Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) comprise a group of 209 individual compounds which were

produced commercially in large quantities up to the late 1970s (Muller, 1997). They were used in products
as diverse as electrical equipment, lubricants, paints, plasticisers, carbonless copy paper and slide mounting for
microscope slides. PCBs are among a broader group of organochloride chemicals, similar to the notorious DDT,
which persist in the environment due to their ability to resist chemical and physical breakdown. They also
accumulate up the food chain, with those organisms higher up the food chain typically demonstrating higher
levels where contamination has occurred.
- The writer is informing the reader what the paragraph will be about. The first sentence of a paragraph
usually establishes the topic to be discussed in the lines which follow, and it is known as the topic sentence. A
paragraph without a topic sentence may cause frustration for the reader who has to work hard to understand the
purpose of the writing. The topic sentence is usually the first sentence in a paragraph but may sometimes be the
second sentence – or the last.