10th Anniversary lecture: looking to the future of POPs

In August, around 850 delegates from 46 countries gathered in Birmingham (UK) for the 28th International Symposium on Halogenated Persistent Organic Pollutants ('Dioxin 2008', for short). Inaugurated in Rome in 1980, this has grown to become the main research symposium worldwide for research in the field of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). This was the first time the meeting had been held in the UK, the venue being Birmingham's world-class International Convention Centre.