Q. What are persistent organic pollutants (POPs)?
The POPs, or persistent organic pollutants, are toxic substances formed from organic compounds. The POPs are made in several industrial processes, like the production of PVC, paper whitened by chlorine, herbicides, insecticides and fungicides, and as well in the incineration of waste. Instances of POPs are dioxins, furanes, heptachloride, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, toxaphen and hexachlorbenzene.
The POPs are highly harmful and toxic since, like the heavy metals, they are bioaccumulative, that is they are not degraded by the body and accumulate even more in each following trophic level of the food chains. In humans the POPs can cause nervous and cancer, immune and reproductive impairments.