Persistent Organic Pollutants, known internationally as POPs, are chemical substances characterised by:

• Being persistent: they remain highly permanent in the environment as they are resistant to degradation. The majority of POPs are organochlorine compounds (with a carbon and chlorine molecular based structure). The carbon-chlorine bond is difficult to break, so much so that the presence of chlorine also decreases the reactivity of other bonds in organic molecules.
• Able to bioaccumulate: they incorporate into the tissues of living beings (they are soluble in fats) and are thus capable of increasing their concentration through the trophic chain.
• They are highly toxic and have serious effects on the environment and human health. The chemical make-up of chlorine means that it produces 11,000 organochloride compounds, the majority of which are harmful to human, animals and the environment in general.
• Travelling long distances, meaning that they are capable of reaching regions where they have never been produced or used.

This all means that they pose a threat to human health and the environment across the entire world. Aware of this, the International Community and especially the United Nations, have implemented instruments to regulate and control POPs. The most ambitious is the Stockholm Convention, which aims to protect human health and the environment. The European Union and all of its Member States signed the Convention. In order for its requirements to be met in a coherent and efficient manner, Regulation (EC) No 850/2004of 29 April 2004 on persistent organic pollutants was established on an EU level. This constitutes a common legal framework created with the view of eliminating, or at least reducing the emission and discharge of substances that fall under the scope of the Convention (as soon as possible when viable). Another of its aims is to establish provisions regarding waste from any of these substances or any material that contain or have been affected by them.

Links:

Dioxins, furans and PCBs

PFOA and PFOS

BFR (Brominated flame retardants)