POPS PRODUCERS
PCBs
(Polychlorinated Biphenols)
PCBs are a group of chemicals that contain 209 individual
compounds, known as congeners. Monsanto introduced PCBs onto the market
in 1929 and has been producing it in the USA and the UK. PCB's have
also been produced in other countries including Italy (Caffaro), France
(Protolec), Japan (Kanegafuchi Chemical Co.), Germany (Bayer), and they
may still be produced in Russia. Total global production is estimated
at almost 1.2 million tonnes, of which almost half was produced by Monsanto.
The second largest producer Bayer accounted for over 10% (Vancouver
1995).
Though PCB production stopped in the 1970s and 1980s, estimates indicate
that there still remain two-thirds of the total estimated world production
in use in old products, e.g. in old electrical equipment, and in waste
dumps from where they continue to leach into the environment. At least
one third of the PCBs that have been produced are estimated to have
entered the environment (Tanabe 1988). PCBs are very persistent and
toxic and this legacy will persist for many decades to come. PCB's can
also be produced as unintentional by-products from many industrial and
combustion processes, similar as to the dioxin sources.