Document 5L747pmEk0pdkknoo8OqMeooz

nc SEP 9 WS McGraw-Edison Moves-T^ Phase Out Use Of PCBs By DANNY McNEIU ladex-Journal State Editor A Greenwood manufacturing plant that uses highly toxic poly chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs> is moving to drop the use of the chemical. McGraw-Edison has used thou sands of gallons of PCBs each year in the manufacture of electrical capacitors, according to Bob Keith, manager of the Greenwood plant of McGraw-Edison. By the end of the present year the local plant plans to cut its use of PCBs by more than 75 per cent and plans to drop use of the chemical completely by the end of 1P77. ._ Keith ays PCBs have been used a an insulating material in elec trical capacitors since the 1940s The chemical has good dielectric properties that make it especially well suited for this use. ln recent years research has shed new light an the undesirable effects of PCBs on the environ ment Recently the federal En vironmental Protection Agency warned that fish caught in Lake Hartwell might contain a level of PCBs higher than is safe for human consumption. Once introduced into an environ ment. PCBs last a long, long time The chemical tends to accumulate in the tissues of animals such as fish. Keith says. Since the Greenwood McGraw- Edison plant began operations, if has produced thousands of capacitors and each capacitor con tains two or more gallons of PCBs. And Keith admits there is some spillage . y. The chemical, produced by Ifen santo. is colorless and Keitb says it looks about like water. The PCBs come into Greenwood in railroad tanker cars and the chemical is transferred to trucks for a short haul to the plant The people in the plant rarely see the chemical. Keith adds. if for no other reason than sim ple economics, the company tries to eliminate spillage of PCBs The chemical cost about K per gallon Cleaning up and doing away with spillage is also expensive. Whei the chemical is spilled, such spillage must be carefully cleaned up and stored for destruc tion. In order to destroy it. it must be shipped to St. Louis. Mo. for in cineration. PCBs are bard to destroy. Keith savs. Due to the dangers of PCBs. Keith says Monsanto has indicated it would like to stop manufacture of the chemical and McGrawEdison is working to stop using it. About three years ago Dow Chemical Co in conjunction witk McGraw-Edison began a concen trated search for a substitute for PCBs During a period of trial and error experimenting, many chemical combinations were tried and many were discarded. Keith says. Finally a usable combination was found ix a dielectric Raid given the name Edisoi. McGrawEdison began using Edisoi oo a limited basis last year and. accor ding to Keith, the firm has com mitted itself to a full-scale move to the product. Already'the company has sold and shipped hundreds of the Edisot-hlled capacitors. Right now new equipment for handling Edisoi in the manufacturing process is being installed at the local plant. The firm plan to cease use of PCBs in its capacitors completely in mid-to-late 1977 and the switch may be finished even earlier. Keith says. The pressure's oo. he adds. A proposed toxic sibstance act now being considered by the U.S. Congress will probably impose severe restrictions on the use of PCBs and eliminate the use of the chemical entirely within a year or two. Keith predicts. Keith says McGraw-Edison has a substantial jump on other capacitor manufacturers by mak ing an early switch away from PCBs. "Edisoi is more expensive and the company is stickmg its neck out.'* Keith says. "If other firms continue to manufacture and market capacitors using PCBs our higher priced units will obviously be at a disadvantage in the marketplace." The use of Edisoi will jump the price of a McGraw-Edison capacitor about 25 per cent above those containing PCBs. he esti mates He says capacitors such as those produced by McGraw sell for several hundred dollars. "Capacitors containing Edisoi have proved more reliable in ser vice and we hope our customers will consider this and also con sider problems they may have in the future if the government re quires them to dispose of uaits that contain PCBs.' Keith says Disposing of such units would not be cheap or easy to do " Meanwhile the PCB problem remains with us and apparently Keith doesn't think it s being over played. "Government agencies have concluded that a danger exists he says " I don't think I would want to eat a fish from a lake where the EPA said the level of PCBs was beyond the safe pouu ~ C * o u> *>J Ni kn a