ee ye FE POET Ev IGh te Friday, Junie 24 1994 - North Shore News - 7 7 INSIGHTS Disinfectant critics are lost in the ozone THE DANGER of opening policy debates to the public Is that interest groups and their apologists can hijack them for their own purposes. By Greg Felton Contributing Writer Take for example, the ozone lobby and its crusade against all things chlorine. Eco-militants, gullible politicians and mouthpieces for ozone companies preach that ozonation (Wilh filtration, of course) is the only safe way to treat our drinking water, Chemnilcals, like chlorine, are toxics ozone is “natue's disiniectant,” and therefore healthy, they say. This dogina filters down to the well-mein- tng but uninformed public that buys into it because il seems reusonible, Yet among these pontificating ozone “experts” none isa chemist or a biochemist — no one who enn talk intelligently on the matter. Whether or not ozone is saf is anybody's guess: Canada has no standards for safe levels of ozone as a drinking water disinfectant. And therein lies the inanity of the eco-militants: they are selling the public a bill of goods about which they themselves have little or no know!- edge. While they condemn the health risks of chlorine and chiosariine relentlessly, (hey say nothing about the toxic side-effects of ozone. Ocone is a heath hazard according tothe Workers’ Compensation Board. Prolonged exposure can lene to lung damiuge, When mar: Keled as a disinfectants, ozone falls ander the federal Pest Control Products Act itis dangerous te breathe, how sale is it to swallow? Thea there are the tosie byproducts trom ozone. Onee one of ozone's oxygen atonts (04) is split off to react with bacteria viruses and the like, the remaining activated oxygen radical (O2-) readily bonds with organic mat- ter in war pipes to create compounds that lead to toxic byproducts, Affer just a half-hour'’s research in the library 1 came upon this statement: “°(O2-) can interact with protans, hilogenated carbons, and carboxyl compounds to yield poroxy tadi- cals (the basis of peroxides) that are loxie, which means O2- is a protutoxin,.” From their chetoric, itis obvious that azone lobbyists can't tell the difference between die toxic O2- and the more benign axygen (02) we breathe. For all of the hysteria about the harmful disinfection byproducts from chemicals, it seems to have slipped some people's ininds that ozone is also. a chemical, Whether or not it poses a danger no one knows: no one has even discussed oxygen toxicity, much less acknowledged that it even -txists. In fact, ozone's toxic side-effects could MAILBOX Preserve N. Shore’s livability well be worse than ehlorine's. Oxidized Goi pounds such as pecosides, ketones and aldehy- des attack cell proteins. Oxygen is classified generally as “mutagen” because it damages cell tissue. On the other hand, trihalomethanes CTEEMS), the infamous cancer-causing villain from chlaring, cannot be metabolized, accord: ing to UBC microbiologist Dr. Bill Raimey, This means our body knows enough to is- pose of them, Combatting oxygen toxicity iss major con- cern of the health industry, too: Vitamins A, C and Bare anti-oxidants that absord free (02-) radicals, These radicals are known cancer- CAUSING BOTS, Hall this sounds alismist, remember chat the pro-ozone and anti-chloraning people extrapolated the danger to hurts from effects on fish, even though there are as yet no hard data on risks to humans, Ifthe case aginst chloramine were sound maybe the ane agains! ozone is too, The U.S. Havironmental Protection + Agency includes tie byproducts of ozone among those harmful to humans. if we were (o adopt ozone, what concentra- ions would be acceptable? How effective would any filtration system be? Ozone is nota cure-all; it has heatth risks of its own. Another misleading tactic is the ozone iobby's repeated invocation of Western Europe for its long-standing use of ozone, Yet these people don't say (hat these same coun: tries variously use chloramine, chlorine and chlorine dioxide as primary or seconcary dis infectints. Batis Hurape ever an accurite model? Joe Glicker, city engineer of Portland, Oregon said Europeans use ozone because of generally poor raw water quality and that they drink bottled water. Thus. Lim deft to wotaler how high their ozone levels are and how toxic they might be tous tap-water drinkers, Until we have some standards, knee-jerk advocacy for ezone is irresponsible. Finally, the purported superiority of ozone over chlorine is woefully exaggerated. A July 1992 pilot study on the Seymour water supply found, for example, that, in fil- tered chlorinated water, 24 micrograms (yg). of THMs appeared after 48 hours, When azone was added, the nuiber dropped to only 19 pg. The tevised Canadian Drinking Water Quality Guidelines stipulate a maxi- nium THM concentnition of SQig/L. Here, with chlorine, we are well within a nieasurable standard, Because our water systens is not sterile, there will always be some health risk. and the tisk from filtered chlorine water is minor, _ What the ozene lobby offers is not argue ment but uninformed rhetoric. The only thing worse than an uninformed public is one that is manipulated, J kiow INJEAD CF USING ALL OF TyeSt Dear Editor: The current Burrard Inlet cross- ing proposals geared to accommo~ date more cars will not solve the traffic problem. Neither will the promise to designate one lane for buses on a rebuilt bridge for the fol- lowing reasons: MA Increasing the number of lanes for cars will only bring more cars. It will result in more bottlenecks on both sides of the Inlet. It will result in gridlock. WA it will increase the pollution in the region. About 650,000 tons of toxins per year are going into the atmosphere now. And 80% of that comes from the automobile. The toxins end up in plants, animals, and via runoff, marine life. They afe poisoning the air we breathe and the food we eat. Mi The cost for the necessary infra- structure to accommodate more cars is prohibitive and at the expense of other priorities. It is threatening our livability and is cre- ating a concrete jungle. Current costs in the region are $10,000 per year for every man, woman and child not counting costs to our health. Compared with the cost to accommodate more cars, rapid tran- sit is a bargain, even to low-density areas such as the North Shore, @ Bridges with tolls, but without rapid transit being in place, will only increase the financial burden on the public, mostly those who can afford it the least, M More car traffic will destroy the livability of neighborhoods. it will bring more noise, more concrete and_more pellution. bore lanes will ultimately require the widening of roads on both ends of the Inlet, costing tens of millions of dollars to be paid for by municipalities. The Lions Gate Bridge should be made safe and, if necessary, rebuilt. But it should not be made wider to accommodate more cars. There must be two designated lanes for buses. To have only one bus lane and have buses wait on either end of the bridge for the other bus to come through, will do nothing to encourage people to use public transportation. Neither wiil it help unless there are bus-only traf- fic lanes continuing on both sides of the inlet. Now is the time to take a firm stand and demand a rapid transit link to the North Shore. Without rapid transit, we are just compound- ing. the problem and courting disas- ter, Make the bridge safe but build a separate tunnel for a rapid transit link. Augment this with fast buses between key points linking up with mini buses, Let’s keep the North Shore liv- able. Erie Crist, Coun. North Yancouver District Applauding an act of kindness Dear Editor: Acculades to a kind and gener- ous citizen. During a cloud burst last Saturday I saw a senior citizen, walking with a cane, trying to hurry to get home before becoming completely drenched. A van pulled ahead of her and offered a ride home, making sure that she was safely belted in before taking off. I was not able to see the licence plate number of the van but hope he reads this letter and knows that his kind act did not go unnoticed. L. 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