PCB incinerator a major threat

Albeit tardy, I would like to echo the concerns expressed by Lynn Peplinski a few months ago on the PCB incinerator proposed for Iqaluit.

I recently completed the ecotoxicology program offered jointly by the biology and chemistry departments of Concordia University, where the courses focused on the depositional patterns, biochemical characteristics and harmful effects such as cancer, infertility, and physical and neurological defects in children, most notably the unborn.

Even though PCBs originate in the South, they are carried and deposited here by global air and ocean currents. PCBs are stored mainly in the fat of marine mammals and transferred to humans when country food is consumed. So, we already have an environmental load of PCBs and a human load, which in some cases is nine times higher than that of our southern neighbors.

PCBs have disaster written all over them, so it is not surprising that no one down south wants one close to them. They are hazardous to store and hazardous to dispose of. They must be incinerated at extremely high temperatures, with any deviation resulting in only partial incineration and the escape of some of the chemical into the environment in its most deadly form— gas.

Assurances from self-proclaimed “experts” who wish to sell you their technology may be sincere, but are they unbiased? There have been problems maintaining sufficient temperatures in incinerators down south along with various other malfunctions. In fact, the much celebrated Swan Hills facility in Alberta has already had a number of leaks and spills prompting the government to impose restrictions on the consumption of meat at supermarkets. The same restrictions would have a disastrous effect here given the importance of country food to the Inuit diet.

If we allow an incinerator, it will threaten our wildlife, our health and a major component of the Inuit culture. Distance doesn’t matter to PCBs; they’ve already travelled thousands of miles to get here, a few hundred miles of separation won’t keep them from infiltrating.

There is not an incinerator today that functions at 100 per cent, so it would only be a matter of time before some accident occurs here. As it stands now, PCB levels in some country foods are reaching a level that is harmful to unborn children, so to add another, yet closer, source of this deadly chemical is surely flirting with danger.

We have all seen the environment sacrificed by leaders blinded by job creation and revenue, but I most emphatically hope that we do not want to repeat the mistake here.

A lot of this information is available in the Contaminants Report published by Dept. of Indian and northern Affairs in English, French and Inuktitut.

Donna Waters
Iqaluit