Editorial Comment
By Tom Davey
Saliva without nourishment - a legacy from the media's conditioned reflexes
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov trained his dog
Now zero is in the news again - this time the target is the Ontario forest industry. Under new regulations, Ontario mills have had to meet limits of 2.5 kg of Adsorbable Organic Halide (AOX) per tonne of pulp within 90 days, 1.5 kg by December 31, 1995 and 0.8 kg by December 31, 1999. Companies will be required to file progress reports on meeting the regulated limits, and to file additional reports, outlining factors involved in reaching the government's goal
to salivate at the sound of a bell, even
when no food was in evidence. He went
on to develop the concepts of condi tioned reflexes, winning the Nobel Prize for Physiology in 1904. Nine decades later, the validity of his work is constantly demon strated when TV camera crews react, with conditioned reflexes, to colourful stunts and
staged protests. Too often the result is junk food for the mind from generous servings of media coverage which contain neither news nor food for thought. A prime example occurred when a youth ful group was seated in the public gallery in the Ontario legislature. During one ques tion period, the group rose in unison, their tee shirts each bearing a single letter which spelled out the message; Zero Pollution Emissions. The spelling was correct, leav ing me to suspect they had either completed remedial reading at university, or perhaps their mothers had dressed them prior to the line up. The stunt trivialized serious science, yet both print and TV media - with truly Pavlovian reflexes - invested this youthful prank with generous media coverage with out serious consideration of the scientific realities involved.
Letters to the editor Dear Tom, Thank you for forwarding back copies of your excellent publication Environmental Science & Engineering. I was especially impressed by your editorials in the Sept.'92 and Nov. '93 editions. I now have a first
hand understanding of why so many CEO members are inclined to extoll your virtues (which far outnumber your infinitesimal frailties)...a condition with which I have over the years become familiar. Keep up your crusades. You may feel as though you are tilting at windmills...but you're not. Bill Weinstein Executive Director
Consulting Engineers of Ontario "Good magazine. Marvellous editorials." Ron Kent, P.Eng., Manager Community Works Management and Training, Municipal & Community Affairs, Govt. of the NWT, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
We thoroughly enjoy your publication. Keep up the good work! Steve Clayton, Davis Engineering & Associates Limited
of zero AOX. Members of the Ontario Forest Indus
The goal of zero is not new. I first heard the term in 1972 while a panelist at a Uni versity of New Brunswick conference. Zero was so appealing at first glance that I con sulted with various engineers and scientists to see if the magic zero was feasible. 1 found, ironically, that it was more achievable dec ades ago than now. Why? Over thirty years ago,our chemists could not even detect most of the toxins which are routinely detected today. The few they could find were often at the one part per thousand detection limit. Then capabilities went up to a breakthrough detection level at one part per 10,000. Today, many labs can routinely detect matter to one part per trillion, akin to locat ing one second in 320 centuries, with some labs detecting at the quadrillion level - equal to one second In 32 million years. This as tonishing progress is truly space age tech nology which has changed all previous con cepts of zero pollution goals. But, if we can detect toxins at these in
credibly small numbers, why don't we go further with a noble ideal of removing them? Well,the costs of a true zero pollution - even if achievable - are staggering, while the ac tual environmental benefits could hardly be found with a mass spectrometer. Let's say it would cost $1 million to re move 90 percent of the PCBs in a given volume of wastewater. To remove the next
9 percent would cost another $1 million, a fact which always surprises the public. Now what about the last 1 percent? Since we've already spent $2 million to achieve a 99 percent pollution reduction, surely it would be insignificant to take out that tiny frac tion? Incredibly, to remove that last one per cent would probably be exponentially more than the $2 million already invested - that's if it could be done.
These are approximate figures as waste volumes, types, complexities and strengths vary enormously, but I believe my hypoth eses are closer to reality than those of many of the proponents of true zero pollution emis sions.
Environmental Science & Engineering, JunelJuly 1994
tries Association (OFIA) say they are will ing and able to support many of the limits in the final Municipal and Industrial Strat egy for Abatement (MISA) regulation for pulp and paper effluent. But OFIA has ex pressed concern that, while zero AOX is not a regulated limit, it remains a goal of the province, despite the fact it is based on nei ther sound science nor environmental needs.
Marie Ranter, President of the Ontario
Forest Industries Association says her asso ciation is pleased that the environment min istry will consider relevant environmental, technological and economic concerns when assessing the reports. "But companies al ready face a great deal of uncertainty in ar eas like wood supply, markets and prices. Although it is not a regulated limit, the goal of zero AOX will add considerably to the uncertainty of doing business in the prov ince."
OFIA supports the research program that has been proposed in conjunction with this regulation. However, current science indi cates that AOX below 1.5 kg per tonne of pulp, is not harmful to the environment. Ac cordingly, the association believes that this program should focus on whether a goal of zero is valid - not on how to achieve the
goal. OFIA says that no one questions that some organochlorines, such as dioxins and furans, are considered persistent, toxic and bioaccumulative, but these are in the mi nority. According to OFIA, many organochlorines - including most produced in the kraft bleaching process - do not dis play these characteristics. Moreover,dioxins and furans are included in the AOX param eter while also being regulated separately in the MISA regulation.
Ontario Premier Bob Rae recently pro claimed his belief that regulations must be based on science. He should stick to this
belief. His government already has quite enough zeros in its provincial deficit with out needlessly ravaging one of the largest economic sectors in the country - in pursuit of yet another zero.