Document 0LKKovre5yD2dXj45akDN6vyV

lNewsciay GARDEN' CITY, N. Y. D. 4S3.C-JJ SUN. jM.731 r JUl 1 9 1977 ^ Hunting1 a Chemical in the Haystack Last of three parts By Stuart Diamond Newsday Environment Writer . - If you wanted to pick the best place for a toxic ; chemical to get into the environment and cause . widespread health problems, where would you put - it? How about in marine paints on the outside of boat* so it washes into the water? Or in highway v stripes so it washes into the soil? Or in 800 million fluorescent light fixtures, billions of sheets of paper and countless appliances so that it would be almost impossible to retrieve it? ` Thai is what has been allowed to happen during. ~ the past five decades with a group of flame-retar- danl chemicals called PCBs, polychlorinated bi phenyls They came into wide use as an insulator in electrical equipment and as a preservative in nu merous other items. Now they have been shown to cause cancer and reproductive failure in test animale and skin lesions in people. Nine years ago, the first serious illnesses were reported in humans from PCB poisoning--Febru ary. 1968, in Yusho, Japan. Five years ago, Japan banned the chemical and ah American interagency : task force concluded that PCBs are highly persis- tent, could be found in all parts of the environment and could have serious adverse effects on human health. And during the past four years, the Environ ; menial Defense Fund and the Natural Resources Defense Council, two leading American environ- I mental groups, petitioned and sued the federal gov : emment, demanding strict regulations to limit do mestic use of the chemical and its exposures in the , population. * Yet the federal government still has not set minimum allowable limits that many scientists consider safe for all segments of society in the con sumption of PCB-contaminated fish, the chemical's . chief pathway to people. Further, there are no regi ulations to prevent the hundreds of millions of pounds of the toxic chemical now in use from get ting into the environment and causing more harm. - In February, the federal government banned . discharges of PCBs into the environment as of Feb. 2, 1978. Monsanto Chemical Co., the nation's sole supplier of PCBs, has announced it will cease mak ing the chemical by Oct. 31 of this year. But since the Yusho incident, Monsanto has produced more than 400 million pounds of PCBs, and thousands of pounds have been discharged into the environment by industries, homeowners, busin esses and a multitude of other sources. The Food and Drug Administration is proposing to lower by 60 per cent its limits on the consumption of con- . taminated fish, but even then, it concedes, the doses will not be safe enough for children and wom en of child-bearing ages to eat more than four meals of such fish per month. The Environmental Protection Agency is pre paring regulations for the safe disposal of the more than three-quarters of a billion pounds of PCBs still in use. It was supposed to enact the regulations by July 1, but it wasn't ready: '1'he proposals point1 edly exempt a large proportion of the PCBs from regulation, because the agency doesn't know how to , collect the substance. The agency's Office of Toxic Substances is sx.il! grappling with the problem, and rules arc expected within two months. "The EPA's proposed regulations are atro cious-mi outrageous response to the problem,'' charged Joseph Highland, biochemist for the Envi ronmental Defense Fund. "Hundreds of millions of pounds of this stuff will wind up in the environ ment because the government is unwilling to regu late it. If that material gets out there, there will be a national catastrophe." Highland's group first sued the EPA in 1973 be cause it had not limited discharges of toxic chemi cals, as provided in the Water Pollution Control Act of 1973. The EPA then tried to propose, limits for nine chemicals but was overwhelmed by industry attorneys in 1974. After further court suits, Russel! Train, in one of his final action? as outgoing EPA administrator, signed the discharge ban on Jan. 18 of this year--more than four years after the dis charge standards were mandated by Congress. These transformers contain PCBs Newsday Phoio by Bob Lackey Federal officials questioned do not dispute the substance cf Highland's comments about the dan gers of PCBs. But they refused to take the blame for the delays or for the regulations. "We have a very perplexing problem here,'' said George Wirth, a chemical engineer whose unit in EPA wrote the disposal regulations. "PCBs are practically in the hands of every American ... It is the fault of the society as a whole that we did not take better care of what we have produced and done with this chemical since Day One." '. PCBs are similar in structure to the insecticide DDT and to other organic solvents and pesl-killers. But PCBs are much more stable--resistant to acids, bases and biological breakdown. Because of this PCBs have been used in a myriad of everyday pro ducts--as insulators, beat-conductors, anticorrosive agents and plasticizers. Among the products are re frigerators, television sets, transformers, capaci tors, sealing agents, inks, copy paper, electric mo tors, microwave ovens, paints and varnishes. Not oil of these items contain PCBs--in fact, many do not. But it is difficult or impossible for the non-ex perl to tel! if the chemical is pre-eni. Usually, the substance is not listed as an ingredient, and almost never as PCBs. Monsanto's marketing name is Arochlor, but it has also been sola in this country under the names of Chlorextol, Dykanol. laerteen, Noflamol, Pyramol and Thcrminol. . About 1.4 billion pounds of PCBs have been pro duced in this country, and only 55 million pounds, or 4 per cent, have been degraded in the environ ment or destroyed by special high-temperature in cineration. Another 150 million pounds, or 11 per cent, have been released to the environment and are in the air, water and soil. An equal amount ha? been exported. That leaves a little more than a billion pounds. Of that, about 300 million are in varying degrees of control in landfills and about 750 million are in use. The EPA's proposed marking and disposal regu lations are aimed at two-thirds of the 750 million pounds in use. Those l'CBs arc distributed in S.l million large transformers and high-voltage capaci tors used by utilities and major industries, and they are fairly well monitored and inventoried by their owners. The EPA plans to draw up strict rules for the orderly collection and disposal of the irirus, first in approved chemical land ilis and, after July 1, 1979, by incineration. That leaves about 250 million pounds uf PCI's, dispersed in 895 million capacitors, or bco.-lcis. in ---Continued on Pago 'll * -i i : S ! i :i . ' , ; . , ; ; ' !' i < ; ; / <.;j ; if --------- ------------------------------------------------ ).i) ori-v.'no i . i . : J STLCOPCB4069704 .1 [Looking for a Chemical in the Haystack --Continued from Page 6 ' .. PCBs in concentrations below 500 parts per mil \the health, problems without it will cost even the nation's highway lights, in air-conditioning mo tors in numerous commercial buildings, in individ - ual small appliances and in fluorescent light fix tures. Each item contains an average of 3.5 pounds of PCBs, although some have only a few ounces of \ tiie chemical. . [ Not only is the EPA unsure what to do about _ this material, but the agency acknowledges that y most of it may eventually wind up in the environ ment, as appliances are discarded and leak, paints -: erode, and fish--and people---consume the residue. , The agency also believes some of the material now - in landfills eventually may find its way into the ,7-. soil and water. All told, the EPA says, 540 million ; pounds of the chemical could wind'up free in the [ ' environment. That is more than a third of the en' . tire domestic production since it began 48 years .7 ago. And it is 2Yi times the amount now free in the environment. . "Although banning the production of PCBs will . help the problem of toxic contamination, it will not solve it," says Nolan A. Currey, an expert consut- tant on hazardous chemicals for the EPA. "The / cases of sealed units [appliances, etc.] now in use can be ruptured, and will discharge PCBs ... Con : trol of the disposal of electrical units now in use will also be difficult. And the job of intercepting and destroying toxics after discharge into the envi ronment will be more difficult, if not impossible." The agency's proposed regulations, in fact, exempt the owners of the 800 mi 11 iom fluorescent light fixtures and 50 million small appliances from marking and disposal. "This means that the article can be placed into the normal trash collection sys- . tem used by the occupants," the regulations say. The article would then be taken to a dump or incin lion, that, too, will-go unregulated under the new more." .. guidelines. Recent surveys have disclosed the toxic Beyond these problems is the issue of how to pu chemical in a number of the nation's sewage ef rify the soils and river sediments already mntamt- fluents--in Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, nated. Even if the sediments contain PCB levels California, New York and Florida, among others. above 500 parts per million, the EPA's rules would Beyond that, discharges from plants that produce exempt them from regulation unless the material is recycled paper often contain PCBs in concentra removed from the waterway. The same is true with tions below 500 parts per million, so they, too, will contaminated soil. The city of Bloomington, Ind., be exempt from regulation. The chemical winds up for example, faces a cost of $25 million for replac in such discharges because of its presence in the ing sewer.lines and cleaning up the local river after original stock. . Westinghouse Corp. discharged tons of PCB con The incineration of PCBs also poses problems. taminated effluent into a landfill and into the mu The material can be destroyed only by burning at nicipal treatment planti Residents also want repa 2,200 to 2,900 degrees Fahrenheit. If anything goes ration because they unknowingly planted then gar wrong with the process, the chemical will merely be dens with PCB-eontaminated soil conditioner from spewed into the air with the combustion gases. the treatment plant. Now they can't eat then vege Most municipal incinerators bum at only 1,500 to tables or drink milk from their cows Noi tan they 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. Thus, any PCB-laden fish in 40 miles of the local river material being incinerated now is winding up in In New York State, the Hudson River has accu the environment intact. To construct special, high- mulated sediment levels of PCBs that measure up temperature incinerators would cost a large to 6,000 parts per million--3,000 times the pro amount of money, he said. "Basically, you would posed limits for edible fish--from discharges by have to build blast furnaces," said Kopp of the General Electric Co.'s plants near Albany Officials EPA. .- - - - estimate it will cost up to $30 million to clean up The Environmental Defense Fund's Highland suggested a national mobilization program similar - to the one during World War II. "If people realized the significance of the problem,, a small effort by a lot of people would solve it. The government should enact regulations requiring the return of these ma terials." _ Restrictions on the consumption of PCB-con taminated food were first set by the FDA in 1973. In that year, the amount of PCBs in the average the waterway. Numerous substitutes for PCBs have been de veloped since 1971, none of them with the fireproof qualities of PCBs, but all of them less toxic. To pre vent fires, Underwriters Laboratories will require special protection of items containing the new ma terials, a lab official said. Since Japan has banned the use of PCBs, indications are that there has been no increase in fires traceable to the substi tutes, EPA's Kopp said. The question of why it has taken so long for the American diet reached its highest level ever. The United States to get to the point that Japan arrived chemical showed up in baby cereal, a variety of pro at four years ago continues to be a touchy subject erated with other refuse. _ cessed foods and numerous other items. . with many officials. "Sure, we can be faulted for The EPA suggests an educational program to The FDA's limits were five parts per million in not acting two or three years earlier ," said JohQ ' encourage repair shops and commercial buildings fish and lower for most other foods. Within two Spagnoli, head of PCB monitoring and research tor to turn in their PCB-laden equipment when the ^ years, the amount of PCBs in the average Ameri the state conservation department. "But we didn't . equipment is no longer useful over the next 20 to can diet dropped by half, although 40 per cent of know about the health problems . . . Only the sci . 30 years. . --- the meat, fish and poultry still contained traces. entists knew' about the health problems aftei Yu- ! But how successful could that be? "How success- " The only food in which PCB content had not sho. These things take time. Agencies don't work as - ful is the paper-recycling program in this country?" dropped was fish, which continued to spawn in riv closely as they should. The point is, we're doing said Thomas Kopp, a chemical engineer with the ers and lakes where the chemical was being dis something about it now." office of toxic substances. "How successful were the charged. In 1975, the Environmental Defense Fund The FDA's proposed limit of two parts per mil ; . attempts to cut the use of gasoline? Not too success- again urged the FDA to lower the standards. After lion in fish will affect only those sold in interstate ful." - the Environmental Defense Fund threatened suit commerce. State officials are opposed to a similar i; Some officials balk at a full program to inform on numerous occasions following months of inac ban for fish caught and sold within the state They * people of the risks of PCBs so they will not discard tion, the FDA tlus past April proposed lowering the plan to issue only a caution and let people decide : items containing the chemical. "The problem is maximum PCB level for edible fish to two parts per for themselves. .' . '. that we don't want to scare people," said David million. Long Island would be a principal area tar "Everything has some contamination in it," said Wagner of the EPA's toxic-substances office. geted by the government. Both bluefish and striped Anthony Taormina, in charge of preserving coastal . Another suggestion by the agency is to pay peo bass in Long Island waters exceed those limits, ac resources for the state environmental unit. "Of ple a "bounty" to turn in their PCB-laden items. A cording to recent tests by the State Department of course we should reduce the risks. But to expect no , $2 bounty on each item, however, would mean a Environmental Conservation. risks from eating fish is to expect no risk from government outlay of $1.8 billion. That does not Many East End residents and fishermen are op flying in an airplane. It is part of our technological count collection and advertising costs. The EPA posed to the new limits, expected to be enacted this society. Whether good or bad, this is the price we ' says it has "reservations" about the practicality of year, because of the loss of revenue they would have to pay." collecting those items. It is asking for suggestions. cause--$1.5 million annually, according to state es With PCBs, however, the price is continually The proposed regulations also would not control timates. The national loss estimated by the FDA rising. First, scattered chickens w'ere destroyed. the disposal of PCBs in "widely used commercial would be $49 million a year. Then, commercial fishing was stopped in Lake [ products," if the concentrations of the chemical are The Environmental Defense Fund opposes the Michigan. Then, Lake Ontario wras closed Then the , below 600 parts per million. These products are too new standards from the other side. It wants the al Hudson River. Kopp said the new FDA limits will numerous for the agency to define: the carbonless lowable PCB limit to be zero--or, if that is not pos destroy the fresh-water fishing industry in most ' ' copy paper sitting in file cabinet inventories, the sible because of detection problems, one part per parts of the country. half-cans of marine paint on people's shelves, the million. "Wherever you look, you are going to find it," caulking compounds on windows. These traces total "Sports fishermen should be advised of the risks he said. "And if you find it, what are you going cn . 8 million pounds of PCBs, in addition to the 750 involved in eating these fish and of feeding it to tell people? We have no Answer. It's there, ft million currently in use and accountable. their families," Highland said. "The zero-tolerance shouldn't be. It isn't good. ' Since municipal sewage and sludge usually has could cost [the fishing industry] a lot of money but "We have seen only the tip of the iceberg " DSW 306413 STLCOPCB4069705 Newsday GARDEN CITY, N. Y. D. 453,003 SUN. 406.721 JUL1 71977 i (- ' OR a year and a half, 16 female monkeys were long-term, low-level doses of PCBs have been ob fed food contaminated with the chemical PCB served in humans, although consumers have been f (polychlorinated biphenyl) in concentrations simi- eating contaminated fish for years. The fatty tis ; . lar to those found in fish caught off Long Island sues of workers exposed to PCBs have been found .r and elsewhere in the United States: < to contain levels dozens of times the proposed lim ; When the monkeys mated, seven miscarried. its, but the main detected symptoms have been skin Two could not conceive at all. Uterine growths were sores that cleared up after the exposures ceased. .. recorded. The monkeys developed facial sores and Animal studies, however, show reproductive swollen eyelids and lost their hair. Their offspring failure, cancer, decreased resistance to disease and ' all were undersized.and contained detectable levels other ailments at doses not far above what humans . of the toxic chemical. . ' - could get over a period of many years, since PCBs - The infants were then breast-fed. They all de- accumulate in the body, once ingested, and do not - veloped the same symptoms as their mothers. With break down. Currently, 90 per cent of the people in in four months, half the infants died. Two years this country have detectable levels of PCBs in their ` later, even when taken off the breast milk, the oth- fatty tissues and the fatty portion in the breast "V er monkeys still exhibit learning and behavioral milk of the average woman has levels that ap disabilities. proach or exceed the new safe limits for edible fish. Last year, the Environmental Protection Agen Recently, studies have found PCBs in the em cy began testing the breast milk of American wom bryonic fluid surrounding developing human fe en for PCB contamination. The chemical was found tuses and in the placenta and other tissues, in in the milk of 78 of the first 80 women tested from amounts, many times the safe levels. In fact, chil . all over the country. The average levels were about dren are being born with PCBs in their tissues. half the lowest concentrations found in the mon Moreover, an official of the National Cancer In keys, and about an eighth of the highest concentra- stitute calculated for Newsday that a person eating . tions. :, the low levels of PCBs present in Long Island fish - That study, by Dr. J. R. Allen, a pathologist at increases the risk of liver cancer by 8 per cent. . ' the University of Wisconsin, is one pf the principal The most widely known and accepted animal reasons why the federal government is preparing to studies have found that: ' .lower drastically its allowable limits of PCBs in Complete reproductive failure occurred when _ fish. In its proposed standards, expected to be en- minks ate food contaminated with five parts per - acted this year, the Food and Drug Administration million of PCBs, which is the current federal safe . goes even further and cautions women of child limit. After 105 days at 3.6 parts per million, all bearing age and children to eat as few PCB-laden the test minks died. That level is similar to the fish as possible, even if the fish are just under the average in Long Island bass and bluefish. Minks, of limit. - course, are smaller than humans, so exhibit more . "PCBs are more toxic than we had originally symptoms at lower doses. _ , -thought," said Elizabeth Campbell, an agency Chickens, rabbiis and birds fed doses of PCBs : chemist who wrote the new guidelines.'The more from 10 to 100 parts per million showed various information we collect about them, the worse they symptoms including loss of feathers,' skin lesions, seem to be " . - tremors and diminished growth. , Few negative effects front regular exposure to ' --Continued on Page 23 . --^ i'.iii . -'l-- V.. .. 1.1,, . .. . . . 1. ,-( tV**.' - * a? * *' A 1968 victim ot PCB poisoning in Vustio, japan, shows acnelike skin sores, called "chloracne." ' 7 DSW 306414 STLCOPCB4069706 ; ; -Animal Testing Shmm Btepro&uciive'-Failtires 1 --Continued from Page 6 federal government two years ago into taking ac j.:. Eighty per cent of the exposed rats tested tion to curtail consumption or PCBs. [ ' showed cancerous or pre-cancerous growths,, com- In the absence of human analysis, the chemical f pared to less than 1 per cent ofan unexposed group. can still be 6hown to be harmful in theory. PCBs : The doses were about 350 times higher than people are foreign to the body and are viewed by the sys ; would get if they ate contaminated fish. An intera- tem as pollutants. The liver tries to change the sub' gency study of PCBs last year said that although tance in some way so that it can be metabolized . such doses (100 parts per million) are high when and excreted as waste. But PCBs are so stable-that compared to daily consumption by humans, they they cannot be broken down by the body, except are not very high for PCB workers or for people slightly, in some instances. The liver works hard to who eat a lot of fish contaminated with the chemi- metabolize the 6ub3tance, and can be damaged in f cal. -. - the process. ' : All detectable levels of PCBs in water, no Laboratory tests indicate that PCBs, even if " matter, how small, were found to collect in the tis they do not produce negative effects themselves, sues of marine organisms. At a tenth of a part per can change the liver in a way so that the body is billion in water, fish offspring became lethargic, more prone to cancer from other toxic substances. ; stopped feeding, developed fin rot and started dying ,, 24 hours after hatching. At one part per billion of 1 PCBs in water, half the exposed shrimp died in 15 days. This concentration is similar to that in the Hudson River from the General Electric Co.'s dis charges at plants near Albany. Reproduction rates' : in all species were reduced at varying concentretions. Resistance to disease was lowered; many spei cies died ofviruses that did not infect an unexposed *" group. Even exposed organisms placed in clean wa ter transferred the chemical to their offspring. *The female rhesus monkeys tested by Allen developed telltale PCB acne after about one month on a continuous diet of the contaminated food. Since the body cannot metabolize PCBs, they generally cannot be excreted. They concentrate in the lipids, or fatty tissues, which are the body's storage area for most pollutants and excess food en ergy. The areas include the layer under the skin, the breasts and the abdominal area. They average about 20 per cent of the body's tissues for a person of average proportions. Negative health effects of PCBs were initially reported in 1936, seven years after the material was first produced commercially. A U.S. Public Health Service report said workers had gotten skin sores from PCB exposures. The sores are believed now to be caused by concentrations of the chemical - . Of the female monkeys fed food with five parts in the fatty layer under the skin. The ailment be ., ;per million PCBs, reproduction dropped by more came known as "chloracne," or acne from chlorinat : than 80 per cent. Of those fed 2.5 parts per million, ed hydrocarbons. . -- i reproduction dropped by about 55 per cent. Male monkeys, on the other hand, had few symptoms at those doses, Allen said. V "These 6tudie3 indicate that women who plan to have children had best discontinue eating [contamimated) fish," Allen said. He said that a woman who simply stops eating fish once she gets pregnant ^ may already have consumed and collected PCBs in ' her tissues. Since the monkeys weighed about 12.5 pounds, a tenth what the average woman weighs, it would take a woman about 10 times as long to ac cumulate the same doses, he said. Even the proposed federal two-parts-per-million limit on edible fish is not meant for daily consump.. tion, especially by women and children, said the : FDA's Campbell. "We figure that four fish meals per month at those levels should be the maximum, 5 especially for women and children," she said. The caution on the consumption of PCBs by children is based primarily on the fact that since children are smaller than adults, the PCB doses they receive when eating a contaminated fish are ; much larger per pound of body weight, j "An average child nursing at mother's breast 5 for a year could ingest what adults ingest in a dec . ade," said Joseph Highland, a biochemist and PCB expert for the Environmental Defense Fund, a ..... Why/then, wasn't the material curtailed? . "The reports were evaluated as an example of misuse and poor handling," said William Papa- george, a biochemist and PCB expert for Monsanto Chemical Co. of St. Louis, the sole manufacturer of PCBs. But in the mid-1960s the chemical started turn ing up in human hair, bird eggs and fish. Then, in February, 1968, about 1,200 Japanese consumers ate rice oil contaminated with PCBs. The chemical was used in a closed heating element and had acci dentally leaked into cooking oil as it was being pre pared in a factory in Yusho, Japan. By March, vic tims had skin eruptions, swelling of the eyelids and Joints, impaired vision, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, overall fatigue, darkened skin, abnormal menstruation, impotence, jaundice, fever, hearing difficulties, headaches and spasms. ' The offspring born to contaminated parents had darkened skin and PCB concentrations in their tis sues. The skin symptoms persisted to a lesser ex tent after three years. Of the 13 contaminated women who became pregnant, there were two still- birtlis and 12 of the 13 babies were smaller than national standards, according to scientific papers in a new book, "PCB Poisoning and Pollution." Washington-based organization that prodded the Up to Sept. 13, 1973, 22 deaths had occurred among the 1,200 PCB victims. Of those, nine were from cancer, "suggesting a possible excess mortal ity [from cancer)," according to cine of the scientific papers. The paper adds, however, that the "rigorou. statistical analysis" has not been done. , Among the 22 dead were a 13-year-old boy am a 25-year-old truck driver. Autopsies discovered in temal growths similar to chloracne and various ir regularities in lymph nodes, glands or the liver Neither of those two died from cancer. The average concentration of PCBs consumee by..the Japanese victims over several weeks was 2.000 to 3,000 parts per million. That is 1,000 tc 1,500 times the proposed federal limits for fish con sumption. In Long Island waters, the average con centration of PCBs in striped bass and bluefish-- those with the highest levels--is about three parts per million, with levels up to 21 parts per milium. To reach the minimum levels that caused ad verse symptoms at Yusho, a person would have to eat about 500 pounds of contaminated fish The doses are cumulative, however: Each meal con sumed brings one closer to danger, scientists say. The average Long Islander eats about 50 pounds per year--about four times the national average, according to J. L. McHugh, a biologist at the Marine Sciences Research Center of the State University' of New' York at Stony Brook. A 10-y'ear dose of contaminated fish would equal the mini mum Japanese accumulation. Sports fishermen, however, usually consume more than the general population, perhaps as much as 150 pounds annual ly, according to Robert Ranee, head of Save Our Stripers, a Long Island sport fishing association. If a fisherman and his family ate only contaminated fish, they could therefore build up enough for the minimum Yusho concentration in less than five years. Officials are quick to point out that the figures are for the worst case. Not all the fish are contami nated, and there is no way of determining which are, without a laboratory analysis. In the last five years, the more studies that have been done, the more places PCBs have been found. Recently, the chemical w'as found in fish 11.000 feet beneath the ocean. The government has been holding hearings in Washington this month on the cleanup possibilities and alternatives. De tailed epidemiological studies on humans are just being started, and in a much-disputed study. Uni versity of Pennsylvania researchers linked PCB to cancdr in New Jersey workers. The Environmental Defense Fund's Highland contended that unless drastic action is taken to lim it exposures, it will be just a matter of time until health problems start showing up in the general population. . . But scientists do not yet agree on the best course of action. There is consensus on only two as pects. First, there is no easy answer. Second, as one federal expert put it, "the animal studies give us very great cause for concern."--Stuart Diamond STLCOPCB4069707 I Newsdav . t First of three parts . guidelines for contaminated fish, the studies found, the FDA. "We know nothing about the long-term p' _ . .. . a. otuart Diamond ... Seals in Scotland, marine life in the Pacific Ocean, effects. We haven't seen any because we haven't . chickens and birds in many countries and micro- looked." Newsday Environment Writer . organisms at the bottom of the food chain have But animal studies have been so convincing : In the snows of Antarctica, in coastal fish eaten shown various debilitating effects from PCBs in that many scientists believe it is just a matter of : daily by millions, and in the breast milk of nursing the environment, including reproductive failure, time until human ailments are documented. In a mothers, the toxic pollutant PCB is showing up in deformity, sickness and death. ; study completed this year, PCBs were found for the increasing concentrations. _ "It is a ubiquitous contaminant, as bad as DDT first time in the embryonic fluid surrounding de- A PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) was first pro- ever was," 6aid Joseph Highland, a biochemist for- veloping human fetuses, in concentrations several ' duced in 1929 as an electrical insulating fluid, but the Environmental Defense Fund, which first prod- times over the allowable safe limits. "Wherever you the harmful properties of the group did not become ded the federal government four years ago to take look you are going to find it," said Thomas Kopp of widely known until the mid-1960s, after millions of action to control the material. "Its importance has the EPA's office of toxic substances. "It's there. It ; pounds were produced, used in a variety of every- not been recognized nor publicized." Elizabeth shouldn't be. It isn't good." . day products like paint and refrigerators and dis- Campbell, chemist for the Food and Drug Adminis- - The Environmental Protection Agency is suffi- - charged into the environment. tration who wrote new standards to limit consump- ciently convinced by the studies to say in its dispos- : Now, based on research showing that large tion of the material sharply, agreed: "PCBs may be al guidelines for the chemical that the evidence al f doses of the clear, oily fluid cause skin lesions in the chemical scare of the '70s." . ready at hand demonstrates "conclusively" that . humans and produce cancer, genetic damage, and While virtually all experts agree that PCBs PCBs are toxic to humans and to a wide range of death in test animals, the U.S. Environmental Pro- pose a significant environmental threat, the issue fish and wildlife. tection Agency this year banned the production of is complicated by the fact that few adverse health "Our methodology [with human studies] is very the material, effective 1979, and the Food and effects have been noted with humans. The only ma- crude," said Dr. Blair Smith, a researcher for the Drug .Administration has proposed strict limita- jor instance of human sickness from PCBs occurred National Institute of Occupational Safety and : tions on the allowable levels in fish, the principal nine years ago in Japan, after an accidental con- Health who has examined workers for PCB concen- i pathway to humans. . tamination of rice oil with the chemical. That con- trations. "But the animal studies give very great i But it may be too late. More persistent than the tamination, which affected 1,200 people, caused a cause for concern." . pesticide DDT, their chemical cousin, PCBs have number of serious illnesses and, some suspect, The largest potential exposures to PCBs are in invaded the flesh of living creatures throughout deaths. The PCB doses, however, were in concen- the fish-eating population. "For the occasional con , the world. They virtually surround the daily rou- trations up to 1,000 times the levels found in con- sumer of fish, PCBs pose no special threat," said tine. They have been found in the air, in soil and in taminated fish. Moreover, occupational exposures Dr. David Axelrod, PCB expert for the New York river sediments throughout the country. As a pre- in the last five decades have produced chemical State Department of Health. A. C. Kolbyc, one of h servative and plast icizer, they have been a compo- concentrations of PCBs in humans dozens of times the FDA's chief scientists, said, "There is no reason f nent in marine paints, highway stripes, copy paper, higher than in the contaminated fish, but few ad- for Panicsville." But he staunchly supported the grain silos and ink. More than 90 per cent of the verse effects have been noted. proposed sharp reductions in the consumption of people in this country have it in their tissues, ac- "What does this mean? It doesn't necessarily PCB-contaminated fish. cording to EPA studies. And 5 per cent of the popu- mean that PCBs have no long-term effects," said The Environmental Defense Fund disagrees, lation has PCB levels that exceed the proposed Frank Cordle, a PCB expert and epidemiologist for . "We think PCBs are a very serious problem, not DSW 306416 STLCOPCB4069708 Worry ' onty for those consuming fish/* Highland said, "but discharged into the aquatic environment each year for any potential mother in this country." He noted . f-/. that recent experiments have found PCBs in the ` breast milk of women throughout the country; by industries. In addition, appliances that were dis. carded leaked PCBs into the groundwater. Inciner ators burning PCB-laden paper spewed the chemi ^ .. Studies have shown that the chemical is transIK ferred from mother to fetus through the placenta. It is unclear how long it takes for the chemical T , to break down to a harmless compound, but scien tists say it is at least many decades. DDT, on the 1 * other hand, has shown substantial decreases in a shorter amount of time. Many scientists feel that > PCBs, in the long run, will be even more toxic than f DDT, the most publicized chemical pollutant, v. The principal fish contaminated with PCBs on - the East Coast is striped bass, which is popular V" both for eating and sport fishing. It had previously _ been thought that only about 16-per cent of the bass spawning grounds, those in the Hudson River, were contaminated. But recent studies show that ' the Chesapeake Bay area, the largest bass spawn^ ing ground, has yielded striper eggs with PCB con ' centrations above the safe limits. About 1.4 billion pounds of polychlorinated bi; phenyls have been produced in this country in five j - decades. Four per cent of the total has been dey. stroyed. 11 per cent is free in the environment, and v 19 per cent is under varying degrees of control in cal into the air. Recycled, the paper wound up as cereal boxes, where the chemical found its way into the food. .. . "PCBs were hot identified as a contaminant un til the mid-1960s, when the technology was devel oped enough to measure it in the environment" aaid Smith, of the occupational safety and health institute. The first real indication that something was amiss came in 1966, when Swedish scientists found PCBs in fish, bird feathers and human hair. Two years later, the accidental factory leak of PCBs into cooking oil sickened 1,200 consumers in Yusho, Japan. They suffered from swollen joints, severe skin lesions and other disorders. In 1969, another accidental leak, from a factory near Pensacola, Fla., contaminated marine organ isms in Escambia Bay. Studies show-ed that at con centrations of less than one part per billion in the water, the chemical killed half of the exposed shrimp writhin 15 days. After three months in clean .water, the chemical persisted in fish, although ce- . duced by more than half. DDT contamination, on the other hand, has been shown to be completely eliminated in less than a month. ' ' landfills. The rest is in billions of items not yet dis- carded. The EPA is.studying regulations to stop the In 1973, the FDA set five parts per million as the safe limit permitted in edible fish. The new \ discarding of more of the material but acknowl- . edges that that will be difficult. . " FDA standards, which sources say will be enacted this year, would set the level at two parts per mil ; Meanwhile, the FDA's proposed standards lion. The sickening concentrations that were con !* would reduce by more than half the PCB levels al sumed at Yusho in the accidental contamination : - lowed in edible fish. Recent tests by the New York were 2,000 parts per million, but that was a one : State Department of Environmental Conservation time exposure, not a continuing one. . v . show that bass and bluefish caught near Long Is- In 1971, Monsanto voluntarily stopped produc *land have average concentrations in excess of the ing PCBs for "open" applications such as paints and proposed new limit. Should the new limits be en- limited the chemical's use to sealed-containers. Of . forced, both commercial and sport fishing for these the leading PCB-using plants that have contami species would be decimated, observers say. Beyond nated the aquatic environment with their dis that, both federal and siate tests have shown high charges, five are in the Northeast. Two are owned r . PCB concentrations in a variety of species eaten by General Electric Co. in Fort Edwrard and Hudson y.- throughout the country, including tuna, salmon, Falls, N.Y. Discharges from those plants were re trout, eel, pike, perch, shad and weakfish. sponsible for a ban imposed last year on all com ' Polychlorinated biphenyls, first synthesized in -'1881, belong to a class of chemicals called chlonn- mercial fishing of most species in much of the Hud son Rivbr, state officials said. The ban is to contin ue indefinitely. PCB concentrations .of 1,000 parts ;ated hydrocarbons, which include most of the com- per million have been found in the sediments near :,r:- mon pesticides and solvents. Many of the sub Albany and up to 178 parts per million in the fish. ' . stances, such as DDT, Mirex, dieldrin, aldrin and "The concentrations in the sediments are almost trichloroethylene have been banned after causing r cancer in test animals. Another such substance, vi beyond belief," said Edward Horn, staff member of a state committee that is trying to figure out a way . *; nyl chloride, has caused cancer in humans. to remove the pollution. . . The hydrocarbon part of the chemical is a mole cule composed of hydrogen and carbon, the building *' block of petroleum, gasoline and other fuels. Two 1 . attached "rings" of hydrocarbons are called a biphenyl. Most hydrocarbons are extremely flamma ble. But scientists found that by substituting chlo : Newsday Puoto by William J. Seuft Jr. Tim Kromer of Amagansett holds a 35*pound striped bass. Striped bass, a favorite of sports fish ermen and fish fanciers, have been found to contain dangerously high concentrations of PCBs. . .Of the other three plants, one is a transformer manufacturing facility owned by General Electric on the Housatonic River in Pittsfield, Mass. The other two make capacitors. . The economic effects already have been felt by the Hudson River area. State officials project a loss rine atoms for hydrogens in the biphenyl, they : , could create a substance that was flame-resistant. clothes washers and dryers, dishwashers and fur of $500,000 annually in commercial fishing and losses of as much as $5 million per year in spinoffs Such molecules with more than one chlorine atom nace blowers, PCBs became common. In capacitors, from recreational fishing, which has been banned are called polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. or "boosters," they held an extra electric charge to * or restricted on the Hudson in the Albany area and ' .. In 1929, Monsanto Chemical Co. of St. Louis bev gan producing PCBs commercially, for use as a help start fluorescent lights. . "In terms of performance, it was the best mate in various upstate rivers and lakes, including Lake Ontario. On Long Island, the new federal standards flame-retardant and electrical insulator in trans- rial--as perfect as an industrial chemical can be," would cost the fishing industry up to $1.5 million V. formers, capacitors and similar equipment. It re placed mineral oils, which had resulted in many said William Papageorge, a chemical engineer and PCB expert for Monsanto, the sole U.S. producer. each year, the state estimates. And across the coun try, the loss faced by the fishing arid food-process . . fires. So perfect were PCBs that within a few years : they became the fluid of choice in the electrical in - dustry. In addition to preventing fires, they were so . stable as to be resistant to strong acids and bases and biological degradation. Soon, numerous other uses were found. The r' chemicals are able to absorb and hold large ' amounts of heat, so they were used in heating coils to heat products in factories, where an open flame would have caused a hazard. PCBs extended the - life of caulking compounds around the windosvs of . skyscrapers. Since PCBs would not react with ink, ._ they prevented smears on carbonless copy paper. They became a lubricating and cooling oil for in- "It doesn't burn, it doesn't break down, it doesn't react with other materials. In virtually every case, the substitutes that have been developed have had to sacrifice some characteristics that PCBs contri buted." .. . . ....................... In the first three decades of their production, PCBs occasionally caused lesions, called "chlor- acne," among workers. When workers were trans ferred to noncontaminated areas, the lesions cleared up. There were some reports of death after exposures to PCBs, but no sophisticated studies were done and the exposures often were in combi nation with other toxic chemicals, so it was impos ing industries would total $-19 million annually, ac cording to Food and Drug Adminstration estimates. Residents of eastern Long Island, with its na tionally known fishing areas, are unhappy w ith the PCB controversy and the threat that the new stan dards pose to local commerce. ' Nobody wants to put poisonous fish into the consumer stream, but we question whether there is a Lhreat to health," said Marshall Helfand, president of the Montauk Cham ber of Commerce. "T don't think there has been enough testing, one way or the other. An industry should not be severely crippled without sufficient tests to determine the health effects." dustrial drills. In the electric motors of refrigera-/ sible to sort them out. te, tore, air-conditioners, typewriters, power saws/ Meanwhile, 3,000 pounds of the material were rLlt TKnf .rnfrr U , DSW 306417 i STLCOPCB4069709