Editorial Comment
as fuel in cement manufacturing while, at that time, ce ment kiln waste treatment technology had been halted per manently in Canada. Moreover, the Ontario Waste Man
Margaret Thatcher and the Royal Family. Soon huge
agement Corporation, after spending $10 million annu
hull. Then the ancient London docks, which had once
headlines warned of a'cancer ship' docked at the Thames.
Activists hung a skull and crossbones banner from the
ally, was failing in its propos-
withstood the might of
als to build a toxic waste fa
Luftwaffe bombs, now ca
cility. Meanwhile there were
I saw more real violence as a
pitulated to ink, paper and placards. London dockers re
child when my mother, a truly
fused to unload the vessel,
serious PCB accidents, in
cluding a dramatic fire involv ing PCBs at St. Basile-leGrand in Quebec. Desperate for a solution as PCB wastes piled up, a cargo
gentlewoman, beat up egg yolks
proving once again that graf fiti can be mightier than the sword.
Canada, a country which
making custard.
of Canadian wastes was
shipped out for disposal in England. While tied up on ^ London's River Thames,awaiting unloading for shipment for treatment and subsequent disposal, it lay at the docks without a murmur of protest. Uproar broke out after a
Canadian reporter casually mentioned to some Fleet Streetjournalists that PCBs were considered an environ mental threat in Canada.
Now British journalists are a mischievous lot. On hear ing that PCBs were rumoured to be toxic, the ink stained wretches lept upon the story with their famed ferocity. PCBs, which had not yet been headline material in the UK,now provided instant gratification for reporters who were practically running out of cliches from slagging
CELEBRATINQ CANADIAN MITCHELL ASSOCIATES LIMITED
(1959 - 1970) KNOX MARTIN KRETCH LIMITED
(1970- 1992)
had once overcome U-boat threats in the Battle of the At-
lantic, was unable to land a
cargo which might have proved no more toxic than the ship's fuel oil. Ironic eh? A country which had once pro vided a lifeline to Britain, could not,funnily enough, now extend its 'waste-line'. So the captain had to beat an igno minious retreat across the North Atlantic before sailing up the St. Lawrence to Baie Comeau,then the riding ofPrime
Minister Brian Mulroney, proof in itself to some, of di vine guidance. But here too there were angry protesters awaiting the arrival of the ship driven from Britain. By this time, hundreds of tonnes of fuel oil had been consumed during the voyages without treating a gram of PCBs. Meanwhile, the transportation costs of the still untreated PCBs probably exceeded equivalent volumes of Dom Perignon. Yet despite all the substantial eco logical and economic costs incurred, we were still back to square one, a load of untreated and unloaded PCBs. I never did hear what happened next; perhaps this ship was doomed, like the Flying Dutchman, to sail aimlessly and eternally around the globe. Certainly PCBs are toxic and should be treated with great care, but so are many other chemicals in common use which are safely disposed of without hysteria. What about the benefits of PCBs as coolants in electric
motors, capacitors and other equipment? Almost cer tainly, they prevented many fires and perhaps serious in juries or loss of life. Alas, a cultish demonization of these and other chemicals -fanned by a careless and ignorant media - discouraged useful debate on this issue.
KMK GROUP (1992- 1999)
KMK CONSULTANTS LIMITED Consulting Engineers, Project Managers. Ecological Planners, Landscape Architects
KMK DESIGN BUILD LTD. Design Building of Municipal and Industrial Infrastructure
YEARS Tel-905-459-4780
E-mail-kmk(gkmk.on.ca
For more information, circle reply card No. 102 (See page 25)
PVC was hailed as a new threat in the late nineties
causing London's fabulous Millennium Dome to be cov ered in Teflon instead of the PVC as originally specified. Tony Blair's previously all powerful government capitu lated after Greenpeace protested. The substitution of Teflon for the previously specified PVC demonstrated the power of activism over the Mother of Parliaments. Acronyms beginning with a capital 'P', it must be noted, seem to be linguistic lightning rods for protest groups. Perhaps it's because hysteria is more easily gen erated with convenient three letter acronyms than by com plex polysyllables such as polyvinyl chloride or polychorinated biphenyls which, being both hard to read and pronounce, do not lend themselves easily to placard slo gans or simplistic ritualistic chanting. Life may, after all, end not with a bang or a whimper, as T.S. Eliott won dered, but with an acronym. â?–
Environmental Science & Engineering, March 2000