Re: Photo of my mystery transformer/PCB's/Cancer

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Peter Terren" <pterren@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

An anecdote does not prove the point of course regarding PCB's and a 
single possible skin exposure.
For example: firstly, cancers rarely develop within a year or two as 
this one was reported to. Two years is the inside for a heavy oral 
exposure for liver cancer. Melanoma cases in PCB workers started after 8 years.
Secondly, there is no specific skin cancer associated with PCB's. 
Some increase in melanomas has been reported but they are common with 
if I recall the highest incidence in Queensland Australia due to sun exposure.
There is however a skin condition, chloracne, that is due to 
chlorinated compounds that is not cancer.  There was a prominent 
Eastern Bloc politicain who was poisoned with Dioxin and got bad 
chloracne. Hard to imagine after a single skin exposure.
http://www.foxriverwatch.com/skin_cancer_pcbs_summary.html
Lots of similar claims of toxicity are due to supposed associations. 
I happened to see a patient who had lymphoma who was widely reported 
in the local press as being due to a local factory (alumina liquor 
burner). All sounded convincing except she had only been in the area 
for 3 months prior, hence it was completely unrelated as cancers 
develop over years not months.

Peter
http://tesladownunder.com

> 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