Document bB1NmnEGLxp9pw5E65D7M1Nak

The-Ministry -of International- Trade- and -Industry.-(MI 1 - - issued notice yesterday-'to -almost* every industrial- association concerned, as summarized'in the followin i. .-* ' a*, h'o elec tr ical machinery and equipment which : contain" PCB must* be manufactured after Sept" "*1972. - b; No heat exchange equi-pment- must-be -produced * -' after -July 1, 1972 which *use PCD* as a.-trans ;*- medium. . *. c ..Exceptions- to the above are those-which are- sold to the specific `users and which can be - . * '.- returncd--after -use-to t h e ;producers -or_manu- *. facturers.-fdr ;PCB"disposal-.; They must:".' *." * . periodically report.to the: ministry* how PCB-- . is used,- s h i p p e d , stored, recovered, r e t u r n e ` and -disposed,, including machineryy in additi to-the quantity, deal t.'ivith -and so a n d so for i * ' * `Every user-of-- PCB-containing machinery-and-z . I**-'...-. equipment.-wil-l^ave ^to be-recorded -and-regs in the official 1 isi 'to-insure strict superv in the future. . d. Import of such machinery a n d .equi p.-nent wi ll possible-only--if permission-is granted by -th Governme nts after September 1, 1972.- e.-PCB containing machinery and equipment alre in use must be identified and reported to t authorities so that the disposal of PCB is t be made complete..- . 100027 143 ' -` >5 r You will understand that the above action is not the" total-' ban of PCB usr.se. However, who can meet such stringent regulatory requirements to continue'using PCB, other than *. Don-civil orgnn isa tions? wj * . i TTe called the M1TI yesterday to learn the following: ,7> * * - 1. The MITI foresee by the action taken yesterday the *' use of PCB fluid will be limited in the near future * to the transformers used by-the Japan National-.- Railroad and certain electronic parts in missiles belonging to the Defense Ministry,- in addition to '* the high voltage electro-furnace capacitors as a possibility. .. 2. Thermal transfer systems with PCB will sooner or later undergo change in fluid or-the whole line will have to discontinue operation. 3. Xaneka agreed to follow the recommendation by the ' MITI to discontinue the production .of PCB, probably after September of this year. 4. Those who are able and obliged to use P C B will have I to import PCB, possibly from Bayer,#with permission IiI from the Government.. You rightly pointed out that the actions being taken by the Japanese Government appear out of line from the Test of the world today.- I can agree -to Mr. Terasaki's statement in this respect that the folks go all the way when they decide to do something in .-this country.. I -think>the latest-happening-sensationally', moved the--' 'Government' to this -direction - the analysis o f .mothers '_ milk in Osaka showed PCB level of 0.7.to 0.1 PPM, as against .the F D A 's 0.2 maximum level'for-cows ' milk.- In the Diet committee-the Welfare Minister was .at-a loss when -asked if-or not babies .can- drink .".miTk~-wi-th--0 ."7 PPM'-PCB. w i t h o u t - a n y danger t o their healthy growth. You might recall Yodo River-flows from lake Biwa to Osaka Bay. Two capacitor plants are-located by_the- Lake-Nichicon 's and Nisshin E l ec tr ic's'. Samples of the. soil were taken from the vicinity.-of Nichicon-to run analysis of PCB with a n . unfortunate result showing. 1,000 PPM PCB!-. 100J2S 144 %fi>CU People associated the contamination of 'the soil with the mothers' jrilk case. Thus Nichicon was forced to announce last week that they plan to discontinue production of PCB capacitors, after coming September. t Today the world seems to be ruled by feeling and not reason. The pressure against PCB usage i s f a r from logical. It is> quite emotional and--at the same time political, It was thli pressure that led Kaneka to the discontinuation.- It has not been 100% confirmed but I think you may rest ' assured"Kaneka will not go after overseas markets after the fall of this year, although they are exporting substantia 11; today. The grand funeral of PCB in Japan is close at hand. What .will replace PCB -in the -dielectric- markets is yet known to nobody exactly.' We only are aware a number of products ranging from silicone to polyisobutane, wax.and DOP are competing.' The strongest candidate on 't h e -longer term basis seems-to'me entirely new systems after technological.. innovation. 1 T wish you good luck.* * TK/ym A T. Katayama - P.S.' Just before. I had-thi-s-letter typed, Kaneka. an nounce d . - . that' the'y decided to dxscontinue---the production o f '.~ Kaneclor-by.the. end of-June," which-was-confirmed by . * myself today, with Kaneka. . . Also Nichikon was forced" to -terminate their production of 'PCB'capacitors at the end. of-April. !)\ ; 145 10032