Document 3eZbpJdJkeegvvVLg7R1Egm7J

environment */C rs iI i f. * SALMON FI8HINQ In torn* fivers Is periled by levels ol PCBs Ihsi exceed limits sel by FDA. PCBs: problem for all parties They're spreading in environment despite Monsanto's cutbacks; EPA says toxic substances bill needed for effective control Chemical companies, electrical equip* Reed's solution: limit PCBs to trans men! milkers and government regulatory formers and capacitors. But Monsanto agencies arc frustrated over polychlori has already done that. nated biphenyls. So far no viable substi And the frustrated electrical equipment tutes have been found for the nonflam industry hasn't been able tojjjuja substi mable lical-iransfcr fluid. But, although tute with the all-round (coating? heat- the sole U.S. manufacturer. Monsanto. transfer and Arc-resistance properties of Ins restricted use of the chemical to PCB. Dow thinks it's on the right mirk dosed systems, such as transformers and with its alkylated chlorobiphcnyi oxide capacitors, more of it is appearing in the (CIK, June 2\ p. 4.1). which will get a big environment, and regulatory agencies say boost this week when McGraw-Edison they have no tools 10 conirol its spread. (Elgin. HI.), one of the major electrical The liustrmions spilled over at the Bn- equipment makers, says that it will switch virnnmcmal Protection Agency meeting to the Dow product_for some of its ca on PCB* in Chicago recently (CM' Tech* pacitors. inofo%Y Newsletter, Nov, 26). CPA re No Authority: "We find ourselves with ported that some 10 million Ibc. of the out the authority need to really cope chemical are "lost into (he envirppment. with the problems posed bv PCBs." said each year through vaporization, leaks and Train. ' * spills.'' But ERA Administrator Russel) And Waller C. Burber. EPA's Director Train said he was reluctant to ban PCS of Standards and Regulations Evaluation, discharges under Section 504 of the 1972 expressed doubt that even tough PCB ef Federal Water Pollution Control Act fluent standards-expccied to be drafted Amendments, but could go along with a sometime this spring-can be effectively l-poriytrillion water-quality limit. Train enforced because of the "apparent myr indicated that PCB discharges could be iad" of small sources of PCB discharges. controlled only after passage of toxic sub A study reponed by EPA chemist stances control legislation now pending in Thomas Kopp indicated that at least 10 Congress. electrical equipment plants were dis Stressing the impuct of PCB spills on charging PCBs directly into waterways fish. Nathaniel P. Reed, an Assistant Sec and that iwo others were discharging the retary of the Interior Dept., said the na chemical into municipal waste treatment tion's rivers and lakes were "in mortal systems. danger.'' with levels rn lish in excess of In Canada, where the PCB limit in the Food and Drug Administration's foodstuffs is 2 ppm., oillcial* have re 5-ppm. limit "virtually everywhere." ported an average level of over 17 ppm. 40 CHEMICAL WEEK December 3. 1975 in eels from the St. l.awrenc.'. over 4 ppm. in smelt and about l.1* ppm. m -aiir- gcon from the river. Striped Kiss ;u*J salmon caught in the Hudson Roct .md Lake Ontario had PCB levels of over 5 ppm., which leads New York's l:n\iron- mental Conservation Commissioner. Oti den Reid, to warn against eating Hudson River fish. "Under present conditions. PCB* may very well pull the rug out from beneath us by destroying marginal species in >pitc of our best cfloris for preservation." said Interior's Reed. Persistent and Resistant: "Ihe i!vn that makes these products lire retardant o the same thin;' that makes them pvtsis- lent," says Monsanto. FAV. Kuti and S. C. StrasMiuu ot ( P \ noted an apparent increase in the per centage of people in the I'.S. wln*e tis sues had trace levels of PCHs howi'cii 1972 and 1974. They repotted K'Ds were found in 50.6V of the general (' S popu lation sampled (1.047 samplest. Between l and 1 ppm. wcic found in .15.4*. of the samples, and more than 3 ppm. in 4.9'7 of the samples. But a key problem seems to be that 110 one is sure why PCBs are mcrea-im' m the environment with the I'tuJmiion down (40 million (hs./ycno .md ioc tun ned, Surveys by the Michigan Dept, of Natural Resources-which has titled .1 ban on all but dielectric use of PI lls - failed to identify any electrical ipph- cations as major sources of water con tamination. The Michigan study found plastici/er applications, including paper recycling, and municipal sludge in landtiIK. iiom which the PCBs may be transported by air, as possible important sources. I he re port cited hydraulic fluids a* an impor tant past source and noted tint although all known users of PCBs fot hydraulic fluid* have switched to *ub*ii*jie*. the* continue to have PCB contamination. Substitute Search: Chemical com panies are still searching for PCB substi tutes for electrical applications Mon santo is joining in the search but Iccl* PCBs are indispensable for all dielectric uses. But McGruw-Ldison appear* to be sat isfied with Dow's research on us heattransfer chemical, although its use ap pears to he limited to capacitor*. Other chemicals bemg tested for capacitors: do isottott)! phihulate front lAxon C hemie.tl and dichlorohiphenyl plus its alkyl de rivative from France's Prodelee S. A And for transformers. Dow Coming's poly dimethyl siloxunc is being readied f hjL Ju-i--J/ xa. v . .. Zt/a\~v.... ................ - HONS 031886