title: Man-made chemicals found in remote areas of the world: the experimental definition for POPs.
abstract: Members of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN-ECE) signed a legally binding protocol on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in February 1998 under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution. A treaty that intends to control the production, import, export, disposal and use of toxic chemicals that persist for decades in the environment has been formally signed at a conference in May 2001 in Stockholm. The 2001 POP treaty, like the 1998 LRTAP POP protocol, contains a provision on adding further chemicals to the initial group of twelve or fifteen. The occurrence of a compound or a group of compounds in so called remote and pristine areas, e.g. in the Artic or in the Southern Hemisphere, proves its stability under the chemical and biological conditions of the environment. Compounds identified in this way, in samples taken primarily in very remote regions of the planet, are classified by their environmental fate and global distribution as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), regardless of any political assessments.
authors.affiliation: University of Ulm, Department of Analytical and Environmental Chemistry, Germany. karlheinz.ballschmiter@chemie.uni-ulm.de
authors.forename: Karlheinz
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ballschmite
authors.forename: Rudolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hackenberg
authors.forename: Walter M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Jarman
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Looser
mesh_terms: D000392:Air Movements; D004777:Environment; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D007391:International Cooperation; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000032:analysis* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D011057:Politics; D014872:Water Movements; D015262:Xenobiotics / Q000032:analysis* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D015262:Xenobiotics