Document 71XwBOyMoygQ2kQ4Rw8YVEama

science' i technology MO. *2.000 FEB r CUPPED BY I 1976 1 BACONSJ The rising clamor about PCB's Useful though they may be, these toxic materials will probably be phased out In the U.S., in the near future Rarely, H ever, has a conference's keynote speaker expressed the wish that the meeting at which he spoke was unnecessary. The keynote speaker who expressed this rather surprising wish was EPA administrator Russell Train who spoke at the National Conference on Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB's) held In Chicago last November, and sponsored by the EPA and the Re* search Triangle Institute (Research Triangle Park, N.C.J. Train said that U the federal government had pasaad a toxic substances control law In 1972. when e federal task fore# urged that such a measure be enacted, the PCS conference "would have been rendered unnecessary." Train called for rapid paeeege of e toxic substances control act. However, no toxic substances law has been passed as this goes to press, and a PCB conference was Indeed nec essary, because these compounds are now fairly widespread in the environ* ment. They ere found- mostly In the fresh-water hydrosphere. Its bottom sediments, end Its biota. PCB's bioac cumulate, particularly in fatty tissues from which any purge, where H may occur, Is very slow. Humans burdened with PCB's In sufficient quantity will de velop medical symptoms typified by Yueho disease, e painful, sometimes le thal ailment that first appeared In Japan In 1996, end for which 1291 patients had been registered ee of last April 30. The dlemma PCB's, which are so environmental? and medically Intolerable, are a boon to many Industries. For Instance, they are non-conductors, as wefl as good heat transferring media, and they ara non flammable, Thus, PCB'S ara Ideal for large transformers and power capaci tors, for which they are made In the U.S. by Monsanto under the trade name ''Aroctor".PCB~aalurhave applications as plasticizers, hydraulic fluids, diffusion pump oHs. wax additives for investment castings, carbonless carbon paper (In the past), and electrical circuitry and components. At present, their use In the U.S. Is restricted to closed systems; their manufacture is banned In Japan as of 1972. An industry spokesman, however, told BS&T that perhaps up to 65% of "dosed" transformers may not. In real ity, be closed. Some weak points for transformer leaks could be gaskets In leads; others could be the oil level view ing glasses that are said to break on oc casion. Old or defective capacitors might be deposited In landfills where they may be broken during the burying process; their PCB content would es cape, and could eventuaHy percolate to e stream. PCB spMage could also occur If oH Is drained from a defective trans former. to be filtered end reused. Indeed, PCB's are stW finding their way to certain streams, lakas (especial ly the Great Lakes, which were charac terized as a PCB sink), stream and lake sediments, and fresh-water biota. Their environmental and economic effects have been fek, as one gathers when one reads e letter by Jean Hermes of Green Bey, Wls., speaking for her fami ly; they ere In the commercial fishing business on Lake Michigan. Last July, regulatory actions by the Food end Drug Administration (FDA) caused the doting of the Hermes' business when fish from their nets were found (o contain up to 54 ppm of PCB's, and, aa Harmes put 9. "deprived the family of Its livelihood." The FDA allows no more than 5 ppm In fish, and Canada, no more than 2 ppm. The conflict between the Industrie! benefits of PCB's and their long-term toxic environmental affects was the subject of a strong speech by Nathaniel Reed, assistant secretary of the Interior for fish and wfldflfe end perks. Reed re minded the conference that the Depart ment of the Interior (DO!) Invested S33 million and 17 years to control sea lam preys and other predatory fish, and re store the Greet Lakes fisheries to an approximately $350 mWon annual value wkh emphasis on budding saknonki Rsh stocks. Ha wants to saa this program continue, for overriding economic end biological reasons, but ha warned that the DOt wM not be Justified in maintain Ing the fisheries If the fish cannot be harvested---"and we now face tNe stark posatoiHty." Read pointed out that "a significant portion" of theta fish con- Cunwnt and paal PCB manufactura ' Country Pranos ; Germany ' Italy \ Japan* ' U.S. ProdMec Bayer Caffera Kanegafuehl Mitsubishi Monsanto Trade name Phftnoelor PyrslSne . CJophen Oeceohlorodlphenyl (OK) lendor KermeeMor Santotherm Aroclor Thsrmlnai FR-1 Isms: CPA. ItoatonV 122 Environmental Science A Technology [ PCB-contalnlng atkarala In tha U.S. . Manufacturer : Aerovox . Allls-Chaimert . American Corp. "'" Cornell Oubilier General Electric . Kuhtman Electric i. McQraw Edison K. 8angamo Electric l Wagner Eleotrfc ^ Westlnghouee Electric * Cbwob: BPA, PtoflBR V fe.-. . HONS Trade name Hyvol Chlorextoi Abettoi Dy Kanol Pyranoi Saf-T-Kuhi Elemex DIactor Noflamol Inerteon 086353 tain PCB residues exceeding the 6 ppm action level established by the FDA; If that (aval warn lowered to 1-2 ppm, "essentially tha entire Grant LaHaa commarckal food flehery would ba cur tailed." Medical affaeta Madloal affaeta of PCB'a warn dts- ptoyad dramaticatfy in Japan after lata 1066, whan rlea OH, contaminated with PCB'a and rotated chemical* from tha electrical oomponenta of tha rice onmaking process. waa Ingested. Symp tom* Included fatigue, headache*, pain In )dnta. anemia, acnaform aruptlona, pigmentation change*, and ocular sign*. Tha none symptom la particularly painful. Many of tha pustular eruption* appear on the back, and are excruciat ing, espedaRy whan tha patient's back comae m contact with almost anything. From AprH 1973 to March 1974, PCB lavala In tha blood of tha moat affected Yuaho (tenant patient* was generally 7 2 4.9 parts par blltton, according to what Matanorl Kuratsuno of Kyushu University (Fukuoka, Japan) told the ooriferenoe. Babia* bom to mother* who Ingested PCB-contemtnated "Yuaho ott" showed soma unusual features, particularly dark brown pigmentation of tha mucous mambrana, soma fatal growth inhibition, eruption of tooth at birth, and gum prob lems, for example. Soma of these symptoms continued In new-born babies even after the mother's Intake of "Yuaho ott" had been discontinued for a few years. However, the children's PCB blood levels, while "slgnlflcentiy higher" than that of ordinary children, wee lower titan that of their mothers. Frederick Kutz of the EPA described tindktgs of PCB'a In fatty tissues in peo ple In the U.8. over fiscal years 1973 and 1974. For fiscal 1973, of 1277 peo ple, 6.5% had more titan 3 ppm of PCB's; 29.6% had 1-3 ppm; 40.2% had less then 1 ppm; and the remainder showed no detectable level. For ftsoal 1974, of 1047 people, 4.9% had more titan 3 ppm; 36.4% had 1-3 ppm; 60.6% had less than 1 ppm; and tha balance had no detectable level. Whet PCB's were denoted by combined gas chromatography were mostly penta-. hexe-, and haptachloroblphanyls. Kutz noted that tstraoNoroblphenyt end less chlorinated Isomers were not normally found In human tissue. Whet If animals, Including birds and fish, era PCB contaminated? Reproduc tion oon suffer markedly, especially by the third or fourth generation; malfor mation might also occur, in rats. It was nottoed that suspicious liver neoplasms developed. Data gathered so far indi* oete that the carcinogenic potential of PCB's can definitely not be ruled out, even though fine! conclusions on this subject are yet to be drawn. EPA administrator Train Regretted need tor PCB conference PCB's In food Charles Jeilnek of the FOA told the conference that fish received their PCB contamination mainly through the envi ronment, whereas mttk and dairy prod ucts, eggs, poultry, animal feeds. Infant foods, and papsr food packaging reeeived PCB'a principally from agricultur al end Industrial applications. However, use of PCB'a at food, animal feed, and food packaging manufacturing plants is now prohibited. Through the enforce ment of this regulation end of regulatory levels established for PCB's in appropri ate products, the level end frequency of occurrence of PCB's in non-fish food products declined drasticsRy from fiscal year 1973 through fiscal year 1975. Evan In tha case of fish, no PCB's were found during 1973-1976 In FDA examinations in 62% of fish sold In In terstate commerce. However, about 3% of the fish were over tolerance (5 ppm of PCB's). AH of the samples found to be violative were from the Great Lakes area, and Inducted such species ee chub, carp, and Coho salmon. PCB's are found almost exclusively In fresh water fish In the U.S., end, ee secretary Read pointed out. much of these art found In salmonId fish caught for sport, over which the FDA presently has no control. To cut PCB contamination In fish, Jattnek catted for halting the entry of PCB's Into the aquatic environment. Secretary Read "Greet Lakes fishery could tuffm" In December. EPA administrator Train announced that his agency w* seek an eventual halt to att PCB production and use In the U.8. Are there afternatives? PCB's seen to be enough of e threat so that alternatives with the same ex cellent industrial attributes plus a lack of environmental detriments would be de sired. A. Kerim Ahmed of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NROC, New York, N.Y.) told the conference of his organization's campaign to atop U.S. manufacture, use, end discharge of PCB's, end gave as one reason PCB content in edible fish In various parts of the country ranging 0.57-157.27 ppm. This is considerably higher then whet the FDA found In commercial fish. Most of these PCB's may have come from askareis (transformer oils), such as Arocbr 1246, 1260, and 1264, some of which ere no longer made. In certain Hudeon River sediments near Fort Ed ward, N.Y.. |ust south of a General Elec tric (GE) plant, 540-2960 ppm of PCB's were found. GE has been ordered to stop discharging PCB's by September 30. by Ogden Reid, New York's com. mtsak>n#r of environmental conserva tion. One possible alternative to PCB's may be dllsononyl phthaiate (SiJ-2065), developed by Exxon Chemical Co.. U.S.A. ENJ-2066 ie now being uaed In some commercial capacitors. Others may consist of Dow Coming substitutes found in gas-cooled or air-cooled dry- type transformers, or iMcone oils now in volume use in Japan. Dow Chemical Co., and McGraw Edison sold that butyl- ated monochtorodlphenyl oxide la effec tive, end far lest btoconcentretable end more biodegradable then PCB's. Prodb- lee (Courbevole, France), which makes PCB oils under the names "Phtnodor" and "Pyrelbne", Is looking at e (texture of pure techlorobiphenyt* and chlorattu ytone. an etttyieted derivative In 20:60 proportion, which B. Ray Coquets, a ProdMec engineer, told the conference has e tow toxicity end It biodegradable. Incidentally, a French law, pasted led July 8, require* recovery of att PCB's. Since PC8's ere deemed e long-term environmental hazard, end there ie much pressure from groups like the Na tional Fisheries Institute (Washington, D.C.), as well ee environmental organk zationt, to ban them, more substitutes will eventuatty be developed end used, even If transformer and capacitor cotta must increase somewhat, indeed, r* strlotions on PCB's seem to be beoonv Ing tighter with the passage of time, end It would not be surprising to see the U.S. end Organization for Economic Co operation and Devetogment (OECD) countries eventuatty go the way of Japan, end Institute what effectively amounts to s ban. JJ Volume 10, Number 2, February 1B76 123 HONS 086554 _