Authors: Namita Das Saha
Centre for Environment Science and Climate Resilient Agriculture (CESCRA), Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Pusa, New Delhi, India
Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are chemical substances that persist in the environment, bio-accumulate through the food web thus biomagnify and pose a risk of causing adverse effects to human health and the environment even at a distant place of origin of the pollutant. Many POPs were widely used during the boom in industrial production after World War II, when thousands of synthetic chemicals were introduced into commercial use. Many of these chemicals proved beneficial in pest and disease control, crop production, and industry. These same chemicals, however, have had unforeseen effects on human health and the environment. Till date POPs are being called 'Dirty dozen' as initially twelve notorious POPs were identified and out of which few are intentionally being produced and few get generated unintentionally as byproducts of some other industrial chemicals and processes. These notorious POPs are of great concern as they are still a global threat.
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