Document NGL1NzvVYmvOwdXKnoOLe83qQ

CHEMI CAL COM CEW TRATES A S U B S ID IA R Y OF B AKER IN D U S T R IE S , INC. o ? y v ( y j /cc~Uc Lt i i0 7 i ' FORT W ASHING TO N. PA. 1 9 0 3 4 PHONE (215) Ml 6 - 9 4 0 0 15 June 1970 The Editor ' F ire Journal N ational F ire P rotection A ssociation 60 B atterym arch Street Boston, M assachusetts 02110 Sir: A t the recent N FPA M eeting in Toronto inform ation about the toxicity of "Light W ater" w as ask ed of m e frequently. We had made a lim ited study on the effects of "Light W ater" on m arin e life in p rep aration fo r su b stan tial and con trolled f ie ld t e s t s . T h e s e e f f e c t s w e r e h ig h ly d e r o g a to r y to m a r in e *16 life and the en tire te st program had to be abandoned to avoid sev ere local stream pollution. I am asked by concerned people to rep ort our data on the "Light W ater" studied and do herew ith com ply. The. only co m m ercia lly availab le product w as F G -194 and this w as checked over a range w hich allow ed for 48-fold to 16, 000-fold d ilu tion. T h ese r e su lts are rep orted . Other "Light W ater" form u lation s not co m m ercia lly available w ere a lso checked and the resu lts w ere sim ila r. A s e r ie s of five ten -g a llo n tanks w ere used and these w ere stocked and restock ed w ith a recom m ended group of hardy fis h . Tank tem p era tu res w e r e m ain tain ed at 72Fdir 2 F , uniform aeration m aintained by T iger pumps and filter. '' ' Tr - ' . E ach tank, fitted w ith s ta in le s s lids', h oused a) 3 goldfish (average length 2 -1 /4 in ch es, average w eight 1 -1 /2 gram s), b) 2 B lackm oors (average length 2 -1 /2 in ch es, average w eight 3 gram s) and c) 2 C alicos (average length 2 in ch es, average w eight 1 -1 /2 gram s). There w ere fed standard fish food at a rate of 0. 025 gram s per tank per day. The tanks contained nine gallons of tapw ater and foam concentrate as show n in the follow ing su m m ary chart. ' t i- c o n c e n t r a t r s c o r p o r a t i o n The Editor F ire Journal 16 June 1970 Page 2 F oam Liquid Type Co n e.:% F luorochem ical :ppm FC -194 n tr f1 ir B la n k 2. 0 0 .2 0.02 0. 006 '<' 0.002 - 1, 250 125 12.5 4 1 ; --. Surface T ension :d y n e s/c m 14. 8 16.3 36.7 39. 7 52.5 67. 5 S u r v iv a l Tim e 3-10 m in. 5-60 m in. 4-8 h rs. 2-7 days Over 7 days Over 10 w eeks W e r e g a r d the 4 p a r ts p er m illio n a s the th r e s h o ld ic o n c e n tration with low er concentrations probably sa fe. H ow ever, at a ll liste d con cen trations (including the 1 part per m illion ) e rr a tic m otion, lo ss of stab ility and other v isib ly odd effects w ere present. T here appeared to be two principal p o ssib le cau ses of death for a ll the fish . The e r r a tic m otion, rapid rotation and g en era l inability to rem ain upright led to.the apparent drowning of the fish . The sam e ch a ra cte ristic, by which fluo^qchhm ical g rea tly low ers the in terfa c ia l ten sion allow ing for film -form ation , a ls o p erm its the in tru sion of w ater as the o il film on w hich p rotection of the fish es sta b ilizin g m echanism depends is d e stro y ed by the flu o r o c h e m ic a l. The fish appears to droivn as a r e su lt. T here a lso ap p ears to be an attack on h is nervous sy ste m as evidenced by high sp eed sw im m ing and crash in g headlong into the sid es and bottom of the tank. . .. F a ith fu lly y o u r s , SlK /k c h e m ic a l c o n c e n t r a t e s c o r po r a t io n . 7 . r v / . / X ... . . / ' ' ) j A 6/c L c ... . . . . / S. I. Kalkstein P resident 3M M N02267864