(94a) Lessons Learned: Case Histories of Several Environmental Disasters and Their Implications for the Waste Plastics Crisis

This presentation reviews and summarizes several environmental disaster case histories involving chemicals/materials such as friable asbestos, dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), bisphenol A, and phthalates. These materials were very successfully designed for a specific intended purpose. However, these materials/ chemicals are extremely stable, are very resistant to degradation, and persist in the environment for very long periods of time. This presentation describes and summarizes the environmental impacts of these materials, with particular attention devoted to the impact of these materials on human health, mammals, and ecosystems. Results of these investigations will be used to assess the potential impacts on the waste plastics crisis.