What are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) chemicals?
Chemicals are.. Persistent, when they don’t readily break down in the environment. Depending on the properties of these chemicals, they may be transferred among air, water, soils, and sediments. Bioaccumulative, when they concentrate in animal and plant tissues as a result of uptake from the surrounding environment (e.g., from water, air), or as a result of one organism consuming another that’s lower on the food chain (i.e., gets passed from one organism to another) Toxic, when they are hazardous to human health and the environment. In certain forms, PBT chemicals may cause adverse effects, such as cancer, birth defects, and declines in specie populations Return to TOP.
