Document 70kKL4861JX35ME3r7RjNEg16

fOfficials not ! much closer to PCB link MINNEAPOLIS (UPI) -- Federal officials said Saturday they are not much closer to locating the origin of a chemical which has contaminated flrfi in the Mississippi, Minnesota and LeSueur rivers. Darryl Brown, lab chief of the Food and Drag Administration's Min neapolis toffice,'said carp taken from the LeSueur River's outlet at Lake Elysian contained 15 parts per mhllion of ....................... * J --*t EAU CLAIRE. WIS. LEADER TELEGRAM D. 22.500 SFP 8 1975 found to cause birth de fects in monkeys and other animals, Brown said. A re cent study in Japan showed that children of persons exposed to PCB suffered birth defects. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has asked the FDA to ban the use of PCB, which is used almost exclusively in power transformers. Hie carp containing the highly toxic industrial chemical were taken by Paul Mertkis, WatervUle, Minn. They contained three times the maximum concentration of PCB fudged to be safe by the FDA, which is five parts per million. Brown said he thinks the carp originally came from the Minnesota River and' St into the Le Sueur duri high water last spring. He said the interstate task force investigating the source of PCB in the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers is not much closer to success than earlier this year when fish containing [* mnunta nf the MQNS 032813