A Small Dose of Persistent

Environmental Contaminants

PowerPoint Presentation (also available in Acrobat format)
References / Additional Information (updated 1/4/05)

PRESISTENT ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINANTS DOSSIER
Name: Persistent Environmental Contaminants (has various names depending on agency - i.e. U.S. EPA Persistent Bioaccumulative and Toxic (PBT) or United Nations Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP)
Use: varies, often restricted or banned (but still present in the environment)
Source: industry, waste sites, food chain, and environment
Recommended daily intake: none (not essential)
Absorption: varies
Sensitive individuals: fetus, children
Toxicity/symptoms: range of toxic effects, developmental, learning and memory, cancer, etc ….
Regulatory facts: various local, national, and international agencies working to eliminate or greatly reduce
General facts: long history of use, bioaccumulates
Environmental: global environmental contaminants
Recommendations: avoid, reduce use

REFERENCES / ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) - Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP). (accessed: 6 July 2004).
  Information on international efforts to reduce persistent pollutants.
  

North American Agencies

• Critical Contaminants in the Great Lakes - Human Health and the Great Lakes. (accessed: 21 September 2004).
  Detailed information on persistent toxics in the Great Lakes region.
• Health Canada - Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs). (accessed: 9 April 2003).
  Health Canada provides information on the health effects and environmental distribution of PCbs.
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Persistent Bioaccumulative and Toxic (PBT) Chemical Program. (accessed: 9 April 2003).
  Information of the efforts of U.S. EPA to reduce PBT chemicals.
• U.S. Geological Survey. (accessed: 9 April 2003).
  This site contains information on the use of pesticides across the U.S. both as contaminants and crop use.
• Washington State Department of Ecology - Persistent, Bioaccumulative Toxins. (accessed: 9 April 2003).
  Information on this states approach to persistent, bioaccumulative toxins.
• U.S. Department of Agriculture - Integrated Pest Management (IPM). (accessed: 9 April 2003).
  Site provides information and other links on IPM

Non-Government Organizations

• Health Care Without Harm. (accessed: 4 January 2005)
  Mission: "To transform the health care industry worldwide, without compromising patient safety or care, so that it is ecologically sustainable and no longer a source of harm to public health and the environment."
• Pesticide Action Network UK. (accessed: 9 April 2003).
  Site has information on the history and use of lindane and information on efforts to ban the use of lindane in Europe
• Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA). (accessed: 9 April 2003).
  "PANNA works to replace pesticide use with ecologically sound and socially just alternatives."
• Washington Toxics Coalition (WTC). (accessed: 9 April 2003).
  .WTC provides information on model pesticide-policies, alternatives to home pesticides, information on persistent chemical pollutants, and much more.
• Beyond Pesticides. (accessed: 9 April 2003).
  "Beyond Pesticides is a national network committed to pesticide safety and the adoption of alternative pest management strategies which reduce or eliminate a dependency on toxic chemicals."
• Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP). (accessed: 9 April 2003).
  "NCAP works to protect people and the environment by advancing healthy solutions to pest problems."
• University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM). (accessed: 9 April 2003).
  "UC - IPM develops and promotes the use of integrated, ecologically sound pest management programs in California."
• Environmental Defense Fund - The Arctic at Risk: A Circumpolar Atlas of Environmental Concerns. (accessed: 9 April 2003).
  Site has maps and information on contaminants in the arctic.

Brominated flame retardants

• Bromine Science and Environmental Forum (BSEF). (accessed: 27 April 2004).
  An industry sponsored site related to brominated flame retardants.

References

Wargo, John. Our Children's Toxic Legacy: How Science and Law Fail to Protect Us from Pesticides. Yale University Press. 2nd edition (1998) 402 pages.

Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, (1994). 368 pages.

Atkin, J. and Klaus M. Leisinger (Editors). Safe and Effective Use of Crop Protection Products in Developing Countries CABI Publishing, CAB International. (2000). 163 pages.