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DIOXIN GAS ALERT - BELGIUM, NETHERLANDS (02)
Forwarded:
Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1999 19:29:54 -0500 (EST)
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promed.isid.harvard.edu>
Subject: PRO> Dioxin gas alert - Belgium, Netherlands (02)
DIOXIN GAS ALERT - BELGIUM, NETHERLANDS (02)
********************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
[see also:
Dioxin gas alert - Belgium, Netherlands 991214134401
Dioxin health assessments (03) 990613233208
Dioxin in meat, poultry, eggs banned again - Belgium 991109142553]
[1]
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1999 11:24:59 -0800
From: ecroddy@miis.edu (Eric Croddy)
Is this really a threat worthy of international concern? Or even local for
that matter? Transformers explode all the time, and dioxin is toxic but
only
depending on length of exposure and dosage, of course, like anything else..
But we are not given this kind of information.
The recent dioxin scares in Belgium seem to be way out of proportion to
other, omnipresent risks to human health. I guarantee you more people in
the
Belgian towns mentioned will be at risk for coronary failure because of the
fear, rather than the actual risk to health posed by dioxin.
- --
Eric "Ace" Croddy
ecroddy@miis.edu
***
[2]
Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1999 01:50:28 +0100
From: Ferdinand Engelbeen <Ferdinand.Engelbeen@ping.be>
What happened was that an overheated transportband in a magnesium parts
factory caught fire and the whole factory was burned down, including a
transformer with PCBs in it. As water cannot be used (magnesium only burns
harder with water!) and massive doses of [fire extinguishing] powder were
not available, the fire brigade could only cool down the surrounding
buildings and let the factory burn out. As far as I know, the explosions
were not from the transformer, but from welding gas bottles that were in
the
place.
When PCBs are burning, they can form chlorinated dioxins/furans (mainly
furans). On soot laden surfaces, after a fire involving PCBs, one can find
0.1-200 microgm TEQ dioxin per sq.m. in the direct neighbourhood of the
fire
(see ref. below).
Without visible soot, you only will find background levels, as
dioxins/PAH's
are formed and mainly remain on soot. So if people didn't inhale or eat
much
smoke/soot, the risk will be very low, if there was a "dioxin" risk at all.
The differences in dioxin load in soot are mainly caused by differences in
the conditions: temperature of incineration (and cooling time), the oxygen
concentration and the presence of copper as catalyst. As in this case,
magnesium burns with very high temperatures (spectacular views on TV!), I
don't expect that there was a "dioxin" cloud, although any smoke is toxic,
mainly from its CO [carbon monoxide] content, and secondly for its
particulate content (including high doses of PAH's, compared to dioxins).
Further, magnesium is not a highly "volatile" metal, not even highly
flammable, but if it is ignited, it produces a lot of heat and light. And
dioxin "gas" doesn't exist, most dioxin in the environment is firmly bound
to soot, only a small part can be found as vapour.
Ref: Theisen, J.: "Untersuchung der moglichen Umweltgefahrdung beim brand
von Kunststoffen" (Investigation of the possible environmental
contamination
from plastics fires). Umweltbundesamt Berlin, Forschungsbericht 104 09 222,
1991.
- ---
The Chlorophiles are an independent non-profit organisation of workers in
the chlorine and PVC industry who want to respond to allegations against
their work. We find that we are working responsibly and with responsible
care to make products for the well-being of humanity. Humanity should not
be
excluded from the benefits of chlorine on the basis of prejudices and false
or erroneous information.
In the course of our discussions, we have gathered a lot of information on
dioxin sources and formation, see our web site at:
http://www.ping.be/chlorophiles/Eng/ChlorineDiSrc.html
- --
Ferdinand Engelbeen
Chairman Chlorophiles
Oude Ertbrandstraat 12
2940 Stabroek, Belgium
Tel. & fax: +32-3-664.46.63
<Ferdinand.Engelbeen@ping.be>
[The beauty of ProMED-mail is that there always seem to be experts out
there
reading us & ready to set us straight on the latest health scare - Mod.JW]
.........................................................jw