Cases / Chemical pollution · Sweden · 1966
Sören Jensen identified PCBs in 1966 while testing for DDT
Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.
Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
Stockholm University researcher Sören Jensen found unidentified peaks in a DDT analysis in 1966 and identified them as PCBs. The sources link PCBs to harm in wildlife, which this record does not verify.
What?
Jensen identified PCBs in 1966 after unidentified peaks appeared in his DDT measurements. Stockholm University
Where?
Stockholm, Sweden, at Stockholm University Stockholm University
When?
1966 Stockholm University
Who?
Gained
None on recordLost
None on recordHarmed
None on recordWhy?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
Unidentified signals in DDT measurements were identified as PCBs. Stockholm University
5 of 6 questions answered from the record · open: who
What happened
The record, in order.
In 1966 Sören Jensen, while measuring DDT, saw unidentified peaks and identified them as PCBs, according to Stockholm University's account.
The university's memorial notice describes Jensen as a renowned PCB pioneer and professor emeritus.
In court and with insurers
Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.
Lawsuits and rulings
No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.
Insurers
No insurer decision on record.
What we don't know
Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Record
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: PCBs found in about 200 pike, a dead eagle in the Stockholm archipelago and Jensen's family hair.
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: the earliest PCB trace in museum bird feathers dated to 1944.
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: Sweden banned PCBs in 1972 and the United States in 1979, with a global ban under the 2001 Stockholm Convention.
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: Monsanto was the sole US PCB producer from 1929, and a 1969 committee document recorded aims of keeping sales and company image.
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: a 2018 model finding that PCBs threaten the long-term survival of more than half of orca populations.
Did the harm stop?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Who paid?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts— Press and investigations— Communities and civil society✓ Researchers