###### Abstract  
Background: Thrission Plain is considered the most industrialized area in Greece and thus a place where emissions of pollutants are expected to be elevated, leading to the degradation of air quality. Methods: Simultaneous determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) was performed in PM10 samples. SPSS statistical package was employed for statistical analysis and source apportionment purposes. Cancer risk was estimated from total persistent organic pollutants' (POPs) dataset according to the available literature. Results: POPs concentrations in particulate matter were measured in similar levels compared to other studies in Greece and worldwide, with mean concentrations of \(\Sigma\)PAHs, \(\Sigma\)PCDD/Fs, dioxin like PCBs, and indicator PCBs being 7.07 ng m\({}^{-3}\), 479 g m\({}^{-3}\), 1634 g m\({}^{-3}\), and 18.1 pg m\({}^{-3}\), respectively. Seasonal variations were observed only for PAHS with higher concentrations during cold period. MDRs, D/F ratios, and principal component analysis (PCA) highlighted combustions as the main source of POPs' emissions. Estimation of particles' carcinogenic and mutagenic potential indicates the increased toxicity of PM10 during cold periods, and cancer risk assessment concludes that 3 to 4 people out of 100,000 may suffer from cancer due to POPs' inhalation. Conclusions: Increased cancer risk for citizens leads to the necessity of chronic POPs' monitoring in Thrission Plain, and such strategies have to be a priority for Greek environmental authorities. Keywords:POPs; PAHs; PCDD/Fs; PCBs; industrial site; Greece; air quality +
Footnote †: journal: Applied Soft  
PAHs constitute byproducts of incomplete fossil fuel combustion or biomass burning [9], and they could also be emitted by solid waste incineration [10] and aluminum production, and they can be found in crude oil, asphalt coal, and tar [11]. The most dominant routes of human exposure to PAHs are via ingestion and inhalation [12; 13; 14]. On the other hand, PCDD/Fs are not produced intentionally, besides using them for research scope, but they are unintentionally formed as by-products of chlorinated compounds in combustion and industrial thermal processes like waste incineration, ferrous and secondary nonferrous smelting, cement kilning, and also from fuel combustion, pulp production, chlorinated substances production, and chemical and petrochemical industries [4; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20]. PCBs have similar emission sources as PCDD/Fs, and they were used in transformer, paint, and capacitor production. Although PCBs have been phased out from production processes in most countries in the last decades, many studies investigate PCB contaminants in air, especially in industrialized sites [2; 16; 20; 21]. PCBs are divided into dlPCBs, due to their similar metabolism in humans with dioxins [22] and to non-dioxin like PCBs (ndlPCBs), of which six congeners have often been chosen as indicators PCBs (ndPCBs) for the evaluation of ndlPCBs' contamination in the atmosphere [23]. Due to their presence in many commercial PCB mixtures [24], their predominance in air samples from industrial sites is an indication of their impact on the atmospheric environment. There is a general acceptance that either long- or short-term exposure to POPs may lead to adverse health effects [25; 26; 27]. Therefore, many monitoring programs have been undertaken by developed countries' authorities under the prism of the Stockholm Convention for the cooperation among nations to eliminate unintentionally emitted POPs including PCDDs/Fs and dlPCBs. Intense POPs research provides evidence that some compounds (e.g., PAHs, PCDDs/Fs, and dlPCBs) exert intense carcinogenic, mutagenic, or teratogenic effects on humans, and therefore IARC [28; 29] and the United States Environmental Protection Agency [12] have classified them as probable human carcinogens.