by Tunde Akingbade, Vanguard

THE defunct National Electric Power Authority, popularly known as NEPA, was generally hated for its erratic billings, power supply and web of lines that sometimes maims of kills the consumer.

However, not much is known about the toxicity of NEPA's operations, especially the fact that the organisation uses certain chemical which is very toxic and dangerous to human beings and animals. The chemical is known as polychlorinatedbiphenyls, PCBs. Much of it was found in the deadly drums of wastes shipped by the Italian waste merchant to Mr. Sunday Nana's backyard at Koko in 1987.

While the government has been pumping so much money into NEPA, with no appreciable result, few people are concerned about what has become of these chemical wastes. PCBs are used as heat transfer fluids in transformers and capacitors, hydraulic fluids, plasticizers, in paints, etc. PCBs have a long history of threat to the environment. In Japan in 1968, PCBs heat caused a major accident when it leaked from a pipe in a food processing equipment and contaminated rice farm oil. PCBs are known to be highly toxic to fish.

What is the genesis of PCBs? Alan Gilpin, one of the world's renowned environmentalists in one of his works, notes that "PCBs is the products of the chlorination of the hydrocarbon compound - biphenyl." There are over 200 compounds which could come out from the chemical reaction. The chemical came into general use in industrial application in 1930s - interestingly about the same time that chlorofluorocarbons - the chemical that is now destroying the ozone layer in the atmosphere - was manufactured.

According to Gilpin, "PCBs are chemically inert materials, not hydrolyzed by water, and resistant to alkaline, acids and other chemicals, and they have boiling points in the range of 278 degrees centigrade to 451 degrees centigrade. They are found useful because of the stability to long heating".

Unfortunately, the chemical is not easily "decomposed by the temperatures associated with the destruction of rubbish by combustion". This has become the source of concern to environmentalists world wide. And this has led to the banning of the use of PCBs altogether. But it is still in use in Nigeria raising fears amongst local environmentalists that people, animals and plants are at risk.

Studies conducted by Professor Oladele Osibanjo of Chemistry Department, University of Ibadan and director, Linkage Centre on Trans Boundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes in Dumpsites in Lagos, Ibadan and Port Harcourt, have revealed the presence of PCBs. Osibanjo expressed fear that these chemicals could be dangerous to the ground water table if washed by rain into it and people drink from wells and boreholes carrying traces of these chemicals. Moreso, anyone eating plants or animals carrying traces of the chemical could be at risk.

Experts have found traces of PCBs specifically at the massive Oshodi - Oworonshoki expressway dumpsite in Lagos and also at another one at Adeniji Adele area of Lagos. PCBs destroy people's organs when they get into humans through vegetable picked on similar dump sites. Drinking water in such areas can also trigger ailments.

Investigations conducted in some parts of Lagos indicated that there have been birth defects in certain areas. Medical experts confirmed that the common kind of malfunction in some hospitals is polydactyl. This occurs when a baby has an appendage of skin (known as six fingers or extra digits). The book, Nigeria, On the Trail of the Environment by Tunde Akingbade documents types of deformities in some parts of Lagos. The first one is lack of brain coverage, although it is not common. The other type is microcephaly (cases of children with small brains), macrocephaly (cases of extra large head), anencephaly and other congenital heart disease (CHD).

Doctors have confirmed cases of children born with imperforate (blocked) anus and those whose opening of their urethra is not at the pointed end of the penis. Experts have linked some of these cases to the ingestion of dangerous chemicals such as PCBs found in the environment. They are now very much concerned about the presence of PCBs in the environment and what has become of the stock piles of internally generated PCBs and other chemicals over the years.

To understand the dangers posed by PCBs, we should not forget that traces of this chemical were found in the blood of Sunday Nana who harboured the drums of toxic waste in Koko. Nana died four years later after the wastes had been shipped back to Italy.

The question now is, how does Nigeria treat some of its internally generated toxic chemicals? The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and some of its agencies are concerned. Professor Klaus Popfer, executive director of UNEP, once spoke in an interview in Amsterdam about his concern about chemical wastes which he described as "travellers without passports".Experts are of the opinion that chemical wastes in Nigeria such as PCBs find their way into gutters and they eventually flow into water bodies.

UNEP has classified PCBs amongst 12 most persistent organic pollutants that are dangerous to man, animals and the environment and thus need urgent international action. As a result of this, international environment groups, scientists, governments and the public who are aware of the threat posed by PCBs are determined to rid the planet of PCBs. the University of Ibadan Linkage Centre on Hazardous Wastes has been making contacts with officials of organisations such as NEPA where the use of PCBs had been part of operations.

A Nigeria organisation, Megene Ltd. is now in partnership with Canadian companies, Sacre-Davey Engineering and Sonic Environmental Solutions Inc. to rid the country of PCBs. Mr. Joe Atsepayl, the managing director of Mcgene Nigeria Limited, Warri, said in an interview that the companies' solution to eliminate PCBs from the environment is a good alternative to incineration which was formerly used and also had adverse effect on the environment.

Said Atsepayl: "Incineration continues to be the most common method for destroying PCB in Europe and North America. Incineration uses high temperatures to volatilize and destroy organic contaminants in solids and liquids. Incineration of PCBs and other chlorinated wastes has fundamental flaws allowing the formation of uncontrolled releases into the atmosphere". Therefore, rapidly increasing public resistance has made it impossible to build new incineration facilities while certain existing facilities around the globe are placed increasing pressure to shutdown operations.

Atsepayi said his organisation "patented the process used in our first commercials application for the remediation of PCB contaminated soils. This process uses Sonic's proprietary generator to sonicate the extraction of PCB into a fluid phase and then ensures the destruction of PCBs in the fluid", he noted.

"Sonic offers a non-thermal, price competitive alternative to incineration whereby PCBs is destroyed rather just being removed or concentrated. The process does not allow the formation of dioxins and forans or toxic releases into the environment. Our process is mobile, thus eliminating the need to transport hazard wastes.

Our proprietary process is a better solution than any current commercial process for the treatment of PCB-contaminated soils, he added.