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(Kyodo) -- Harmful organic chlorine compounds have been detected at levels greatly exceeding Japan's environmental standards on the grounds of three Sharp Corp. factories in western Japan, local government officials said Tuesday. Dichloromethane was found in groundwater on the premises of a Sharp factory in Yamatokoriyama, Nara Prefecture, in concentrations 7,000 times above allowable levels, prefectural officials said. Other chemicals, including trichloroethylene and its derivative, cis-1, 2-dichloroethylene, were also detected at densities exceeding allowed levels by 57 times and 30 times, respectively, at the factory, according to the officials. In Yao, Osaka Prefecture, municipal officials said they detected trichloroethylene, a suspected carcinogen, at 1,400 times its maximum allowed concentration in groundwater samples taken from Sharp's electronic systems plant in the city. The Osaka-based company is a leading maker of consumer electronics and office equipment.
While the officials said they did not detect pollution exceeding environmental standards outside the two factories,they plan to conduct further tests in surrounding areas.
They said trichloroethylene, which is used as a cleaning agent for manufactured goods, was detected at 3.7 times over the allowed concentration at a Sharp plant in Tenri, also in Nara Prefecture.
Other chemicals were also detected at the Yao plant, the officials said, in particular, cis-1, 2-dichloroethylene at a concentration 670 times allowable levels. The chemical can act as an anesthetic and may impede liver functions. Sharp officials said the company plans to take measures to prevent the pollution from spreading, such as building a water barrier, as well as halting the use this year of organic chlorine compounds as industrial solvents and cleaning agents at its factories.
Last June, trichloroethylene 15,600 times above legal levels was detected in groundwater samples taken from a plant of Toshiba Corp., a leading electric machinery maker, in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, in central Japan. Levels of tetrachloroethylene 9,400 times over its maximum allowed amount were detected at a plant of Matsushita Electronic Instrument Co., a subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., in Takatsuki, in Osaka Prefecture.
Copyright 1999
[Entered Greenbase January 19, 1999 ]