NEW ORLEANS Forest fires have the potential to release toxic industrial and agricultural pollutants previously trapped on soil. After glomming onto smoke particles, these chemicals can hitch long-distance rides — sometimes across oceans — before they’re grounded again and contaminate some new region, scientists report. In the case of pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, these pollutants can land in regions where the compounds are now banned — or even in the Arctic, where they were never used.
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