POPs listed in the Stockholm Convention

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are organic chemical substances, that is, they are carbon-based. They possess a particular combination of physical and chemical properties such that, once released into the environment, they: remain intact for exceptionally long periods of time (many years); become widely distributed throughout the environment as a result of natural processes involving soil, water and, most notably, air; accumulate in the living organisms including humans, and are found at higher concentrations at higher levels in the food chain; and are toxic to both humans and wildlife.