Document 6bjDMobxv84V6d2XzpBNeaDm3

tvoftf eating, lake MicftiJB fish," H*h says. "PCBs dM get Ihto (he wood streflr Yet, when you eomldtr and affect the unborn, and4 these developments: breast-feeding mothers can The Wisconsin Depart give big doses of PBCs to in ment ol Health and Social fants." Services recommends no Eisele points out hts agency more than on* meal ol Lake Isn't maxing any studies of Xs Michigan salmon or trout own, but "we are monitor per week. . ing what other people are Ned Fogle, Great Ukes studying," fisheries specialist for How do the PCBs get into Michigan, says hi* state it Lake Michigan! recommending that women Eisele mentions incinera of child bearing age not eat tors, landfill sites and in fish from the lake at ail. dustrial dumping of wastes. e The U.5. Food and Drue Administration is expected to reduce the allowable PCB limit in Lake Michigan fish from S parts per million (ppm) to 2 ppm. This would wipe out 90 per cent of Incinerator* -- "They're not hot enough to burn off the PCBs. The ash leaves the incinerators, becomes air-: borne and is carried into the. lake," ., ' Z>L3f Wisconsin's commercial fish The PCB material can be ing industry, according to destroyed only by burning at s lames Addis, director of fish 2,200 to 2,906 degrees (ah-, management for the Depart renhelt. Most municipal In*) ment of Natural Resources. clnerators burn at only 1,509 Scientists say the toxic pol to 1,800 degrees. Therefore, lutant PCB (polychlorinated any PCB laden material biphenyl) has been found In being Incinerated now Is en- the snows of Antarctica, in taring the environment, in the milk of nursing mothers, tact. . In the air, soil, river sedi Landfill* - "The junking ' ments and in living creatures of refrigerators, etc. . throughout the world. .eventually the machinery-" More than 90 per cent of breaks down and PCBs find all Americans have it in their their way into underground tissues, according to the water tables. Underground Environmental Protection streams then carry the con Agency (CPA). taminant into the lake. Last year the EPA began "The most concentrated' testing the breast milk of source of PCBs in Lane><| Americans. PCB was found Michigan lb. In Waukegan. In tne'mtik of 78 of Iff* first (III.) Harbor," Eisele point! a 80 women tested. , out. "The Outboard Marini Although virtually aN ex Corp. has been dumping perts agree that PCBs pose a PCBs for 19 years." significant environmental Eisele explained that the threat,,the issue H complicat firm' used PCBs in motors ed by The fact that few ad and had dumped Ms wastes verse health - effects have Into a stream which carried been noted in humans. the pollutants into tha har Research, however, indi bor. cates that large doses of the "EPA (Region S) discovered dear, oily PCB fluid cause it in October ol 1926," Eisele ' skin lesions In humans and says. "An order was itsuedJ produce cancer, genetic and Outboard Marine hail damage and death In test an agreed tq-rok discharge an*4 imals. ... f-L 4.. x mo* Bckfc fj Wkfcn were RGBs first Eisele said th* concentrT| used! What are -they found tlon of PCBs In the harbor n Inf ' was 290,000 ppm. 1 PCBs were first manufac "One-quarter of the sedi tured In' 1891/ In 1929, ments in the harbdr were PCBs," he explains. "The major problem now," PCBs commericatly as an in Eisele says, "is to clean up sulator in transformers, ca Waukegan Harbor. The fed pacitors and similar equip eration feels action is not ' ment. Within a few yean. moving fait enough on the PCBs became the fluid dean-up. choice of the electrical in "The Illinois IPA is consi dustry; dering dredging or vacuum PCBs are also used in heat ing the bottom ol the har ing colls, caulking com bor. . .at gcost ol $5 million. pounds, recycled paper, car "The .Lake1'. Michigan bonless copy paper, and in Federation," Eisele says, ``be the electric motors of refrig lieves the company should erators, air conditioners, pay for the contamination power saws, clothes washers and pay a fine." and dryers, and dishwashers. We urge communities on Tom Eisele, deputy director or near Lake Michigan's of the Lake Michigan Feder shores to exercise care in the ation, Chicago, says his disposal of wastes. While the agency h deeply Involved problem Is most concentrat with the PCB problem and is ed now at Waukegan, no seeking tough regulations on communities near the lake HONS PCBs in lake Michigan. are perhaps without fault. "We have been warning Each community has a re pregnanr women and wom sponsibility to reduce or , en of child-bearing ages to eliminate PCB pollution. . ` A' ' a* 000937