Persistent organic pollutant

A persistent organic pollutant (POP) is an organic compound that is only slowly degraded in the environment, so that it tends to persist and even to accumulate rather than being broken down by photochemical or biological processes. Accumulation can occur either in the environment (eg, in sediments) or in the tissue of animal or plant species (bioaccumulation).

Public concern about persistent organic pollutants was first raised in the early 1960s with the publication of the book Silent Spring (1962) by U.S. author Rachel Carson (1907–64), which led to the banning of DDT for agricultural use in the United States in 1972. The U.S. and several other countries have regulated POPs on a case-by-case basis since then. A more systematic approach to the regulation of POP production and use can be found in the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, signed in 2001, and the European Union REACH Regulation (1907/2006).