A Small Dose of Persistent Environmental Contaminants

• An Introduction to the Health Effects of Persistent Environmental Contaminants

Persistent Environmental Contaminants Dossier

Name: Persistent Environmental Contaminants

• (has various names depending on agency - e.g. 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, elderly, all species accumulate PBTs
• 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, work towards phaseouts

Persistent Environmental Contaminants Chapter

• A Small Dose of Persistent Environmental Contaminants - chapter pdf

PowerPoint presentation

• A Small Dose of Persistent Environmental Contaminants - PowerPoint presentation (0.8 mgb)

More Information and References

European, Asian, and international Agencies

• European Union - Commission on the Environment (accessed: 11 May 2009).
  REACH is a new European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use (EC 1907/2006). It deals with the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical substances. The new law entered into force on 1 June 2007.

• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) - Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP) (accessed: 11 May 2009).
  Information on international efforts to reduce persistent pollutants.

• Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP) (accessed: 11 May 2009).
  "The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically and accumulate in the fatty tissue of humans and wildlife."

North American Agencies

• Health Canada - Chemical Substances (accessed: 11 May 2009).
  Health Canada provides information on the health effects and environmental distribution of chemical substances in Canada.

• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Environmental Health Laboratory, National Biomonitoring Program (NBP) (accessed: 9 May 2009).

• US Environmental Protection Agency - Persistent Bioaccumulative and Toxic (PBT) Chemical Program (accessed: 9 May 2009).
  Information of the efforts of U.S. EPA to reduce PBT chemicals.

• US Geological Survey|http://www.usgs.gov/] (accessed: 11 May 2009).
  This site contains information and maps on the use of pesticides across the US both as contaminants and crop use.

• Washington State Department of Ecology - Persistent, Bioaccumulative Toxins (accessed: 11 May 2009).
  Information on Washinton's approach to persistent, bioaccumulative toxins, and includes several chemical action plans.

• US Department of Agriculture - Integrated Pest Management (IPM) (accessed: 11 May 2009).
  Site provides information and other links on IPM.

Non-Government Organizations

• Environmental Health Research Foundation (EHRF) - Biomonitoring info (accessed: 11 May 2009).
  "A resource for policymakers, scientists, educators, workers, journalists and the public on the nature and promise of biomonitoring."

• Pesticide Action Network UK (accessed: 11 May 2009).
  PAN-UK works to eliminate the dangers of toxic pesticides, exposure to them, and their presence in the environment in Europe.

• Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA) (accessed: 11 May 2009).
  "PANNA works to replace pesticide use with ecologically sound and socially just alternatives."

• Washington Toxics Coalition (WTC) (accessed: 11 May 2009).
  WTC provides information on model pesticide policies, alternatives to home pesticides, information on persistent chemical pollutants, and much more.

• Beyond Pesticides (accessed: 11 May 2009).
  "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: 11 May 2009).
  "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: 12 May 2009).
  "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|http://rainbow.ldgo.columbia.edu/edf/] (accessed: 12 May 2009).
  Site has maps and information on contaminants in the arctic.

• IPMopedia - Integrated Pest Management information|http://www.ipmopedia.org/] (accessed: 21 May 2009).
  IPMopedia offers free and up-to-date integrated pest management advice from green gardening experts.

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

• Sexton, K., Needham, L., and Pirkle, J. (2004). Human Biomonitoring of Environmental Chemicals. American Scientist Classics. 92(1) 38. DOI: 10.1511/2004.1.38. Available: http://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/pdf/AS_article_biomonitoring.pdf

• National Research Council (2006). Human Biomonitoring for Environmental Chemicals - Committee on Human Biomonitoring for Environmental Toxicants, National Academy Press Available: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11700 (accessed: 12 May 2009).