ABSTRACT
Effective environmental policies require a strong scientific foundation, and so in this chapter, we consider the scientific issues related to the PBT concept, particularly the scientific methods used to assess compounds for persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity. As chemical characteristics, persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity each have long histories of scientific investigation. The goal of this section is not to provide an extensive review of each of the three properties or a critique of methodological details; such reviews can be found in the literature (e.g., Klečka et al. 2009). Rather, this section highlights important scientific issues that bear directly on PBT determinations. For any chemical, persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity are assessed independently using methods appropriate for each characteristic. We therefore address each characteristic individually, noting the issues and concerns specific to that characteristic.
