Polychlorinated biphenyls recommendations

PCB polychlorinated biphenyls, TBT tributyl tin, CFC chlorofluorocarbons Cf e.g. the substitution principle in the German Ordinance on Hazardous Substances ( 16 and 36). Please refer to Technical Rules for Hazardous Substances TRGS 440 for the recommended procedure of substitution. 

Overview and Importance. The pollutants known as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are widely distributed in the environment due to their extensive use in the past, lipophilic (fet-loving) character, and general chemical stability. Moreover, PCBs tend to accumulate in the food chain. Thus, several countries have established recommended maximum limits for PCBs in food products. Among these products, milk is especially important because of its extensive and widespread consun tion by humans. 

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Criteria for a Recommended Standard Occupational Exposure to Polychlorinated Biphenyls. DHEW (NIOSH) Pub No 11-US. Washington, DC, US Government Printing Office, 1977... 

Mackay and Shiu (1981) and Shiu and Mackay (1986) reviewed the physical-chemical properties of a variety of organic chemicals, polychlorinated biphenyls, and recommended H from a selected value of vapor pressure and aqueous solubility. Eastcott et al. (1988) and Suntio et al. (1988) also gave H for hydrocarbons and pesticide chemicals, respectively. Mackay, Shiu, and Ma (1992a, 1992b, 1993, 1995, 1997) compiled physical-chemical properties, including Henry s law constants for many organic chemicals of environmental interest. 

Electrophilic substituent factors for the -C6H5 XC1X and -OC6H5 XC1X groups, needed to calculate the OH radical addition rate constants for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorodibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), and polychlorodibenzofurans (PCDFs), appear in Atkinson (1996), with discussion of an approach to calculating the rate constants for the PCDDs and PCDFs. The room temperature rate constants for the reactions of the OH radical with phenanthrene and anthracene, recently measured by Kwok et al. (1994,1997), are lower by factors of 2.5-8 than the previous recommendations and rate data (Biermann et al., 1985 Atkinson, 1989), casting doubt on the previously proposed correlation between the OH radical addition rate constant and ionization potential (Biermann et al., 1985). 

NIOSH Criteria for a recommended standard. "Occupational Exposure to Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)", DHEW/PHS/CDC/NIOSH, USOPO Washington, DC 20402 (Sept. 

One other major group of pollutants for which ultrasound-assisted leaching is an effective extraction method is that of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) [43-45]. Their persistence and accumulation in the environment has led to their inclusion in monitoring programme analyses. In most cases, ultrasonic extraction is recommended as a fast, efficient, straightforward choice for these compounds, particularly in routine analyses [44]. 

Decision-Recommendation on Further Measures for the Protection of the Environment by Control of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (C(87)2/Final). 

In 1996, the International Forum on Chemical Safety concluded that evidence was sufficient to call for international action to ban the use of 12 persistent organic pollutants (POPs). On the basis of this recommendation, UNEP convened a drafting committee in 1997 and, three years later, a final agreement was signed in Stockholm. This Stockholm Convention requires action plans and schedules for the elimination of the production and use of nine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls, the severe restriction of the use of DDT, and best control measures for reducing the generation of dioxin and hexaclorobenzene as inadvertent contaminants of certain production and disposal processes. As with the Rotterdam Convention this agreement... 

Synthetic Organic Micropollutants. Micropollutants that frequently presented in water include chlorobenzenes, PAHs, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and pesticides. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons can be degraded effectively by ozone. But oxidation of chlorobenzenes and PCBs is slow by molecular ozone. However, they are more reactive with hydroxyl radicals. Therefore, it is recommended that either ozonation be conducted at high pH or advanced oxidation processes (AOP) be used. As for the pesticides, their removal by ozonation may be related to their water solubility. However, faster degradations are usually obtained with AOP. ... 

NIOSH. 1977. Criteria for a recommended standard Occupational exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Rockville Md U.S. DepartmentofHealth, Education and Welfare, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. NIOSH publ. 77-225. 

Such natural services may be interrupted in other ways. If the chemical or sewage plant upstream puts something toxic into the stream that the water treatment plant of the city downstream cannot remove by standard treatments, a new water supply or a new treatment method will have to be found at increased cost. In earlier years before the toxicity of the polychlorinated biphenyls was fully appreciated, General Electric released enough of them into the Hudson River north of Albany, New York that the whole Hudson River from Hudson Falls to New York City is now a Superfund site.7 Fishermen are advised not to eat the fish that they catch. It is not always easy to calculate the cost of a fishery lost to toxic heavy metal ions or acids draining out of a mine site.8 One settlement, involving a salmon fishery in a river in Idaho, was for 60 million dollars. The Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska cost Exxon 3 billion dollars. The persons whose wells become contaminated by leachate from the nearby landfill will face the costs of bringing water from a distance. This was a cost that was not included when the landfill was built. The U. S. National Research Council has recommended that the U. S. Department of Commerce resume development of a method to better measure environmental costs.9... 

Temperature Dependence of Physical-Chemical Properties of Selected Chemicals of Environmental Interest. II Chlorobenzenes, Polychlorinated Biphenyls, Polychlorinated Dibenzo-p-dioxins, and Dibenzofurans This comprehensive data set compiles aqueous solubility, vapor pressure and Henry s law constant for temperatures in the environmental range. Recommended values are given along with equations for estimating values as a function of temperature. Phase change enthalpies are also included. 

OSHA regulates polychlorinated biphenyls under the Hazard Communication Standard and as chemical hazards in laboratories. OSHA s PEL on an 8-hour TWA for chlorodiphenyls containing 42% chlorine is 1 mg/m. Its PEL on chlorobiphenyls containing 54% chlorine is 0.5 mg/m. These standards are based on the toxic effects other than cancer. NIOSH recommends the exposure to PCBs be controlled to the lowest feasible concentration. 

Tue NM, Takahashi S, Suzuki G et al (2013) Contamination of indoor dust and air by polychlorinated biphenyls and brominated flame retardants and relevance of non-dietary exposure in Vietnamese informal e-waste recycling sites. Environ Int 51 160-167 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (2013) Recommendation by the persistent organic pollutants review committee to list hexabromocyclododecane in annex A to the Stockholm convention and draft text of the proposed amendment. Conference of the parties to the Stockholm convention on persistent organic pollutants sixth meeting, Geneva, Switzerland (28 April-10 May 2013)... 

---