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OIL CAPS

Quoting ed-at-alumni.caltech.edu (Edward V. Phillips):

 Ed> Re: PCB's
 Ed> Is there a doctor in the group?  There was an article
 Ed> in QST a number of years ago by a ham who was a doctor.  The
 Ed> thesis of his article is that you don't want to eat food 
 Ed> prepared with PCB's as cooking oil (that is where a lot of
 Ed> people have gotten ill in North Africa), or cattle who have
 Ed> been fed cattle food containing PCB's (happend in            
 Ed> Wisconsin(?)), but that other than that if you handle it     
 Ed> with care and don't put contaminated hands in your mouth you 
 Ed> are probably OK.  He was talking about capacitors containing 
 Ed> PCB, but the same probably holds true of transformers too.   
 Ed> The main problem is trying to get rid of the stuff if you    
 Ed> want too.  Anyone know any more?

Agreed. I am not a doctor, but my father is. He is always
interested in the medical aspects of the next project designed to
kill myself. PCBs is one we discussed. 

PCBs are not as acutely toxic as the EPA would have you believe,
as long as the substance is not consumed or high concentrations
of vapor inhaled. The main problem with PCBs is the persistance.
It washes off the skin with strong soap and water, or even better
waterless hand cleaners such as "GOOP" where the wipes may be
sealed up and properly disposed. I believe that PCB oils
typically had high levels of dioxin as a byproduct of the
manufacturing process. Dioxin causes a treatable skin rash called
"chloracne". Again, dioxin is not going to kill you either if you
don't eat it or breath lots of vapor. As with PCBs, you have to
wash your hands thoroughly after exposure. PCBs and dioxins are
not easily lipid soluble (does not easily pass through the
skin or mucus membranes).

Many old oil caps leak a tad, and the tel-tale indication of PCBs
is a sticky or honey-like film on the can. Simply clean up the
outsides with a bit of solvent on a rag, and place the can in
poly container. Dispose of contaminated wipes properly. A lot of
the oil caps I have used had one terminal grounded to the case
anyway, so the plastic container I used to hold the cap also
insulated one plate from ground. 

BTW, Dad jumped on me big-time for not wearing a lab coat, carbon
filter mask and eye protection while sealing a wood deck with a
PENTA (spel?) based wood treatment. He said this stuff is lipid
soluble (goes right through the skin and membranes) and is
persistent in the body.

Richard Quick


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