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PRESS RELEASE

UNEP ISSUES GUIDELINES TO ASSIST COUNTRIES
IN IDENTIFYING SOURCES OF PCBs

Geneva/Nairobi, October 1999 - Guidelines now available from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will help countries identify sources of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and so safeguard public health and the environment from these toxic compounds, once widely produced and still found in a variety of electrical equipment and materials.

Although out of production today, PCBs were manufactured for much of the 20^th century. They were used as additives to oils in electrical equipment, hydraulic machinery, and other applications where chemical stability was required for safety, operation, or durability. However, some of the very properties that made them useful, such as a high degree of chemical and thermal stability, translate into potential risk to public health and the environment once PCBs are released to the air, water, and soil.

"Today, PCBs are among the most widespread environmental pollutants on the planet. They have been detected in virtually all environmental media, including surface and ground water, soil, food, and indoor and ambient air," said Klaus Toepfer, UNEP Executive Director. "Countries are determined to respond to this problem, and these guidelines will be valuable as a tool in identifying sources of PCBs, with the ultimate goal of establishing management priorities and strategies."

PCBs are persistent, capable of being transported long distances, and soluble in fat. They bioaccumulate as they move higher in the food chain and with time. Releases can occur from such sources as accidents, leaks from damaged equipment, servicing/repairing, or decommissioning. Health impacts range from skin rashes and eye irritation to liver damage and reproductive and developmental effects.

"Europe, along with the rest of the world, got a wake-up call only a few months ago when chicken, eggs, and other meat products had to be removed from the market because of contamination from dioxins and PCBs," Toepfer said. "Developing countries need to build and strengthen the chemicals management systems that are already in place in developed parts of the world, and the industrialized world needs to help. This is especially true where dioxins and PCBs are concerned."

The UNEP guidelines are particularly useful because they give specific details on how to tell if equipment contains PCBs, a knowledge gap that is vital to fill because various manufacturers assigned their own names to the PCBs they produced.

Compounding the situation is the fact that manufacturers of transformers and other users incorporated PCBs into a wide variety of products and activities, from closed systems such as capacitors in electrical equipment, to use in open systems such as paints and plasticizers.

Problems are also posed by disposal of PCB-containing waste oil, volatilization and leaching from landfills, building demolition, and inadequate incineration.

The document also cites more than 90 trade names and synonyms for PCB mixtures and lists dozens of transformer and capacitor manufacturers that used PCBs. The document also covers characteristics and uses of PCBs as well as basic identification techniques.

The guidelines are part of continuing efforts by UNEP Chemicals to assist countries in dealing with PCBs and the other 11 persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that are the focus of the legally binding international treaty now being negotiated to reduce and/or eliminate releases. The mandate for a treaty comes from the UNEP Governing Council. Countries are on track to reach agreement on the convention in the year 2000, as mandated by the Governing Council, but the potential risks posed by these pollutants are so serious that many are taking action in advance of a treaty. The fourth of the five anticipated negotiating sessions is scheduled to take place in Bonn 20-25 March 2000.

Guidelines for the Identification of PCBs and Materials Containing PCBs, dated August 1999, complements the UNEP publication, Inventory of World-wide PCB Destruction Capacity, issued in December 1998. The inventory was compiled based on country questionnaires and on data from the Secretariat of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal.

Recently issued publications from UNEP also include: Regionally Based Assessment of Persistent Toxic Substances - Workshop Reports from a Global Environment Facility Project; Proceedings of the Regional Workshop on the Management of Persistent Organic Pollutants - Hanoi, Vietnam, 16-19 March 1999; and Joint UNEP/OECD Workshop on Notification and Assessment of New Industrial Chemicals for Countries of Central and South America, as well as Chemical Risk Assessment: Training Module No. 3, published jointly by UNEP and the International Programme on Chemical Safety.

Copies of the above documents are available to the public free of charge from UNEP Chemicals, International Environment House, 11-13 chemin des An‚mones, CH-1219 Chƒtelaine, Geneva, Switzerland.

Note to journalists: Additional data and documents are available via the Internet (www.chem.unep.ch and www.chem.unep.ch/pops). For follow-up or to arrange interviews, please contact: James B. Willis, Director, UNEP Chemicals at tel: (+41 22) 917 81 83; fax: (+41 22) 797 34 60; e-mail: chemicals@unep.ch; or Linda Durkee, Policy and Communications Advisor, UNEP Chemicals, tel: (+41 22) 917 85 11; e-mail: ldurkee@unep.ch

UNEP Information Note 1999/31

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Note to journalists: Additional information is available via the Internet at www.chem.unep.ch/pops. For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact James B. Willis, Director, UNEP Chemicals, at tel. (+41 22) 917 81 83; fax (+41 22) 797 34 60; e-mail: chemicals@unep.ch; or Linda Durkee, Policy and Communications Advisor, UNEP Chemicals, at tel: (+41 22) 917 85 11; fax: (+41 22) 797 34 60; e-mail: ldurkee@unep.ch.