Path: utzoo!dciem!bpd
From: bpd@dciem.dciem.dnd.ca (Brian P. Dickson)
Newsgroups: can.general
Subject: Re: Attikamek-Montagnais Protest PCB Plan
Message-ID: <2482@dciem.dciem.dnd.ca>
Date: 5 Sep 89 22:01:26 GMT
References: <2324@yunccn.UUCP> <620791816.24086@telly.on.ca> <1989Sep5.173937.24977@utzoo.uucp>
Reply-To: bpd@dretor.dciem.dnd.ca (Brian P. Dickson)
Organization: NTT Systems, Inc., Toronto, Canada
Lines: 90

In article <1989Sep5.173937.24977@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In article <620791816.24086@telly.on.ca> evan@telly.on.ca (Evan Leibovitch) writes:
>>OK - who SHOULD accept them? The Welsh, who had nothing to do with their
>>creation? ...
>
>Correct me if I'm wrong, but my recollection is that they were going to
>Wales to be *destroyed* in a special incinerator, not stored.  That is
>clearly the best solution.

For some useful information, see a letter to the editor from last week's
Toronto Star (Friday, I think?). It is from the president of some industry
organisation. Essentially, there are several issues, some of which are
ignored by the media.

(The following information, paraphrased from the letter, is correct in
nature, if not in exact wording/numbers. My father deals with this stuff
daily, and references and material can be provided if anyone is
interested.)

1) Dangers of PCB's
		- directly, very low level of toxicity (external), mild
			toxicity (internal)
		- indirectly (environment) - they bio-accumulate (ie bad
			news for fish & fowl)

	[This protest is moot; the people in question are in far greater
	danger from the fish they eat. They *are* contaminated; the PCB
	contaminated waste is in storage drums.]

	PCB's are no longer being manufactured. The storage facilities for
	them are being filled with containers of contaminated waste, which
	is generated whenever such things as PCB electrical transformers
	are replaced. Concern for the environment was the reason they were
	banned from production, and the reason for their storage. These
	facilities are not "toxic waste dumps", but staging areas for
	eventual destruction.

	Myths:  - they cause cancer - no evidence whatsoever of "reasonable"
					doses causing cancer

		- they are dangerous to handle - mildly iritating; in most
			cases the waste is more harmful than the PCB's

		- people have died from them - not true at all; media hype
			on a *related* chemical by-product in mid-70's
			has labelled PCB's "deadly".

2) Storage - where? how? who?

		The real answer is: "Who cares." They can be destroyed
		quickly and effectively. Current storage facilities work
		fine, but are filling up because no destruction is
		occurring. The government has strict regulations for the
		transportation and storage of such waste; unless these
		are broken, there is no significant danger of contamination
		of areas near them, and no health hazard associated with
		these facilities, even for workers exposed to them for
		years.

3) Destruction - what is necessary to destroy them? How effective need it
		be?

		High temperatures are necessare to destroy them - they do
		biodegrade, but very, very slowly.
		The temperatures necessary can be produced by cement kilns,
		or by plasma generators.
		Anything over 99.99999% destruction should be good enough.
		(this is achievable in both cases.)
		The amount of waste shown on TV news programs is
		"PCB contaminated waste material", *not* pure PCB's!
		Thus, the actual quantities of PCB's are quite small, and
		amounts not destroyed will be negligible - even for the
		amount of materal to be destroyed.

		Existing cement kilns can be used without conversion; there
		is no need for new facilities; in fact no capital
		expenditure at all is needed. PCB waste added will be
		almost totally destroyed when processed with cement.

	This is a very emotional issue; however, facts are available.
	Contact the appropriate ministry (Environment), and find out
	for yourself. Express your opinion to your member of
	parliament, so potential of a major environmental contamination
	from the storage sites can be eliminated. (After all, leaving
	a large quantity of anything around for a long time is just
	tempting fate :-)

--
Brian Dickson,
NTT Systems Inc., Toronto.