n the forthcoming months many scientific , technical, and political energies will be devoted throughout the world to design specific plans to implement the Stockholm Treaty on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). 1–4 Drawn under the leadership of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)—with significant contributions from non-governmental organisations, trade unions, and private compani...

BACKGROUND Adipose tissue (AT) is involved in several physiological functions, including metabolic regulation, energy storage, and endocrine functions. OBJECTIVES In this review we examined the evidence that an additional function of AT is to modulate persistent organic pollutant (POP) toxicity through several mechanisms. METHODS We reviewed the literature on the interaction of AT with POPs...

Organochlorine compounds (OC) were determined in Arctic bivalves (Mya truncata, Serripes groenlandicus, Hiatella arctica and Chlamys islandica) from Svalbard with regard to differences in geographic location, species and variations related to their size and age. Higher chlorinated polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB 101-PCB 194), chlordanes and α-hexachlorocyclohexane (α-HCH) were consistently detec...

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and their degradation and metabolic byproducts have been found in high levels in blood and tissues of several Arctic seabirdand mammal species (Glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus), Ivory gull (Pagophila eburnea), Great skua (Stercorarius skua), Arctic fox (Alopex lagopus) and Polar bear (Ursus maritimus). The POPs include both old (PCBs, DDTs and CHLs) and new...

(ONFLICTING results have beeni reported with neonatal thymectomy in relation to several different chemical carcinogens given to animals by various routes. Some authors (Miller et al., 1963; Grant & Miller, 1965; Nomoto & Takeya, 1969) have shown that tumour induction could be increased in thymectomized animals when they were compared with a group that had had sham thymectomy. When thymectomized...

The environmental chemistry and ecotoxicology of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are fascinating areas of scientific research. Our objective in this paper is to provide a brief, focussed overview of what constitutes a POP, highlight the harmful effects they may have on biota, make some comments on their environmental sources and analysis, their environmental trends and processes, their mov...

Dear fellow diabetes investigators, you, myself and our Editorin-Chief, Dr Hotta, have the same goal; to do something about the epidemic of diabetes in Asia. I will not show the numbers again, as you have seen enough; simply there are too many people around us with diabetes. Why there are so many? Professor Eung-Jin Kim, Honorary President of Korean Diabetes Association, told me that diabetes w...

Global contamination and toxic effects of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have been an emerging environmental issue and have received considerable attention during the past four decades. Although the extent of contamination by POPs has been dominant in industrialized nations, an increasing number of recent investigations have highlighted the role of the Asia-Pacific region as a potential s...

Institute RECETOX coordinates the “Central and Eastern European Centre for Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)” of Stockholm Convention (SC) environmental services: data monitoring, processing, storage and their management. This is supported by the Global Environmental Assessment and Information System (GENASIS) that utilizes data from national and international monitoring networks to obtain a...

The melting of glacial ice that formed in the middle of the twentieth century may be a source of a cocktail of persistent, bio accumulative toxic substances that can threaten human health and the environment, according to a study by Christian Bogdal, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich, and colleagues in the 1 November 2009 issue of Environmental ...