Document 6wVNvq2jDyKvrQY6dGNrdnGBd

19/2______________ AIR/WATER pollution report. ck TO CURB PCS USES AS RECOMMENDED BY FEDERAL TASK FORCE Paxe 204 A six-month study of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), conducted by e teak force rep- teeentlng eight Federal agenclea, has recommended that ell current usee of PCBs except In electrical capecltetore and transformers, be discontinued. The study found that) (1) PCBs caused birth defecta as well as skin and liver ailments In laboratory race; (2) PCBs are linked with adverse effects on certain forms of animal life which encounter the chemicals in tha environment; (3) like DDT, which It resembles chemically, PCBs compounds retain tox icity for years and are able to build up in fatty tissues of animals; and (4) PCBs are widely dispersed throughout tha environment and can have adverse ecological and toxico logical affects. Tha report has asked thatt (1) PCBs be restricted to essential or non-raplacaable uses which Involve minimal direct human contact; (2) PCBs not be banned -- that they ba allowed to continue In use as Insulating fluid in transformers and electrical capacltators whars substitutes hava bean shown to greatly Increase chances of fire and explosion; and (3) broad Federal authority ba Implemented to restrict use or distribution of PCBs, to con trol imports, and to collect information. Acting on the report's recommendation, tha Envi ronmental Protection Agency agreed to restrict discharges of Industrial effluents of PCBs so that lavala In rlvars and lakes do not exceed 0,01 parts par billion. Tha Food and Drug Administration proposed new and strict regulations on Mar. IB, which Included msasures to prevent PCBs in food packaging, contamination of food from accidents in food plants, and leaks In food machinery such as that which contaminated poultry fead four times In the past 18 months, causing 487,000 chickens and turkeys to be withheld from market. PCBs can have adverse affects on htanan haalth but so far as is known, these effects do not occur as a result of PCB levels currently in environment. PCBs era widely manufactured In Japan, Italy, France, West Germany, Russia, and pos sibly In Brasil, Argentina, India, and East Germany; therefore, weys to monitor Imported electrical supplies contelnlng PCBs Is of prime concern. This needed control would be pro vided if the Administration's Toxic Substances Control Act, now pending before Congress, la passed. The sole U.S. producer of PCBs, Monsanto Co., has already reported volunterlly discontinuing sales of PCBs for use In paints, plasticisers, sealants, adheslvaa, and all other open-system uses. As an additional measure, the U.S. has asked Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to review member state's national policies concerning PCBs and to Identify producte moving In international trade which contain PCBs. Tha 192-page report entitled "PCBs and the Environment" has detailed Information on production, use and distribution of PCBs and beneflta of chemicals, the affects of PCBs on nan and wlldllfa, and othar data related to the problem. It le available at $6.00 from National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Va. 22151. ' *** NSF GRANTS $377,000 FOR STUDY OF POLLUTANTS DEPOSITED ON OCEAN FROM AIR A National Science Foundation grant of $377,000 for a two-year study on how pollutants In the air are carried over and deposited on tha ocean with their subsequent effect on sea life, has been awarded to group of seven scientists, all but one from the University of Rhode Island. Principal Investigator for the project and associate professor at the URI Craduate School, Dr. Robert A. Duce, said the project Is a continuation of one last year which found e layer of water five-thousandths of an Inch thick on surface of Narraganeett Bay enriched with lead, iron, nickel, copper, fatty acids, petroleum and chlorinated hydro carbons. Pertlculatad lead has been found by URI scientists not only in Bay but In Ant arctica. Dues said, ocean surface racelves pollutants from rain or dry fallout; and from pollutants present In aawaga and Industrial affluents carried to tha surface by rising bubbles. A 60-foot Instrument towar, located on west coast of Bermuda, by Sargasso Sea, will measure pollutants transported by air from continent to the Island's vicinity by prevail ing offshore winds. Operating by Sept. 1, the tower will be located on land owned by Naval Underwater Systems Center in New London, Conn., and will measure air samples for lead, vanadium, Iron, nickel, sine and other heavy metals In atmospheric particulates, In addition to organic compounds such as lipids, and patroleum and chlorinated hydrocarbons In tha forms of DDT, aldrln, dleldrln and PCBs. MGNS C64732