Contents


**Chapter 1**

**Provisional chapter**

**Introductory Chapter: Organochlorine**

**Introductory Chapter: Organochlorine**

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.81271

Organochlorines (OCs) are organic molecules with chlorine in their structure. There are known a large number of organochlorine compounds. A large amount of chlorinated organic compounds are produced for industrial, agricultural, pharmaceutical, household purposes, etc. In many studies, the main focus is on OC which has been evaluated as environmental contaminants with toxic effects on humans. Different types of organochlorine have been produced throughout the world. Some of the most popular classes are organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, chlorobenzenes, chlorophenols, chlorinated alkanes, etc. Organochlorine compounds usually have a large molecular mass. They are very stable. Generally, they are molecules of moderate polarity (low solubility in water). This makes OC easily soluble in fats. They were found in almost all environments: air, water, soil, sediments, and biota samples. They can spread out easily in different geographic altitudes and latitudes. Volatile and semi-volatile OCs have the ability to spread far away from the place where they were used. Some studies have reported some organochlorines in the North Pole at the same levels as the areas where they were produced or applied. They have the ability to bioaccumulate easily in biota. Passing through the food chain levels, they increase their concentrations (biomagnifying). Contaminated foods with OCs and exposures to them are their main ways to arrive in the human body. Generally, they display their effects after a relatively long period of exposure. This is the main reason why they are produced and used for a long time before their production and use were banned. The most important health effects that organochlorines can cause are mutagenic, endocrine-disruptor, carcinogenic and central nervous or peripheral disorders. After identification of the consequences for many organochlorines, their production and use in many countries were banned but unfortunately their effects were shown for many other years.

> © 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Aurel NuroAdditional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.81271

Aurel Nuro

**1. Introduction**
