From brou@istar.ca Thu Jan 27 09:07:15 2000 Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2000 22:21:08 -0800 From: Andreas Schuld To: brou@istar.ca Subject: Re: Fw: Beryllium >To: PFPC >From: Mike Ewall >Subject: Re: Fw: Beryllium >Mime-Version: 1.0 George Glasser wrote: >>>> Talked with Dr. William Marcus about beryllium last week--Br exposure is a >>>> certain death. It does irreversible damage to the lungs and causes a host >>>> of other health problems. Marcus says it is among the worst of the worst >>>of >>>> the worst. >>>> >>>> There is also problems with Br exposure around Allentown, Pennsylvania. >>>> They also use HF in the Br extraction process. >>>> >>>> One source related a story to me about a man who raised pigs near the >>>> Allentown plant. After a emmissions accident, all the pigs turned blue >>>and >>>> became sickly. The U.S. Department of Agriculture investigated and >>>decided >>>> that the poisoned pigs were suitable for sale on the market. Mike Ewall wrote: There are 3 main Cabot Corporation plants in southeast Pennsylvania. Cabot's site in Reading is where they handled Berrylium. The site where the "purple pigs" (not blue) problem has been going on is at a different plant near Boyertown which does not involve Berrylium. However, it does involve serious HF emissions as well as uranium, thorium and methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) and several other nasties. There have been many human, plant and animal health problems in the area that continue to this day (many of which clearly seem related to fluoride exposure). As far as the coloring issues go, residents have reported clouds of pink, orange, yellow, and red emissions released at night from the Cabot Performance Materials facility. Red-died corn and grasses have been found fairly often. The plant makes tantalum powder and metal for NASA and military applications (nose-cones of missiles and such). If you need more info on the Boyertown plant, let me know. As for the Berrylium issues and the Reading site, you can check out the Toledo Blade series on the topic at: http://www.toledoblade.com/deadlyalliance/ Mike Ewall Pennsylvania Environmental Network http://www.penweb.org