Re: Cl02 toxicity

[philip@prcn.org (Philip Fleischer)]

>1)   Does anyone have any good information on the toxicity of chlorine
>dioxide, its associated health effects, and the ultimate environmental
>fate of chlorine dioxide used in the bleaching process?

At concentrations such as some which occurred in the Powell River spill,
Cl02 will kill salmonids dead in less than five minutes.  There is at least
one bioassay which demonstrated that.

Abarnou & Miossec (The Science of the Total Environment 126 (1992)
173-197) feature, in figure 2, sub lethal effects of Cl and Chlorine
produced oxidants at concentrations lower than 0.1 mg/l.  Their table
4 shows some effects of total residual chlorine and total residual
oxidants at the 0.05 mg/l level.

Mill workers here have been hospitalized here because of breathing
Cl02.

Some Scandanavian research has claimed that in the long term, the increase
in chlorate levels in waters around Cl02 mills negatively effects species
like Bladderwrack and will be bad for the fishery.

A connection to ultimate environmental fate of Cl02 which one may
overlook but shouldn't was pointed out by Ann Link in her McLibel expert
testimony.  It is very likely that significant amounts of dioxin are produced
in making the Potassium Chlorate which Cl02 mills require.  This dioxin may
be produced far from the mill and officially 'disowned' by the paper industry
but it is their responsibility none the less.



Philip Fleischer   philip@prcn.org