JAPAN:
Cadmium in Ouch Ouch In Japan they call the disease "itai itai." Translated, it means "ouch ouch," an expression that reflects the discomfort of those who suffer from it. Cause of the disease, long a mystery, now has been traced to its sourcepollution of river water by cadmium, zinc, and lead from mining operations. The finding shows that water, as well as air, can be a route of exposure to toxic amounts of cadmium. People who lived in Japan's Jintsu River basin ingested the elements either directly in their drinking water or by eating rice in which cadmium had accumulated from irrigation water, Dr. Jun Kobayashi of Okayama University's Institute for Agricultural and Biological Sciences told delegates to the 5th International Water Pollution Research Conference in San Francisco. If this ingestion continues over a period of many years, disorder of renal function begins and the phosphate level in the blood serum decreases. The result is a sizable loss of minerals from the bones. This explains the outbreak of severe osteomalacia, a ricketslike condition with pathologic bone fracture accompanied by intense pain in those who suffer from itai itai. During and after World War II, waste water from a mine that produces cadmium, zinc, and lead was allowed to flow directly into the Jintsu River, carrying with it suspended particles of ore rich in these elements. Farmers who used river water to irrigate their rice crops blamed the mine for the low yields of rice they harvested. They didn't connect it, however, with the onset of the disease, which in many cases proved fatal. The first clue to the cause of itai itai came when Dr. Kobayashi, using spectrochemical analysis, found a markedly high content of cadmium, zinc, and lead in the bones and tissues of the sufferers of the disease. He then determined that laboratory rats developed the characteristic itai itai symptoms when they were given cadmium and other heavy metals in their diet. One observation was that the presence of zinc, lead* or copper greatly increases loss of minerals from the bones. Extending his study to other regions of Japan, Dr. Kobayashi finds that the amount of cadmium, zinc, and lead in water, soil, and agricultural products in the immediate vicinity of smelters is much higher than elsewhere. Moreover, there's an inverse relationship between the concentration levels in the soil and distance of the samples from the smelter stacks. This indicates that the heavy metals escape into the air 16 C&EN AUG. 10, 1970
during smelting. Some soil samples that he analyzed contained as much as 88 p.p.m. cadmium, 5400 p.p.m. zinc, and 2100 p.p.m. lead. Cadmium pollution of the Jintsu River has now been effectively controlled by the construction of a lagoon in which ore and metal particles settle before the water returns to the main stream. As a result, the incidence of itai itai has decreased throughout that region.
FORMALDEHYDE:
Explosive Expansion All together, the 17 current producers of formaldehyde may have upwards of 2 billion pounds of new capacity on stream by year-end 1971, with the four leading producers (see table) accounting for 800 million to 1 billion pounds of increase. Total industry capacity was 5.3 billion pounds at the end of 1969. Expansion under way at Monsanto will nearly double the company's capacity from 500 million pounds to 950 million pounds per year. Most, if not all, of the material will be consumed internally to produce sodium nitrilotriacetate (NTA)—the material that Monsanto believes will replace phosphates as a detergent builder. The consumption of formaldehyde in this use has been minimal up to now. Monsanto is putting in 150 million pounds of new formaldehyde capacity at Chocolate Bayou, near Alvin, Tex., where it plans to double existing NTA capacity to 150 million pounds per year. Both jobs are scheduled for first-quarter 1971 completion. At Texas City, Monsanto is building 300 million pounds of new formaldehyde capacity to feed a 200 million pound-per-year NTA unit. This complex is due to be completed by third quarter of next year. Celanese will bring a 200 million pound-per-year unit on stream in November at Bishop, Tex. This new capacity will be used internally to make a variety of derivatives and will be sold on the merchant market. Though the home construction industry is currently in the doldrums, Du Pont, Borden, Georgia-Pacific, and other formaldehyde producers appar-
ently have faith in its near-term prospects. Du Pont, for example, selected Healing Springs, N.C., as site for a 200 million pound-per-year unit by "marking off the area with a compass." Healing Springs, the company found, was at the center of the market for forest products—plywood and furniture—that consume large amounts of formaldehyde-based adhesive resins. Since for most producers formaldehyde is produced by oxidation of methanol (about half of all methanol produced is converted to formaldehyde), the round of formaldehyde expansions seems to indicate that methanol supply, which has been chronically short, is at last catching up with demand.
ENVIRONMENT:
A Global View There is no organization charged with protecting the total global environment, notes Prof. Carroll L. Wilson of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management and program for the social application of technology. With that in mind, effects of pollutants on à global scale were the focus of the MIT-sponsored 1970 Summer Study on Critical Environmental Problems (SCEP), chaired by Prof. Wilson. The month-long conference in Williamstown, Mass., concluded with a two-day presentation of recommendations, all pointing at a need for more information on pollution of the planet. Among the conclusions drawn by SCEP: • C02. The danger of climatic change from C 0 2 is small, but its potential consequences are large. Recommendations: Make continuous measurements of C 0 2 in the atmosphere in areas remote from known sources; study the partition of COo among the atmosphere, oceans, and the mass of living and decaying matter; develop computer models of weather effects for expected C 0 2 levels and effects of stratospheric cooling. • Particles. Particle levels in the atmosphere are increasing in some areas but not in others. Not enough is known about optical properties to assess the role of particles in cooling or heating the earth's surface. More
Industry giants boost formaldehyde output Company
Current capacity
Planned expansion
Total
(Millions of pounds per year of 37% aqueous solution)
Celanese Borden Du Pont Monsanto
1250
995 890 500
200 150 250 450
1450 1145 1140
TOTAL
3635
1050
4485
Total U.S. capacity (1969): 5.3 billion pounds. Total U.S. output (1969): 4.2 billion pounds.
950
