Re: What has everyone got against PCB? ( a bit of an update)

["Jim Lux" <jimlux-at-jpl.nasa.gov> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

I should also add that PCB's, because they are so inert, hang around
forever and accumulate in body tissues, so even a small concentration over
a long time will accumulate and cause problems.  Much like DDT (a
chlorinated single ring).  So, even though the carcinogen component of the
PCB may be a very small constituent, it's always there, AND, it accumulates
and gets worse.  It also accumulates in the food chain... no problem if you
are an ant, big problem if you are a fat-loving predator (like humans)

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> From: Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: Re: What has everyone got against PCB?
> Date: Thursday, August 10, 2000 10:24 PM
> 
> Original poster: "Bill Lemieux" <gomez-at-netherworld-dot-com> 
> 
> On that fateful day 8/10/00 6:20 PM, thus spake Tesla list:
> 
> > Original poster: "Garth van Sittert" <garth-at-mediasupplies.co.za>
> > 
> > Just what exactly is the disadvantages of using PCB caps or
transformers?
> 
> Cancer.
> 
> > Just
> > wanna make sure:  what exactly is PCB for the slightly ignorant (like
me)?
> 
> This is how it was explained to me by a PSCO lineman:
> 
> PCB's (a family of chemicals, not just one) are (if my memory serves me
> correctly) Poly-Chlorinated Biphenyls, chemicals added to mundane oils to
> make them flameproof for use in transformers.
> 
>  (someone correct me- do they also have any benefit toward dielectric
> strength?)
> 
>  In the bad old days, when pole transformers overheated, melted down, and
> blew up on a hot summer night, they tended to rain burning transformer
oil
> down on all and sundry below, ruining your day if it happened to be you,
> your house, or your car that got immolated.
> 
>  So mandates for flame-proof oils were enacted.  PCB's were a quick fix. 
I
> don't know what is done to modern transformer oils to make them
> fire-retardant.
> 
>  PCB's are powerful carcinogens, it turns out.  They are not death on
> greased wheels (as compared to say, nerve gas), but they are to be
avoided.
> 
> - Gomez
> 
> ........................................................................
> this message was made possible by: Bill Lemieux, Gomez A.D.D.ams, Arkoff
> Kapacitor, The Mad Scientists Club, The Denver Area Science Fiction
> Association, The National Security Agency, The Defense Advanced Research
> Projects Agency, the letter 'Q', and the number '7'.
> 
> 
> 
> 
>