Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB),

Definition of Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB):

1. Any of a class of toxic aromatic compounds, often formed as waste in industrial processes, whose molecules contain two benzene rings in which hydrogen atoms have been replaced by chlorine atoms.

2. Derivative of biphenyl (C6H5C6H5) synthesized by replacing some of the hydrogen atoms in the benzene ring by chlorine atoms. Used mainly as flame retardants, insulators, and plasticizers, PCBs are linked to liver and kidney damage, birth defects, miscarriages, sterility, and cancerous tumors. Banned since 1979, they persist in nature because (being water insoluble) they cannot be washed away but (being fat soluble) accumulate in body tissue (see bioaccumulation) and move up the food chain.

How to use Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) in a sentence?

1. Although trained as a veterinarian, Miyata cut his teeth as an environmental scientist researching another toxic chemical, polychlorinated biphenyl, at the Osaka Prefecture Institute of Public Health.