EPA alerts on danger of PCBs
Lubricating oil found in old transformers is very poisonous but have found its way into the open market, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has warned.
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The oil, which serves as a coolant in old power generating transformers largely controlled by the Volta River Authority (VRA), Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), contains cancer-causing chemicals scientifically referred to as polychlorinated biphensyls (PCBs).
PCBs can also be absorbed rapidly through the skin and cause internal injuries such as liver damage, while prolonged contact with the skin can result in rashes.
Intended purpose for PCBs
According to the EPA, the very toxic PCBs were stabilising compounds in the oil which could be found in drum quantities in the old transformers belonging to the utility services.
But these are siphoned by people from both functioning and broken down transformers and sold as edible oil and also used as a component in some hair creams, the EPA has cautioned.
The EPA gave out the warning at a ‘High Level sensitisation on the management of polychlorinated biphenyls in Ghana’ in Accra on Thursday.
It was essentially a briefing on the extent of work done under a GEF/UNDP/UNITAR/EPA-Ghana project on capacity building for the elimination of PCBs in Ghana.
Financed through a Global Environment Facility (GEF) fund, the programme, which commenced in 2009, has the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) as the EPA’s main partners for the elimination of PCBs in Ghana.
No law on PCB
In a keynote address read on her behalf, the deputy minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Dr (Mrs) Bernice Heloo, said although Ghana currently did not have any law on PCBs, the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1994 (Act 490), had adequate provision for their control.
She said that the capacity building project entailed strengthening of the legal framework, administrative and technical preparedness for sound PCB management; putting in place infrastructure for environmentally sound management of PCBs developed; environmentally sound replacement and disposal of PCB waste and equipment and; monitoring learning, adoptive feedback, outreach and evaluation.
Dr Heloo outlined achievements of the project so far.
Among them are the successful conduct of an inventory of over 9,000 transformers, the development of draft legislation on the control and management of PCBs, a draft communication strategy on PCBs and persistent organic pollutants (POPs), with some education and awareness creation material printed.
She also indicated that a draft environment and safety guideline on PCBs and draft PCB management development plan had also been developed and drawn respectively, while staff of ECG, VRA and GRIDCo and Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority had received training on the safe handling of PCBs and potentially PCB contaminated equipment.
Dr Heloo said that a temporary storage site for old PCB-laden transformers had been secured at the ECG training school in Tema, where about 116 pieces of pure PCB capacitors had been stock piled from Achimota and Tema in preparation for final disposal.
Presenting an update on the PCB project, Mr John Pwamang, said a draft policy on POPs which included PCBs had been adopted by Cabinet in May, 2013, following which it would be sent to Parliament for review and acceptance.
He assured that new transformers brought into the country do not have PCBs.
Role of VRA, GRIDCo and ECG
Giving the perspectives of the utility companies, Mr Emmanuel Amekor, Manager, Utility, VRA, said the three utilities (VRA, GRIDCo and ECG) had so far contributed about US$1.6 million in kind towards the success of the PCB project.
Speaking on behalf of partners UNITAR, Mr Nelson Mandla described PCBs as the most dangerous substances made by man because they do not stay at one place.
He said it was in view of that that they had become a global concern, adding that as project partners they were assisting with locating where PCBs are, managing and disposing all stocks, suppling capacity to Ghana, and have contributed to the review of policies.
By Edmund Smith-Asante/Daily Graphic/Ghana
Writer’s Email: [email protected]
