ABSTRACT
High levels of chemical compounds in organisms have been observed for many years and warrant serious concerns about the environment and human health. The first findings of potentially toxic substances in wildlife tissues that led to ecological awareness on the part of the general public occurred in the 1960s. Silent Spring, Rachel Carson’s famous book published in 1962, is often cited as a milestone leading to the relatively recent consciousness of the degradation of the environment as a result of releases of multitudes of chemicals into surface waters and the atmosphere.
