Document 3J3EZjmqgRBgd5EqbmpnELj5y

HONS 0 3 7 0 9 4 hunt:-;:--;, ,7. VA. hL&.-Jui&ifCH asw MAH 1 2 1976 Chemical Poison Ban Backed eondsetivity. They have also By LEE HICKLIN6 Csmmtt Im Servtat TfculUiuld Puprtdi been osed in inks, paints, adIt would imit the EPA's beaives aad other products. WASHINGTON - With power to order testing of (That they are poisonous heavy ssppert from big la bor, fneiranmiMiliris and lrsig'K-t loday new products to cases in bad been known for yean, it which the admiaistrator of wan only in recent yean, consumer ergattatteas, a biO to keep chemical pii--i 7HvntWf(M,W.V.tlfMtor,Mdit:. 1970 the agency has rated that a however, that it was dtocovtrad tent they caa cause ster like PC8o from cm going oo (be market la almmt cerUiniy I al by ( Ike Senate may pas it be fore the art of the month, and the House Commerce Committee may dear a bill for (tear action by early April. The big qwifton dow ie whether Preaideat Ford will lip mch a bill or veto if- . At present, do goveramat agency has the power to re- products he tested for safety; before they are soW. 1 The Environmental Pro tection Agiary has authority over pratictdii aad the Food and Drag Afrniiiiifnlim has responsibility for the safety of toad, frags aad cosmet ic*, hot tbse has been bo de jpartment or agency with brand power to test sad. if called for. baa daageran sub stances before they art put1 in ase. THREE IS heavy lobbying The chemical industry ar*; both for aad against (he pre gam that the coot of testing sent tofhtotinn, with the many aew products aad Maaafactving Chemists Asso > some old ones wiD nm small ciation leading the oppoatioa companies oat of business and the really potest efforts aod hurt the profits of big to get a weaker bill coming ones. Dow. for instance, has from big chemical com estimated that the Hart-Tun- panies like DuPont and Dow. aey bill would coat the in- The Coosamer Federation dastry $2 billion a year -- of America. Ralph Nader's an estimate that the General Congress Watch, the Sierra Accounting Office called unre Qob and other ransomer aad alistically Ugh. conservation groups are fight The Manefactiriag Chem ing for passage of a strong ists Associatioa commis bill. The one they like best sioned a study that put the is coining up in the Senate, cost tetwtia $360 million largely the product of a col aad |1.3 billion a year, laboration betwem Philip A. which fro GAO pointed out Hart, D.-b6cb., and Jehu V. is a remarkably wide Tanuey, &Caiif. bracket The EPA estimates But the sjpuficaut support that compfiaace will cost in for the bill is coming from teg labor -- the Oil. Chem dustry cnly W to tin mil ical and Atomic Workers, lion a year, but the MCA the United Aufo Workers, says the E7A la grossly e- dmeatunatiac the number ef Teamsters, the United Steel tents that wiD be required. workers and the AFL-OO. Too many tragedies. Ike the WEEN INDUSTRIES try A Steelworkers Unon offi abb risk" to health or the cial, Jack Sheehan, said i environment. It also requires muons "rent and resent,r that the "least burdemome that tactic, and are counter controT reqttred to reduce ing it by telling members the risk be imposed, and for that what the companies are . teds outright baaoiag of prodsaying is, "Well protect I nets if a way can be foutt your job. but not your life." to lessee the danger "to a The industry warateg* do significant extent." have an impact on workers, be coocedes, bat he said. ETA ADMINISTRATOR "We doo't thiak it will Rustell E. Train endorsed work." . the Eckhardt bill at House hearings last October, but The Senate MU and a has chaaged his stood, pre Home bill principally author sumably on orders from the ed by Rep. Bob Eckhardt, White Home He still says D-Tex., differ in details, but ; he wants a bill because EPA jbasically would both require needs the authority to act in manufacturers to notify the cases Uke the me involving jEPA whenever they plan to PCBs. But be is. at least offi- introduce a oew chemical ; daily, no longer supporting product The EPA would either the Eckhardt or the screen the reports, decide Hart-Tunney bill. which substance* must be tested before they are mar keted. and then ban or re strict the urn of those found to be rtswferoei to bomaos or harmful to the environ- (PCBs. polychlorinated , biphenyls, are a class of . chemicals widely used ia transformer and capacitors because of their resistance to beat and their electrical ility, ska teutons aad tumor* ia humans, and that they ac cumulate to high levels ia the environment Heavy coa- contrarians have been foiad ia fish in the Hadeoo River, the Grant Lakes, the Mis listtppi and the Pacific off southern California. Bote sport and commercial fishing for some varieties of fish have been banned, aod baas on takiag other varieties could be ordered soon. (The PCS story has been beevily used by eovironmeo- "talist* lobbying for a Toxic Sehttanm Act.) IF TRAIN'S position has become, to say the tout, ondear. President Ford's is not. The White Howe has said it wants the McCoOister MIL No one has said the Prettdent weald veto a tough er bill, but there have bees dear sipnis made to Cngress that he wall mijrt. There were msecctwftt ef-. liver cancer that has deci laris in the last two Cm- mated people who work with frames to remedy the lack. potyvtoyl and vinyl chloride, have seiMfcfied omen sonO- to iae op employee against the Uk0m versons of the Tone Sutetancoi bUl by waning them that they will coat jobs, the miano fight hack. biH, introduced by Rep. John Y. McCoOister. RNeb , rateung steority mem ber of the subcommittee where the Heuse hill origi nated. is favored by the A veto probably could aot be overridden, supporters of the stranger btls concede "We'd just have te wait intil we get a eew president,' said a staff expert for Che rhtmiril industry and by the frass Watch, darkly.