FRAGILE ecosystems like the Arctic could face many more years of contamination from PCBs, despite international treaties banning their use. That is the conclusion of a study into the fate of polychlorinated biphenyls manufactured worldwide during much of the 20th century.
An estimated 1.3 million tonnes of PCBs were made between the 1930s and 1990s around the world for use in the manufacture of pesticides, lubricants and plastics. But an investigation funded by the European Union to determine the fate of these hormone mimics has failed to locate most of them. “We think we can account for perhaps 30 per…
