Document 6bqY4NO427dYgdR6xaZ68dOaE

A Gannett Newspaper Serving l|if Inland Empire, Sen Bernardino,California ^ flap; r%*~` IW,TW Sdfk Cn ' , J' " i . Destroying PCB: A costly assault on the improbable Second *1 tw articles By JEANN1NE GUTTMAN tun Wrliir In lu chemical (tale, PCB -- polychlorinated bipbenyi -- is described by tbe federsi Food sod Drug Administration as "snow white, purely crystalline, deadly toxic" In its manufactured state, when PCB is mixed with mineral oil for Industrial use, It appear* as a white, oily substance with an odd. pungent odor that's hard to describe. But in either state, PCB is nearly Indestructible. And despite a 1979 production ban. PCBt remain In wide use. They can be found in microwave ovens, fluorescent lights, transformers, capacitors, television sets, refrigerators -- in other words. In almost every electrical appliance For 32 years. PCB has provided nearly "foolproof" fire protection from electrical blares and explosion*, say officials at Monsanto Co w hic h Invented the chemical In 1928 When the compound was ftrsi marketed It was touted as "the wonder chemical of the decade because it was virtually fireproof and. as a coolant oil. could transmit electricity and beat without Igniting. It was also stable, reliable and bad a long chemical life expectancy Perhaps loo long. Despite years of study, scientists could not figure out how to daatroy PCB It was virtually immune to chemical and environmental breakdow n Faced with a growing PCB storage problem the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finally gave Its approval two months ago to the only known method for destroying PCB -- incineration at 2J00 degrees Fahrenheit inside sealed, concrete kilns. But some EPA officials -- like John Dickinson, chief of the hazardous waste section In Atlanta. Ga. -- believe that PCB Incineration has not been studied enough to have been given "the green light" Today, there are millions of pounds of PCB being stored In 33-gallon drums tn secluded landfills across the country. But there are only two in cineration tltes -- one In Texas and the other tn Arkansas At both fsellUles, there Is > year's waiting Hat that Is growing by the day as hundreds of utility firms, foundries, steel mills and scores of banks, high-rise ipanments tnd universities try to rid -themselves of PCB. Wjiboui a doubt, the toxin trauma has been a costly and time-consuming experience for US lndutiry And the expense Incurred from PCB disposal "is bound to be passed on to the con sumer.' said John H. uraoaock of Monsanto Co in St Louis, Mo., which was the sole producer of PCB m the US. "No one In this company is going to deny that PCB Is toxic," Craddock told The Sun "Vt bat we re aying h that it s not deadly toxrc That s ndicu lotu "It requlrea a certain amount of care in handling It. Just like gasoline does, which Is also toxic Most Americans don't come into direct contact with PCB, anyway. And moat Americans probtbly have more toxic substances right at home, under their kitchen sinks" The viewpoint of Monsanto is probably Ocm summed up in 126-page report It released on tbe (Continued on A-4, column li HONS 216569 A4 ~1111WN Mon., Morsfi 3*, 1VI1 Destroying PCB: A costly assault on the improbable. . . (Continued from All uHt, health and environmental effects and disposal "PCBs," Ute preface sutes. "are a classic case history of a true rlsk/beneflt dilemma." PCB* do pose s dilemma because no other chemical offers at many lifeguard* and benefits when It comes to electrical fire prevention. In fact, nothing usable as a cooling oil has been found to be as fire resistant as PCB. As Craddock maintains. PCB "bat saved thousands of lives by preventing fires In high-rise buddings, hospitals, schools, underground utility tunnels, un derground transportation facilities like subways, trtlns. river tunnels and parking garages. "How do we quantitatively measure risk -- the risk of human health hazard and the risk of environmen tal damage -- and compare them with benefits? This rlsk/beneflt problem Is not unique to PCBs." Crad dock says. * Unfortunately, tbe rlsk/beneflt problem goes further than PCB. In rather macabre way. It now extends to dioctyt phtbsltte or OOP. which Is one of two synthetic chemicals being used to replace PCB as required by law Recent animal tests on OOP have concluded that -- guess wbst' -- OOP causes cancer In female rats. "Where does U end? I don't really know," said James W. Gunter, who Is In charge of PCB regulation for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPAi In Washington, D C Peter Ackley of the EPA* chemical control division, however, admits that his agency has issued some trbltrsry "toxic levels" when It comes to PCBs. For Instance, anything with more than 90 pamper- million (ppm) of the chemical repreeenta a health baxard and must be placed In steel barrels and housed In t designated PCB landfill. Any substance with more than 900 ppm of PCB must be Incinerated. But many PCB-fllled appliance!, like fluorescent Ugbl ballasts, contain less than 90 ppm of PCB. Yst. because PCB "blosccumulatfls" In tbe environment -- which means it continually builds up and does oot break down--thousands of flurottcent light fixtures throwo into thousands of city dumps pose very real health risk. "We decided to make 90 ppms our cutoff In terms of wbst we'believe Is an Immediate health threat," AckJey said. Although Ackley agreed that 10.000 fluorescent light fixtures containing PCBs In a 9 ppm concentra tion each yields 90.000 ppm of the chemical -- which Is way over the EPA s health basard level -- "we were forced to dnw tbs line somewhere." be said. Doesn't that mean that despite government regu lations, PCBs will continue to bioaccumulale. If only at a slower rite' , "I don't think you can ay that." Ackley said The substance does bioaccumulale and to that we can only say that tbe greater levels of PCB are of more concern to us at this point We do not feel It's necesury to Mue special requirements for anything containing under 90 ppm (of PCB) at this time " Polychlorinated biphenyls got tbelr bad name from what Is now referred to as "the famous Yuibo Incident." which occurred In Japan In Idea An Industrial accident In the city of vusbo caused some PCB oil that bad been used In a beat transfer unit to escape. Tbe unit was being used to beat rice oil which the plant packaged. Tbe PCBs went Into the environment unnoticed and vast amounts of rics oil were contaminated." said Monsanto's Dan Bishop, director of environ menu I and science communications. These amounts were very mt they were in tbe 2.000 to 3.000 parts-per million range." Some 1J00 Japanese who ate the contaminated rice ott "developed a number of unpleasant and unhealth) reactions," according to a March 1080 regional report by the US. Food and Drug Administration Most of the Japanese became nauseous, developed s painful sene called chloracne and complained of skin rashes and respiratory problems. Today, however, scientists are questioning whether PCB was the real -- and only -- culprit in the Vusbo Incldeot. There B evidence now that a second toxic chemical, called di-beazSuran, was present with tbe PCB and had been produced as tn 'undeslred side-product in the Japanese manufacturing proceas," said Ralph Komai. a scientist with the national Electric Power Research Institute In Pslo Alto "In the manufacture of, PCB. the Japanese pro duced high levels of dl-benzo-furan sod It could be that we re chasing the wrong animal In going after PCB." Komai said. Unlike the Japanese process. Monsanto* prod uction of PCB never yielded bl-benoz-furan. The toxicity level of dl-benzo-furan Is estimsted lo be 900 times that of PCB. an EPA test found And. some EPA officials like Dr. Frank Whitmore, believe that the bl-bemo-furan was tbe ml toxin In the Yusho Incident. But In 1096. the rice oil In Japan was not that closely examined and PCB was singled out "as the villain" Komai Hid. MONS 216570 In |6?2. due in part to theYusbo incident, an animal test was begun at tbe U-S Center for Dtaeaae Control in Atlanta. Ca. by Dr. Renata Klmbrougb on tbe effects of PCBe. Her teat reautu. released in 1975. found that PCBs were 'suspected of causing cancer" in tbe liven of female rats. Several independent tests later. Kimbrough's re sults remain unverified and unrepllcated No one -- including researchers at tbe National Cancer In stitute -- could come up wltb tbe same results. In tbe follow-up ten* by tbe National Cancer In dilute, tbe EPA and Monaanto Co., some of tbe rats exposed to PCB dtd auffer liver damage but none of them, female or male contracted cancer of any kind, results sbow. In fact, studies now show that tbe toxicity level of PCBs -- that is. tbe amount at wblcb they are leibal to humans -- Is tbe same as another "Uigbtly toxic" chemical, common table salt. Tests show that three cupsful of either chemical would kit) most 190-pound adults if taken orally. Tbe concern about PCB sterna from on-going animal studies which show that when rats are fed large doses of the chemical over a two-year period they develop a variety of health problems. Including liver damage, miscarriage, birth defects, digestive ailments, throat and respiratory irritations Taken to a human level, aome scientists fear that cumulative PCB exposure could cause those problems and more. Including Impotence, severe headaches, t darkening of the skin, jaundice, and cbioracne. Seven epidemiology studies -- conducted over a 30 to 40 year period to trace tbe outbreak of disease among a specific population of people -- have failed to detect any long-term health effects from PCB exposure Even when populations with large num ben of utility workers were studied, the results remained unchanged, leaving scientists to Question what ret) side-effects PCB poses "There have never been any documented incidents of anyone developing chronic ailments because of PCB." said Monsanto's Craddock. "It is true that aome workers wfao spent year* literally up to their elbow* in the stuff reported having some liver problems. But those problems were reversible and when the PCB exposure was removed, so was the problem. There has never been a reported case of cancer from PCB. liber.' ! __ iCAUTION "I CONTAINS PCBs (Polychlorinated Biphenyls) |ju''sr Environme. nta_l Pro----t-e---c---t--i-o----n--A-ygve.nwc-yv Regulations | 40 OFR 761 for Disposal Information conioci the nearest U.S. E.P.A. -Office in cose of Occident or spill, coll toll free tbe U S. Coost Guonf National-Response Center 900-424-8602 % Also Contact No This is the marking formal the En vironmental Protection Agency re quires on all PCB containers **fe Those arguments are academic now. as far as Industry official* are concerned For them tbe bottom line is that PCB must be replaced and kept In highly secure storage areas until II can be destroyed. And that bottom line Is expensive. Tbe com of properly peckaging PCB contaminants into 96-gailon barrels and transporting tbe drums to a designated landfill is high. In fact, PCB disposal has become so costly and complicated that aome Epa officials fear massive amounts of illegal, "midnight dumping" ere resulting One such illegal dump was recently found near San Bernardino County In tbe remote desert town of Uano where 37 barrels of PCB were Illegally aban doned. No one knows where tbe PCB came from or bow long the barrels bad been there. By tbe time ibe illegal dump was found, tbe chemical bad seeped more than 20 feet into tbe ground. 'Getting nd of tbe PCB baa become the most major problem of all because no one really want* to pay to get I'M of it," Dr. Paul Willisana of tbe state* Hazard ous Materials Management Dlvialon In Berkeley said "Any compeny using PCB has to find a landfill authorised by the EPA to take It There s only on surh landfill in California and that* the Casmalia disposal site in Santa Barbara County,' Williams said Tbe CaimaJla site charges 1190 for every ion of PCB It accepts. Tacked onto tbaf cost b tbe reserved storage space fee which ranees from *2 900 to ti ooo a year, depending on the amount of square fe*u required to bouse the barrels of PCB The PCB problem -- If It's problem which I don i think It b -- will be around i long, long time.1 Monsanto's Craddock said. "And It a going to end up costing the consumers billions snd billions of dollars to replace perfectly good equipment lust because PCB has come to be seen as some sort of public menace- It'* ridiculous." HONS 216571