Man-made compound

Pesticide, fungicide to protect seeds, and an industrial chemical for a variety of purposes [3]

Pesticide until 1965 [3]

An industrial chemical used to make fireworks, ammunition, synthetic rubber, and other substances [2]

Unintentionally produced during combustion and the manufacture of certain chemicals [2]

Byproduct of several chlorinated chemicals

Persistent in environment

Does not dissolved readily in water, remains in particles on bottom of lakes and rivers

Adheres to soil

Bioaccumulant in fish, marine mammals, birds, lichens, and animals that eat lichens or fish

Build up in wheat, grasses, some vegetables, and other plants

Endocrine Disruptor

Current Status in US [2]

Under FIFRA:

no US registrations, all uses cancelled by 1985

no production, import, or export as a pesticide

manufacture and use for chemical intermediate (as allowed under the Convention)

regulated as a hazardous air pollutant (CAA)

priority toxic pollutant (CWA)

Hexachlorbenzene[1]

Infants exposed through mother's breast milk

Might cause liver disease called porphyria cutanea tarda, a disease that effects the oxygen-carrying part of the hemoglobin molecule. (sypmtoms: red-colored, urine, skin sores, change in skin color, arthritis, nad problems of the liver, nervous system and stomach

EPA determined HCB as a probable carcinogen.

By-product when making other chlorine-containing compounds

Found in water sediments

By-product when manufacturing some pesticides

Use of HCB-contaminated pesticides

Found in chlorination treatment of process water and waterwaste

Incineration of municipal and hazarous wasts, byproduct of chemical solvernt

[1] UNEP - Persistent Organic Pollutants: Chemical Information. - www.chem.unep.ch/pops/alts02.html

[2] EPA - Persistent Organic Pollutants: A Global Issue, A Global Response. EPA 160-F-02-001. - www.epa.gov/international/toxics/pop.htm

[3] EPA Priority PBT Profiles - www.epa.gov/opptintr/pbt/cheminfo.htm

[4] ATSDR Toxicological Profile for Aldrin and Dieldrin. September 2002. - www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tpw.html