Scientist Says: PCBs ‘Not Particularly Toxic’

“Opinion: PCBs are Not ‘Toxic Time bombs,’” by Joe Schwarcz.
We hadn’t heard much about polychlorinated biphenyls since the fire at St-Basil-le-Grand in 1988, but we sure are hearing a lot now. There are two angles to news about the illegally stored PCB-filled transformers and contaminated waste in Pointe-Claire. There is the legal and political story, and there is the scientific one. Without question, the PCB-containing materials were improperly and illegally stored and will have to be removed and properly processed. That is the law. But when it comes to the science, the risk posed by the stored chemicals as well as the “toxicity” of PCBs have, in my view, been exaggerated, generating an unwarranted degree of public anxiety. Read the full article in the Montreal Gazzette.