Environmental impact of pentachlorophenol (PCP)

Pentachlorophenol (PCP) and its salts are purely anthropogenic, ubiquitous substances that have been widely identified with wood protection and preservation by virtue of their broad spectrum of antimicrobial characteristics. Industrially, their applications as fungicides, bacteriacides, herbicides, insecticides, ovicides, algicides and molluscicides are well known. These substances enter the environment and work their way into the soil, surface water, ground water, food, air, mostly from treated utility poles and fences, during production, treatment facilities, hazardous waste sites, accidental spills, and its use as a pesticide. The major contaminants in commercial pentachlorophenol could be very toxic and include polychlorodibenzodioxins, polychlorodibenzofurans, polychlorodiphenyl ethers, chlorophenols, etc. Many toxicologists have reported that short-term, high-level exposure that often occur during accidental spills can cause damage to the liver, kidneys, nervous system, blood and death in humans. Other researchers have shown they cause decrease in the number of offspring in animals. The use of PCP is now restricted both in Canada and the United States.