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Re: Photo of my mystery transformer



Original poster: "Mark Broker" <mbroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

I'm normally *not* a "chicken little" by nature. But I do have a short story to tell about PCBs.

A good friend and I were once wandering around a large machine shop on the 'skirts of town that had been abandoned due to the EPA declaring the PCB-oil-soaked butcher-block floor and environmental hazard. Said friend slipped and fell at one point, and having smarted himself, remained sitting for a minute or two. We left after a thorough investigation of the site, and thought nothing more. A year or two later, a spot began to develop on one "cheek" that eventually elicited a visit to a dermatologist. The spot turned out to be a cancer rarely seen in cases not involving PCB exposure. Though it could be a coincidence, he thought of the aforementioned incident. I was quite shocked regardless.

Stay safe!

Mark Broker

On Sat, 02 Dec 2006 09:47:20 -0600, Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Original poster: Ed Phillips <evp@xxxxxxxxxxx>

And yes it does contain PCB's, I have worked with it before and I've
noticed no ill effects. The ill effects is mostly hype screamed by a
bunch of chicken littles who have nothing else better to do with there lives.

Al Shumate
Dublin, VA"

    There was an article in QST on this subject a number of years ago.
It was written by a doctor who worked in the field of chemical
contamination and he said that, as long as one didn't ingest it, PCB
insulating fluid was really harmless "but, if you get some on your
hands, wash them off before you put them in your mouth".  There was a
review article in Science magazine a while back in which the author
said that real cases of PCB related illness seemed to be in
situations where PCB material got mixed with cooking oil.  Note that
a lot of those "chicken littles" make money from "decontamination" or
else are the types who don't know anything about anything and just
follow the other sheep in crying wolf.

Ed