Document 6edGz5jb9qppQ0qwgozjNqJ9

MILWAUKEE SENTINEL MILWAUKEE, WISC. D. 180,349 NOV 20 B75 Environment Role Focus Of Battle Againsf Disease By QUINCY DAOISMAN cencert are believed caused by Since then, PCBs have been Sentinel Staff Writer chemical substances in the en found nearly everywhere in Chicago, I1L -- Prevention vironment. the world and In 1969 In Jap an, they caused serious illness of diceaee by controlling envi In many esses. Train Mid, in 1,200 persons, some of ronmental factors that cause the harm a new chemical can whom died. the four major killers in the cause is not discovered until Several medical and biologi United State# -- cancer* years after it has been intro cal researchers and btochenv stroke, heart disease and acci duced to the market end has lets explained Wednesday how dents -- it "Me most Impor become a significant part of they bito pinpointed effects of tant ingredient in any national the economy. PCBs and of attempts to learn health program." Again and again, ha Mid, the the chemical changes that taka With that statement Wed EPA finds itself "engaged in {dace during PCB poisoning. nesday, Russell Train, adminis an extremely difficult end Medical studies and eutop trator of the Environmental drawn out struggle to protect siet in Japan and laboratory Protection Agency (EPA), the public from a hazard to work than and in other coun opened a three day conference which it has already been ex tries show: here on environmeta) contam posed while at the Mine time At h i g h levels, PCBs or ination by polychlorinated bi trying to avoid putting people some related chemical fre phenyls (PO||}_ out of business or out of work. quently found with them, Train Mid that those four "We find ourselves trying to cause liver cancer. At lower ' classes currently cause 70% of choose between a health haz levels, noncancerous liver tu the deaths in the United Slates, ard and a safety hazard. We mors and degenerative liver that infectious disease has find ourselves without the au ailments are caused. been controlled largely end thority we need to really cope There frequently Is almost that control of environmental with the problems posed by uncontrollable acne, swelling factors causing disease --pre PCBa." of the lips and eyelids and loss vention before the fact -- could be many times as effec About 400 persona are at tending the conference, includ of hair, accompanied by severe itching. tive as finding cans ing scientists from Canada, Ita Reproductive functions Aa a first step, Train cited ly, Japan* France, Belgium end are disrupted, with females -- the need for the toxic sub The Netherlands, as well aa all both human and animals -- stances control bill that has 90 states. more quickly affected than been before Congress for five years. Such control, he said would provide "an effective mechanism to d a I broadly with such problems, not only after the fact but also to help prevent the occurrence In the PCBs are compounds of car bon, hydrogen, oxygen and chlorine. Almost all of those used in the United States are made by MonMnto Industrial Chemical Co., SL Louis, Mo. males. Included are loss of po tency, failure of conception, miscarriages and interruption of the menstrual cycla. Some PCBs are quickly ex creted by living beings, b u t others seemingly cannot be first piece." They ere used primarily tn processed out of the body, During those five years, he sealed electrical equipment be leading to probable lifetime said, 600 'new chemical com cause they will conduct heat disability. pounds, many of them Insuffi but not electricity and do not PCBs can be taken to an ciently tested, have been intro burn Msily. Until about five jtnbom offspring through the duced. year* ago, they were also used placenta, poisoning the child, Ha said that M to 90% of aO for many other purposes. before birth. ... HONS 033415