PCB and Related Compounds Reference Materials

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a group of more than 200 synthetic aromatic compounds once commonly used in industrial and consumer applications, but now banned due to their toxicity. PCBs are classed as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) under the Stockholm Convention, as they can remain for long periods in the environment, where they bioaccumulate and biomagnify in food chains. This in turn leads to adverse effects on humans and animals, such as damage to immune and reproductive systems, endocrine disruption, and neurological impairment.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), PCBs can be found "everywhere" in the environment - with many leaching from landfills and waste sites, carried vast distances in the air, and settling in soils and sediments of lakes, estuaries, and rivers. Despite hundreds of countries promising "determined efforts" to clean them up, more than three-quarters of legacy PCBs are still waiting to be dealt with. The recent emergence of Unintentionally Produced PCBs (UP-PCBs) formed inadvertently during modern industrial thermal processes is another worrying trend, with some experts calculating that more PCBs are being produced now than in the peak manufacturing years of the 1970s.

To protect and preserve the world from the adverse effects of PCBs, and to meet global regulatory obligations, analytical laboratories and research scientists need to conduct regular PCB testing. Our extensive portfolio of PCB reference materials and analytical standards features neats, single solutions and mixtures that cover all 209 PCB congeners, plus ready-made mixtures enabling your compliance with national and international PCB regulations – including US EPA methods, EU guidelines, and Chinese GB and HJ standards.