PCB°

abbreviation (Environment) Short for polychlorinated biphenyl, any of a number of chemical compounds which are obtained by adding chlorine atoms to biphenyl and which cause persistent environmental pollution. Etymology: The initial letters of parts of the chemical name PolyChlorinated Biphenyl. History and Usage: PCBs were widely used in old electrical transformers, hydraulic and lubricating oils, paints, lacquers, varnishes, and the plastics industry, until they were recognized as very toxic pollutants in the late sixties. They are difficult to dispose of and have been shown to be carcinogenic in people and animals, with the result that production of them was stopped in the US and the UK during the late seventies. What brought them into the public eye in the eighties was the general upsurge of interest in environmental issues; the persistent problem of disposing of the PCBs which were so liberally used in the fifties and sixties, before it was realized that they could be so dangerous, has meant that they remain on the green agenda. The emergency meeting of 18 scientists...called for every effort to be made to reduce the leakage into the environment of an extremely long-lasting and toxic type of pollutant, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Independent 12 Aug. 1988, p. 1 The otters take in the PCB from the fish that they eat along with other pollutants. Earth Matters Summer 1990, p. 4