**3. Generation of organochlorine compounds by some industries**

The intensive development of agriculture and industry produces large quantities of plant raw materials, as well as the presence of pesticides, toxic xenobiotics, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, chlorophenols, metals, organochlorine compounds, among other pollutants [7]. Once released into the environment, they decompose very slowly in air, water, soil, and in living organisms [11]. Particularly, these compounds, which are environmental pollutants, mainly used as biocides of wide spectrum in industry and agriculture, their formation during the bleaching of the pulp on papermaking process and the direct discharge of industrial waste [12]. A classic example is the dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), which has been widely used in the last decades as an insecticide for the protection of crops and for the control of vector-borne diseases such as typhus and malaria [13].

The most common sources of organochlorine pollutants, apart from the paper industry, are the combustion of organic matter, partial transformation of phenoxy pesticides such as 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and 2,4,6-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid, treatment of wood against fungi and insects and preservation of raw hides in leather tanning industries [12].

The toxicity of these compounds tends to increase with their degree of chlorination. Among chlorinated phenols, pentachlorophenol (PCP) has been widely used

*The Roll of Different Kind of Fungi to Eliminate Lignin and Organochlorines: A Review DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.105162*

as a preservative in wood and leather due to its toxicity to bacteria, mold, algae, and fungi in these materials [12].

On the other hand, inorganic chloride (Clinorg) supplied to soil through atmospheric deposition can undergo plant absorption, leaching, and react to form organochlorines (Clorg). Natural chlorination can occur through biotic and abiotic processes under environmental conditions. Also, the Clinorg becomes Clorg during the decomposition and humification of the vegetal material in the surface of soil [14].
