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Re: What items have PCBs?
From: Jim Lux[SMTP:jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net]
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 1997 10:06 AM
To: Tesla List
Subject: Re: What items have PCBs?
> From: Adam[SMTP:absmith-at-tiac-dot-net]
> Sent: Monday, October 27, 1997 1:58 PM
> To: tesla list
> Subject: What items have PCBs?
>
>
> I have read some of the safety pages and warnings on the web about the
> dangers of PCB oils, and I have a couple of unanswered questions:
>
> 1. Which items have PCB Oil or how do it tell? I have some capacitors
> from "Glass Mike" and "Plastic Capacitor" which clearly have some kind of
> oil in them, is this PCB oil? I had one that leaked, and I had it
> disposed of immediately, just to be on the safe side.
Call the mfr and ask them. In your case, Plastic Caps Inc.
>
> 2. How about that black tar in the Neon transformers. I unpotted a
> couple a few years back, and now in retrospect I am wondering if perhaps
> that was not such a good idea. Anybody have any idea what that black
> crud is, or what % of PCBs it may contain?
The black crud is basically tar or asphalt, a very heavy oil which melts
out. Shouldn't have any PCB's in it, but, there are contaminants in asphalt
which are mildly toxic. Just as you wouldn't go drinking Coleman fuel for
your stove, don't go eating the insulation or breathing the vaporized
fumes.
>
> 3. Is exposure to PCB oils a long term effect and/or cummulative, like
> that of lead poisoning? How does exposure to PCB oils compare
> statistically to say, cigarette smoking? Are there any studies on the
> WWW?
Oddly, lead isn't as cumulative as say, mercury, or more to the point,
chlorinated hyrdrocarbons like DDT. It is important to remember that the
PCB itself isn't the villain here, it is the inevitable contaminants from
manufacturing processes, like TCDD (dioxin). TCDD is a very potent
carcinogen, down to nanograms, as I recall. However, the concentration in
most insulating fluids (e.g. Askarel) is down in the ppb or ppm, and you
don't absorb very many nanograms from casual exposure. The real risk is for
people who are exposed to large amounts of the PCB: transformer repair
workers, people spraying Agent Orange, people manfacturing the stuff. There
are cases of people who worked essentially covered in the stuff all day
long.
It is wretchedly persistent in the environment, which accounts for its
importance in clean up efforts. Spill some 30 years ago, and it is still
there now.
As to relative risk from smoking, I would be a lot more worried about
smoking than PCB's.
I'll hunt for a site with some more definitive info, or if I can't find
one, I'll post some on my site.