabromodiphenyl ether and heptabromodiphenyl ether (commercial octabromodiphenyl ether)
- Hexachlorobutadiene
- Lindane
- Pentachlorobenzene
- Pentachlorophenol and its salts and esters
- Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, its salts and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride
- Polychlorinated naphthalenes
- Short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs)
- Technical endosulfan and its related isomers
- Tetrabromodiphenyl ether and pentabromodiphenyl ether (commercial pentabromodiphenyl ether)