Persistent, bioaccumulating pollutants made non-biodegradability a public concern

Evidence

Some wounds could not be healed by the passage of time. Some contaminants simply persist and continue to accumulate.Theresultingincreasesinconcentrationsfurtherpresentthepotential for crossing threshold levels at which associated adverse environmental effects may increase exponentially and irreversibly. The biodegradability or nonbiodegradability of particular chemical compounds became, overnight, a matter of common parlance. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 305

Categorization

• XREF: Directly builds on ch2’s claim that persistent pollutants postpone their harm to future generations — here showing how that feature entered public and legal discourse. — connects to: Persistent pollutants postpone their harm to future generations. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 85; Industry-safe chemicals persist in consumer goods despite well-documented widespread human harm — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1750; DNAPL contaminants like TCE can be expected to persist for decades or even centuries — System for alleviating DNAPL contamination in groundwater

Broader Connections

• Industry-safe chemicals persist in consumer goods despite well-documented widespread human harm #exemplifies (0.82) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1750