PCB in the Philippines
The Philippines has never been a producer of PCBs. PCBs in the country for the most part present in imported electrical transformers.
In the Philippines, the phase-out of the use of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB) as dielectric fluid and the ban on its importation started in 2004.
PCBs in the country, for the most part, are present in imported electrical transformers.
PCB or Polychlorinated Biphenyls are persistent organic pollutants (POPs) targeted for worldwide phase-out under the Stockholm Convention on POPs.
PCBs were manufactured and used as dielectric fluids in transformers and capacitors in the 1900s.
Facts About PCB
- PCBs are a group of man-made organic chemicals consisting of carbon, hydrogen, and chlorine atoms.
- PCBs were used in industrial and commercial applications including electrical, heat transfer, and hydraulic equipment, pigments, dyes, and carbonless copy paper, among other industrial applications.
- Although no longer commercially produced globally, PCBs may still be present in products and materials produced before it was banned.
- Once in the environment, PCBs do not easily break down and they remain in different environmental media for a long period of time.
- PCBs are lipophilic and can bio-accumulate in fatty tissues. Acute exposure to humans can cause chloracne. Chronic exposure to humans and to land animals, birds, and aquatic organisms alike can cause immunodeficiency and endocrine-disruption effects.
Source: Training Manual for Implementation of PCB Management for Electric Cooperatives and Safe E-Waste Management
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