Reflections about three influential Ambio articles impacting environmental biogeochemistry research and knowledge: This article belongs to Ambio’s 50th Anniversary Collection. Theme: Environmental contaminants

Reflections about three influential environmental contaminants papers published in Ambio are presented. The PCB Story by Jensen in (1972) had a very important influence on environmental chemistry. This is captured by way of comments and personal anecdotes. Wania’s and MacKay’s (1993) paper highlights the physical chemistry underlying transport of PCBs and organochlorine pesticides from temperate zone ecosystems to Polar Regions. Their paper exemplifies how principles of chemistry and environmental processes informed understanding the biogeochemical cycles of chemicals of environmental concern (CEC). Mergler et al.’s (2007) paper reviews knowledge of methyl mercury exposure and impacts in humans and served as an example of how to approach exposure and human health concerns for all CECs. All great progress. Then, the question: “How we missed for two decades the importance of plastics in the environment identified in a paper published the same year as The PCB Story? Are we missing yet another important environmental contaminant now?