8.7

Question 1

DDT

Answer 1

DDT was widely used as an insecticide before phaseout in most developed nations

Still persists in soils & aquatic ecosystems and builds up in food webs

Question 2

Medications (pharmaceutical compounds)

Answer 2

Steroids, reproductive hormones, antibiotics that pass through human bodies & into sewage release from treatment plants

Persist in streams/rivers &
disrupt aquatic organisms’
endocrine function

Question 3

Dioxins

Answer 3

Byproduct of fertilizer production & burning o
medical waste, FFs,
biomass

90% of human dioxin
exposure comes from
animal fats (meat, dairy,
fish) since dioxins build
up in animal fat

Question 4

POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants)

Answer 4

Synthetic compounds that do not easily break down in the environment; accumulate and build in up in water and soil

Question 5

Fat soluble

Answer 5

Accumulates and builds up in animals’ fat tissue instead of passing through the body (don’t easily dissolve into blood/urine)

Question 6

Transport of POPs

Answer 6

Wastewater release from industrial processes, leachate from landfills or improperly buried industrial waste, fertilizer/pesticide production, emissions from burning waste/biomass

Enter soil/water –> eaten by animals –> stored in their fat –> eaten by humans or
taken in via drinking water