The ABCs of POPs

Term

Description

COP1

The first Conference of the Parties, a formal meeting of countries that have ratified or acceded to an international agreement. For the Stockholm Treaty COP1 was held in Punta del Este, Uruguay on May 2-6, 2005.

FIFRA

The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, the principal federal law for regulating agricultural chemicals (along with the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act)

HBB

Hexabromobiphenyl, a brominated flame retardant banned in the U.S. and Europe.

HCH

Hexachlorocyclohexane, a neurotoxic organochlorine pesticide that can affect reproduction, liver function, and the immune system. Lindane is one form of HCH.

LRTAP

The Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, a regional agreement under the UN Economic Commission for Europe (for most of eastern and western Europe, Russia, the United States, and Canada) includes a 1998 POPs Protocol restricting Stockholm’s “Dirty Dozen” and four others.

PAHs

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a broad class of chemicals built on multiple benzene rings, such as benzo(a)pyrene.

PBDEs

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers, a class of chemicals added to many consumer and industrial products to reduce fire hazards. Penta-, octa- and deca- are commercial mixtures names for the predominant number of bromine atoms per molecule.

PBTs

Persistent bioaccumulative toxics, a loosely defined class of chemicals that are long-lived, likely to concentrate in the fatty tissue of living organisms, and potentially harmful.

PIC

Prior informed consent, a central feature of the Rotterdam Convention, an international agreement on government-to-government notification of imports of banned or restricted substances, especially pesticides

POPs

Persistent organic pollutants, a subset of PBTs. Chemists define “organic” as the chemistry of carbon, as opposed to metals, minerals, and other “inorganics.”

POPRC

The POPs Review Committee is an international scientific body established under the Stockholm Convention to evaluate nominations of additional POPs to be added to the treaty

TSCA

The Toxic Substances Control Act, the 1976 U.S. federal law intended to regulate existing and new industrial chemicals