A Call to Include Plastics in the Global Environment in the Class of Persistent, Bioaccumulative, and Toxic (PBT) Pollutants

Affiliations

• ¹ Ocean Pollution Research Unit & Nippon Foundation-Ocean Litter Project, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, AERL 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver V6T 1Z4, BC, Canada.
• ² School of Resource and Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby V5A 1S6, BC, Canada.
• ³ Department of Ecological Chemistry, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Permoserstr. 15, Leipzig DE-04318, Germany.
• ⁴ Institute for Environmental Research, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen DE-52074, Germany.
• ⁵ Alfred-Wegener-Institute Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven DE-16227570, Germany.
• ⁶ Química y Farmacia. Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Arturo Prat, Avenida Arturo Prat Chacón, Iquique 2120, Chile.
• ⁷ Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby V5A 1S6, BC, Canada.
• ⁸ Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, ESPOL Polytechnic University, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Campus Gustavo Galindo Km. 30.5 Vía Perimetral, P.O. Box 09-01-5863, Guayaquil 00000, Ecuador.
• ⁹ Institute for Risk Analysis and Risk Communication, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, 4225 Roosevelt Way NE, Suite #100, Seattle 98105, Washington, United States.
• ¹⁰ Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver V6T 1Z4, BC, Canada.
• ¹¹ Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, 2207 Main Mall, Vancouver BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
• ¹² The Fletcher School/Tufts Technology Services, Tufts University, 35 Lower Campus Rd, Medford 02155, Massachusetts, United States.
• ¹³ Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia, AERL 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver V6T 1Z4, BC, Canada.
• ¹⁴ Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Center, School of Marine and Environmental Affairs EarthLab, University of Washington, Box 355674, Seattle 98195-5674, Washington, United States.
• ¹⁵ Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST), Geoje 53201, Republic of Korea.
• ¹⁶ University of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34113, South Korea.
• ¹⁷ Department of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, Newark 07102, New Jersey, United States.