Document 37QggOxjjKb5EJnxRzjLmgrNJ

Monsanto FROM (NAME & LOCATION) () Faton - General Office* July 31, 1968 A "NEW CHEMICAL HAZARD" REFERENCE TO Dr. W. Richard Dr. R. E. Xelly/E. Wheeler Dr. R. Keller :) W. F. tfaychoff I attach an article from the "New Scientist" of 15 December, 1966. The New Scientist is an English periodical given over to "Popular" Science. On its inception about sixteen years ago, I thought it was given over more to sensation than to a strict regard for scientific accuracy. I am sorry to -see that it has not changed over the years. Their article on MPCB" Is/ the most opinionated ne have seen *0 far oa^Arocior toxicity, and I am sure their omission of the word Aroclor has prevented even greater repercussions. Their theory on how PCS finds its way into fish "and later humans" is an all-embracing one. I only hope Rachel Carson never subscribed to the New Scientist and that Ralph Nader doesn't decide toi CP:dbw Camming Faton WATER PCB-SD0000018016 NEW SCIENTIST 8 DECEMBER 1966 551 new SCIENTIST Cromwell House/Fulwood Place/High Holborn/London WC 1/telephone: Holborn 7554/telegrams: Newscient London Dr Bernard Dixon Peter Hamilton David Fishlock W. E. Duckworth Dr Maurice Bloch Dr Peter Stubbs David Bowen EDITORIAL 5t>3 NOTES ON THE NEWS 554 WHAT ARE THEY UP TO AT PORTON DOWN? What is the true nature of the brief to which the director and staff of the Microbiological Research Establishment are working? 558 IN SEARCH OF THE LOST SCIENCE OF SECURITY An exploration of the discipline of security. It may have originated in nature's early efforts to ensure continuation of the species 560 SOUND IN 3D Holography, the technique whereby the laser makes pictures in three dimensions, has now been used with sound waves THE PAY-OFF FROM INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH Wliv carp,' out research and development at all? Survival is one of the most important reasons COOLING AS A TREATMENT FOR Prompt cooling--perhaps by tap-water--of bum injuries can relieve pain and reduce the resulting shock and tissue damage BURNS CRUCIAL DECADE FOR BASIC SCIENCE Basic science is on the verge of some exciting discoveries but to what extent is its progress in the right direction? 562 564 572 579 A NEW WAY OF CLEARING FOG The `Tog broom", recently tested successfully, could help sweep away localized patches of fog 583 AMERICAN NEWSLETTER Crossing the sex frontier SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY Highlights of the Hinkley "B" AGR............... and inside the Windscale prototype: Explosion risk in pumping petrol: Out, out, black spot: Crumbling rock bv laser: High speed hovercraft with extra lift: Preserving an artificial fog: Floating tanks for storing oil: The "chemical'1 lamp extends its range: Softening the software problem: Antifreeze may not beat rusting: When concrete settles, voids may intrude 577 567 TRENDS AND DISCOVERIES How docs a rat smell X-rays?: Sleepv and lively breeds of hamsters: Nitrogen-sulphur compounds emerge: Large blocks sighted on Moon: Algal cell wails and taxonomy: Mice learn to work an electric heater: Antibiotics against nucleic acids: Does the solar wind spin this windmill?: New compound stop larvae changing: Pigeons can count to seven 574 ARIADNE 578 LETTERS 584 BOOKS Reviews bv lan Low and R. Calkin , 586 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS 588 COVER See "What are thev up to at Porton Down?" page 558 Annual subscriptions: Inland, 75s; USA and Canada, $12; other overseas 80s. Six months prorata. Sinyle copies iric. postage: current issue 2s., back numbers 2s. 6d. (cash with orders). Printed in England. Registered at the CPO as a newspaper. Entered as Second Class Material matter at New York Post Office. New Scientist 1966 WATER_PCB-SD0000018017 612 NEW SCIENTIST 15 DECEMBER 1965 NOTES ON THE NEWS continued for various purposes such as hoeing. At the National Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Howden, Midlothian, some interesting new attitudes are developing, however. For one thing herbicides have eliminated the need for close manual procedures which means that it is no longer necessary to grow all crops in single rows. There would be distinct advantages in growing potatoes, for instance, in beds as wide as three or four rows. It would be more economical of land, earthing-up could be done quicker, and the soil would suffer less from the compressional damage done by agricultural machinery. There is a drawback, however. Tradi tional tractor design does not permit the use of wide strips; and no one elsewhere seems to have given much thought to ways in which tractors could be improved. At NIAE engineers have had a hard look at what farmers are going to need in the future and have designed an impressive "self-propelled, multi-purpose toolframe", which could well come to dominate our rural landscapes in a few years' time. Essentially it consists of a large box frame, supported at chest-height on conventional tractor wheels--a large pair at the front and small pair at the rear corners. At the front of the frame in the centre is a power ful, 70-horsepower tractor engine coupled to the driving wheels by independent oildriven hydrodynamic motors. The driver sits high up on the rear member of the box frame in a seat that can be hydraulically shifted from side to side, or turned right round to face the reverse direction. He has two levers at his left hand: both forward gives a range of forward speeds; both backward, reverse speeds. By moving them independently the wheels will revolve at different rates and assist turning. The rear wheels are telescopically mounted and can be raised or lowered hydraulically. They are self levelling over uneven ground. Agricultural implements are mounted--without the need for soil-damaging wheels--in the centre of the box frame. Implements, likewise, can be designed for hydraulic operation and the frame is equipped with two large oil tanks at each front corner and several hydraulic take-off valves. The whole contrivance is simplicity itself to control. A planting unit has now been construc ted that will Diant and ridae four rows of potatoes in one operation. Work is also in progress on a double-row harvester. That tractor wheels are indeed harmful to soil has emerged from a unique field study at the institute. Using a gamma-ray probe and detector, researchers there have been able to observe for the first time the actual local profiles of soil density across tractor ruts, plough furrows and the like. They have related these to the failure of plants such as raspberry canes to grow where the soil has become compacted. Clods are also typically the result of the passage of heavy machinery across the soil so that cutting down the extent to which tractors and wheeled vehicles run over the soil will undoubtedly improve production. This is by no means the only application of modern methods of science to farm mechanization at NIAE. Novel work under way aims at automated singling of sugar beets. Again it is herbicides like paraquat that have made such advances possible. Manual thinning by hoe is tedious and expensive. The plan is to use a machine equipped with photoelectric detectors sensitive to the spectral absorption lines of the green chlorophyll pigment in leaves. Signals from this device, indicating the density of foliage, will control a paraquat spray which will squirt the excess plants, leaving only those required at specified intervals for optimum growth. Engineering data during field trials on new equipment is about to be collected by radio telemetry, and modern dataprocessing methods are under develop ment at NIAE. REPORT OF A NEW CHEMICAL HAZARD A Swedish research worker has expressed concern over the increased amounts of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) entering the air, presumably from industrial smoke and rubbish-dump smoke, and being absorbed by water and taken up by fish and later humans. PCB which is related to and as poisonous as DDT was detected by Mr Soren Jensen of the Institute for Analytical Chemistry, University of Stockholm, in some 200 pike taken from different parts of Sweden, fish and fishspawn throughout the country, an eagle which was found dead in the Stockholm Archipelago, and in his own, his wife's and his baby daughter's hair. As the baby is only five months old her father con cludes that she got her dose of PCB with her mother's milk. It is not known at present how much of this substance is dangerous or even fatal. If it is comparable with DDT then the limit would be 0.5 mg per cubic metre of air--and, for comparison, the dead eagle had at least 10 times as high a concentra tion in its body. For purposes of elimina tion Mr Jensen has obtained feathers from eagles preserved at the Swedish National Museum of Natural Historv since 1880 and has detected PC B first in an eagle from 1944. In Sweden, PCB is known to be used in electrical insulations, hydraulic oils, high-temperature and high-pressure lubricating oils, paints, lacquers and varnishes, and as pigments in various plastics. It does not seem to be used as an insecticide. It is not destroyed by incinera tion and may enter the body directly through the skin, by breathing, or by way of food (especially fish). It is particularly harmful to the liver, and also the skin; this has been demonstrated by experi ments on mice. PCB is much harder to break down than DDT and there is every reason to suppose that it is much more difficult to get it out of the system. The substance has also been detected in the air over London and Hamburg and also in seals caught off Scotland. It can therefore be presumed to be widespread throughout the world. LOAVES AND FISHES The famine which now threatens parts of India has tended to focus the attention of the developed countries on that sub continent's chronic inability to feed its teeming people, but a warning note came last week from another less publicized area. Dr B. R. Sen the Indian Director General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization was addressing a regional conference at Punta del Este, Uruguay. He lambasted the governments of Latin America for their unwillingness to face what could be "a very serious situation indeed". It would take,he said, an increase in food production of four per cent a year to stem "social and political unrest which still prevails", or even to prevent it from worsening. Dr Sen's warning comes none too soon. Malnutrition if not actual hunger is wide spread in Latin America, where per-capita food production has dropped by four per cent in the past six years. At the same time the population is expected to double itself (to 422 million) by 1985. Dr Sen believes the four-per-cent rise to be technically feasible, if an .all-out effort is made now. Apart from the struggle to increase food supplies to keep pace with population, however, efforts are also being made to overcome traditional prejudices against various foods which may be plentiful though neglected. In the waters of Lake Victoria, for instance,--they cover an area about the size of Ireland--there are vast shoals of tilapia, a firm white fish, weighing about 8 oz and very tasty. European firms have already asked the Tanzanian government about the possibilities of sending frozen fillets to Europe but the local people are by no means as keen to eat this sort of fare. WATER PCB-SD0000018018