WILTON, Connecticut, November 2 /PRNewswire/ --
Startech Environmental Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: STHK), a fullyreporting company, announced that it has received the 15% downpayment fromGlobalTech Environmental Corporation, the Company's exclusive distributor forthe Peoples Republic of China, to start the production of the 20,000pound-per-day Plasma Converter System to be located in heavily-industrializedNortheast China. The downpayment does not include the US$250,000distributor-fee paid to the Company by GlobalTech. This first-of-its-kindStartech facility in China, scheduled to go on-line in 2007, will beprocessing hazardous PCBs (Polychlorinated Byphenyls) and POPs (PersistentOrganic Pollutants).
"In 2050 every second human being will die from cancer due tocontamination in food, water and the environment," according to the WorldHealth Organization in talking about POPs.
Steve Landa, Startech VP, said, "These are very nasty industrialmaterials. The Plasma Converter System destroys each and every one of thesematerials totally and irreversibly. The Converter is ideally suited tocompletely and safely destroy POPs, PCBs and other hazardous products nomatter how persistent and no matter what the form or the chemicalcomposition."
Pat Quinn, GlobalTech Chief Executive Officer, said, "In addition to thisfirst system on the ground in China for hazardous waste, we also have manyother important projects in contract development for which we already haveexecuted Letters of Intent and also Agreements in China.
"Just on Waste-to-Alternative Fuels alone, we have a 100-TPD Tires andRefinery Tank Bottoms project in Northern China, an initial 100 TPD projectfor Black Coal in Mongolia, 250 TPD for Tires in Hunan Province, and 500 TPDfor Tires in Nanjing. We also have waste-to-hydrogen projects in South Koreaand hazardous waste projects in the Philippines."
Joseph F. Longo, Startech President, said, "With 20 percent of theworld's population, and the challenges of its white-hot industrialization,China has put environmental stewardship and sustainable development very highon its list of priorities.
China is a very important market for the Company; one we have been workingon for the past five years."
What Are POPs and Why Harmful
The 8th International Forum on Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides washeld in Sophia in late May 2005. The Forum brought together governments, UNagencies, industrial companies, international government organizations,non-government organizations and private sector stakeholders to develop andto implement a solution for the threat to the world of POPs, obsoletepesticides and hazardous chemical waste.
An immediate focus is to establish Environmentally Sound Management (ESM)practices on cleaning up obsolete stockpiles of pesticides for CentralEuropean and the EECCA Countries (Eastern European countries, Caucasus andCentral Asia).
POPs means Persistent Organic Pollutants. They include materials such as: Aldrin Chlordane DDT Dieldrin Endrin Heptachlor Hexachlorobenzene Mirex Toxaphene
Every human in the world carries traces of POPs in his or her body. Theydamage the nervous and immune systems, cause cancer and reproductivedisorders, and interfere with normal infant and child development.
They all share four properties: 1- they are highly toxic; 2- they are stable and persistent; 3- they evaporate and they travel long distances through the air and through water ... and, worst of all, 4- they accumulate in the fatty tissue of humans and wildlife ... especially in a woman's breast ... even in a mother's milk.
"In addition to producing death and sickness through direct contact, manyhighly toxic chemicals and pesticides persist for years in the environment,where they cause long-term damage to human health and to nature", said KlausToepfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, "Thesesubstances travel readily across international borders to even the mostremote region, making this a global problem that requires a global solution."
He also said, "A growing body of scientific evidence indicates thatexposure to very low doses of certain POPs -- which are among the most toxicsubstances ever created -- can lead to cancer, damage to the central andperipheral nervous systems, diseases of the immune system, reproductivedisorders and interference with normal infant and child development.
Another concern behind the initiative is the growing accumulation ofunwanted and obsolete stockpiles of pesticides and toxic chemicals,particularly in developing countries. Dump sites and toxic drums from the1950s, 1960s and 1970s are now decaying and leaching chemicals into the soiland poisoning water resources, wildlife and people.
These highly stable compounds can last for years or decades beforebreaking down. They circulate globally through a process known as the"grasshopper effect." POPs released in one part of the world can, through arepeated (and often seasonal) process of evaporation, deposit, evaporation,deposit, be transported through the atmosphere to regions far away from theoriginal source.
In addition, POPs concentrate in living organisms through another processcalled bioaccumulation. Though not soluble in water, POPs are readilyabsorbed in fatty tissue, where concentrations can become magnified up to70,000 times the background levels. Fish, predatory birds, mammals and humansare high up the food chain and therefore absorb the greatest concentrations.When they travel, the POPs travel with them. As a result of these twoprocesses, POPs can be found in people and animals living in regions such asthe Arctic, thousands of kilometers from any major POP source.
What are PCBs
PCB is the abbreviation for a family of manufactured industrial productscalled polychlorinated biphenyls, and PCBs come in many forms. They arecomplex molecular products comprised principally of chlorine and carbonatoms.
The major use of PCBs has been in industrial electric equipmentespecially in transformers, capacitors, voltage regulators andelectromagnets. In operation, these devices produce undesirable heat and PCBshelp to remove that heat while operating as an effective non-flammabledielectric (an electrical insulator). PCBs have also been used in hydraulicsystems, as plasticizers and as additives in lubricants. Among PCBs'important industrial characteristics are its chemical stability and itsresistance to degradation. It is these very robust characteristics that makePCBs so persistent and troublesome in the environment.
PCBs are dangerous and harmful, and PCB concentrations have been found inwater, soil, animals, plants and the food chain all over the world, even inthe polar ice caps ... a testament to the atmospheric transport of globalcontamination. Concentrations have also been detected in the fatty tissue ofhumans, animals and fish. PCB biomagnifications concentrations have even beenfound accumulated in "mother's milk."
Why Are PCBs So Harmful
PCBs are pernicious materials that enter the body through the lungs,digestive system and even through the skin, and tend to accumulate in thefatty tissues of the body. The World Wildlife Fund reports that, "PCBsinterfere with many biological functions, including the immune system, thenervous system and several endocrine systems, and fetuses appear to beparticularly vulnerable to these actions. Chronic low level PCB exposures cancause liver damage, reproductive abnormalities, immune suppression,neurological and endocrine system disorders, retarded infant development, andstunted intellectual function.
About Startech -- an Environment and Energy Company
Startech Environmental is an environment and energy industry companyengaged in the production and sale of its innovative, proprietary plasmaprocessing equipment known as the Plasma Converter System(TM).
The Plasma Converter System safely and economically destroys wastes, nomatter how hazardous or lethal, and turns them into useful and valuableproducts. In doing so, the System protects the environment and helps toimprove the public health and safety. The System achieves closed-loopelemental recycling to safely and irreversibly destroy Municipal Solid Waste,organics and inorganics, solids, liquids and gases, hazardous andnon-hazardous waste, industrial by-products and also items such as "e-waste,"medical waste, chemical industry waste and other specialty wastes whileconverting many of them into useful commodity products that can includemetals and a synthesis-gas called Plasma Converted Gas (PCG)(TM).
Among the many commercial uses for PCG, it can, for example, be used toproduce "green power," and Alternative Fuels such as ethanol and otheralcohol fuels, synthetic diesel fuels and also hydrogen for use and for sale.
The Startech Plasma Converter is essentially a manufacturing systemproducing commodity products from feedstocks that were previously regarded aswastes. Startech regards all wastes, hazardous and non-hazardous, as valuablerenewable resources.
For further information, please visit www.startech.net or contact SteveLanda at +1-888-807-9443, +1-203-762-2499 EXT 7 or sales@startech.net
Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, includingstatements regarding the Company's plans and expectations regarding thedevelopment and commercialization of its Plasma Converter(TM) technology. Allforward-looking statements are subject to risk and uncertainties that couldcause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Factors thatcould cause such a difference include, without limitation, failure of thecustomer to obtain appropriate financing for the project, general risksassociated with product development, manufacturing, rapid technologicalchange and competition as well as other risks set forth in the Company'sfilings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-lookingstatements contained herein speak only as of the date of this press release.The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to releasepublicly any updates or revisions to any such statement to reflect any changein the Company's expectations or any change in events, conditions orcircumstances on which any such statement is based.
Web site: http://www.startech.net
Startech Environmental Corporation
Joseph F. Longo, President, Startech Environmental Corp., +1-203-762-2499 /Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/113537.html
