Document 7OKav15aZvNON26R5w2BJNwj

'Page Sis VA) JXoJUwsQAtxo V-/yu_^P .. Muacm i_nu Polyehloringed Biphenyls Join Fiiilay, December 4, 1970 . Li*s3 0/ 'Deadly MuimnZs by JOHN HAMER I College Press Service Come the Silent Spring, when life on earth is dying and hriplcs* man asks why* the names of those chemicals, pesticides and synthetics he has poured Into Ms environment for the sake of "progress" will come back to haunt him. . Along with DDT, mercury, 2,4,5-T, dfcIJrtn, parathion and other deadly" substances, the autopsy of earth will reveal another compound whose recently-detected effects are widespread, chronic, and insidious. This latest chemical infiltrator is PCB, which stands for polychlorinated . biphenyls, a special class of compounds with a great variety of household and industrial uses. Available commercially since 1929. the prevalence of PCB in the environment was not discovered until 1966, when Swedish scientists found it in concentrations as high as DDT. Like DDT, the PCB compounds contain chlorine, hydrogen and carbon. Also like DDT, they are not soluble in water, are resistant to oxidation, they accumulate m fatty tissues and are extremely persistent In ' the environment. PCB Spread Accidentally The major difference between the two is that DD\ hjs been distributed deliberately as'a pesticide; the spread of PCB has been occidental and no one know? exactly how it happens, where leaks occur nor how much escapes. But in the past four years, scientists have detected PCBs in fish, birds. water, tree;, sediinent and-inevjtably-in . . human fat and mothers' milk. Samples ; containing PCBs have been taken in England, Scotland, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Antarctica, Central America and in many parts of the United States, Hi QjuUwnJtoito:j^'-iiiavis-waiiutoAt^, | In the U.S., PCBs are manufactured 1 solely by the Monsanto Company and sold j under the trade name " Aroclor." They ire I also made by chemical companies in fu Knropi Japan, and have been used 0 extensively sincF'WWd'AVor-4k--T&Bs.cau.. be purchased in containers ranging from 50-pound cans to 600-pound drums, or are available by the railroad car tankload. The unique qualities of PCBs make them useful as flame retardants, insulating fluids, plasticisers and coating compounds. ' Consequently, they may appear in a bewildering variety of consumer products, such as floor tile, flourcscent light*, printer's ink, brake linings, swimming pools, automobile-body sealants, asphalt, adhesives, molded plastics, polyester film, paraffin, paints, carbonless copy paper, window envelopes, imitation gold leaf, varnishes, waxes .ceramic pigment i, synthetic rubber and watcr-repellant canvas for camping equipment. Industrial applications of PCBs include coolant fluids in transformers, capacitors' and asl;arc(-type transformers, hydraulic fluids, specialized lubricants, gasket scalers, electrical wiring, heat transfer agents and \ jiucUino^QOi^uUiUdUbh. In addition, the Monsanto tachnicaT^S sales bulletin recommends mixing PCBs ' with chlorinated insecticides to act as a vapor suppressant and sticking agent, so the insecticide may maintain its "kill-life'* on hard surfaces for as long is three months. The bulletin also suggests blending insecticides into tacky PCB-coatjngs "to make insect traps or barriers on tree trunks for foliage or fruit protection." . these UWi. it is little Wonder that PCBs are released into the environment in persistent forms, which, can be distributed widely over the earth in water and air currents. Scientists have cited 5 chief ways In which PCBs get into the T^yirQnin^;||[u ,------^ r - . l\ --From the smokestacks of the lit Monsanto plants (in Sauget, III., and |< Anniston, Ala.) where Aroclor is manufactured, from the stacks of plants which manufacture products containing Aroclor, and from European and Japanese PCB plants. --bionTotHef forms of industrial waste, such as leakage of hydraulic fluids from supposedly "closed systems," which are ' seldom leak-proof. --Gradual wear and weathering of products (such as asphalt) containing Aroclor which may cause PCBs to be slowly released In the form of vapor cr particles into the atmosphere. --From products containing PCB which arc thrown out as trash and eventually end up being burned In city dumps or Incinerators, releasing PCBs in the fotm of highly toxic fumes. (Carbonless copy HONS 032577 j,aper, paints and many plastics, foi example, arc commonly burned.) --And finally, through ['CD-containing pesticides. ,. The acute effects on human beings of high dosages of PCBs arc evident from a series of poisonings in Japan in 1968, in which more than 10,000 people were affected. The I'CB source was traced to cooking oil extracted from rice hulls, which were treated in paddy fields by herbicide. The outbreaks involved a number of miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women and abnormally dirk skin pigmentation in infants. Ppitoning victims suffered from cliloraenc, a condition of severe pimples and pustules common with PCB exposure, and several cases showed symptoms of jaundice and liver damage. Levels of exposure foi workers in Arodor plants have been set by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial llygiotmis, but members of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers union have consistently had trouble getting industries force occupational standards. onsa iV^vVo r'*' TwrrrretT^request from Environment jmagarine to describe its control measures jfor PCH levels in the plant atmosphere, and (was evasive about its emission- monitoring ^""TnTwil* lfOnulJ oT^^iT'^'in sufficient quantity produces nausea, vomiting, loss of weight, shortness of breath, lowered red blood cell count, loss of libido, and inhibition of carbohydrate metabolism. Jaundice and other sever liver damage may result in coma, otrophy, and death. ' But like so many other environmental hazards, the dangers of acute toxicity of PCBs are probably less than the threat of chronic, long-term, low-level exposure, which cannot be measured or, so far, . controlled. vThere have been no experiments as yet to learn chronic PCB' effects on humans, but several studies have produced disturbing evidence of their effects on animals. The initial discovery of PC'tis in the environment, in 1966, was made by Swedish scientist Soren Jensen, who Identified PCDs in the bodies of 200 pike taken from different areas of Sweden, In other fish, and In the body of an eagle. Examining eagle feathers preserved in a museum, Dr. Jensen found PCB traces as early as 1944. In the U.S., PCBs were first detected by Monte Khven of the San Diego Natural History Museum, who found DDT compounds in abandoned peregrine falcon eggs. Also In the unhatchcd egg shells were other compounds which Kirven could not identify until the Swedish research came to his attention, when thoy were recognized as PCBs. Prof. El McCunc, of the University of Missouri, discovered by accident that PCBs have a toxic effect on chickens. When chickens began dying after a feeding house was freshly painted, ` careful research showed that the toxic factor was Aroclor 1242, a binding ingredient in the epoxy paint. 1,9S0 Parts Per Million Perhaps the most extensive research on PCBs has been done by Robert Risebrough of the Institute of Marine Resources, University of California at Berkeley. Risebrough has taken samples from peregrine falcons, seagulls, brown pelicans, cormorants, herons, petrels and terns in San Francisco Bay, San Diego Bay, the Faratlon and Anacapa Islands off the California coast and in Baja California. All of his samples have shown traces of PCBs, and some amounts have been as largo as 1,980 parts PCD per million parts of body fat in the birds sampled. What arc ihe effects of PCBs on wildfowl? The close similarity between DDT and PCB suggested that they might have similar physiological effects, and some research has confirmed this. Dr. David Pcaknll of Cornell University found that PCB stimulated production in pigeons of enzymes which broke down sex hormones and interfered with reproductive cycles. The PCB actually had almost twice as much deleterious effect on the laboratory pigeons as did DDT and its compounds, even though lesser amounts of PCB were used. . At Utah State University, Prof. Joseph C. Street led a project to investigate the effect of PCBs on rats. With PCBs containing more than 50 percent chlorine, the enzyme induction potency was as great as that of DDT. Among other effects this brought about more rapid metabolism of 0 drugs, insecticides, and other fort compounds in the rats' bodies. Street a believes that PCBs ean cause sten degradation, which msy lead to sites endocrine relationships. Very little data is available about PC in people. Both Swedish and Brit scientists have reported finding them samples of human fat. They were fi documented in human milk by f scientists at Colorado College in Colors Springs. Then Dr. Risebrough mcasur PCB in a series of mothers' milk samp from Berkeley and Los Angeles. Eve sample contained both DDT and PC8, t it was impossible to tell how much of l PCB in humans derived from food and h< much was absorbed by the lungs from I air. Nonetheless, this convincing eviden of PCB ubiquity was incontrovertible a ominous. Until recently, information abe PCB could be found only in technh journals, scientific literature, induitr publications and a few informed magxtir such as Environment and Nature. T commercial media largely ignored t problem, even though an increasing volar of information was bail accumulated. Stricter Controls Requested Finally, last April, the dangers of P< were coiled to public attention by fti William F. Ryan, Democratic Congressm from New York, who asked for aetifrom various departments in the Nix. administration and calted upon Monun to establish stricter controls on PCB use. Ryan asked the Department Agriculture to ban the use PCB-contoining pesticides, called ior | Food and Drug Administration to requi proper labeling of PCB products and study a possible complete PCB ban, a requested that the Deportment of t Interior take steps to protect fish a wildlife from the hazards of PCBs. Ryan's initiatives met with mix results. The AgricultureDepartme replied (hot PCB pesticides would discontinued and agreed to cane registrations for such pesticides. Kowzv. it soon became apparent the "dUeontinu and "cancel," in federal-regulatory jargo don't automatically result in the dear and conclusive actions which the wot connote. If Agriculture had chosen to "suspen* the pesticide registrations, the suspense would have taken force immediately at federal law would have stopped shipmer of the products in interstate commert Department inspectors could alio sei stocks of the products In retail slot (although they seldom do because there a only 32 inspectors for sli the thousands retail stores in the U.S.) MONS 032578 When the Agriculture Dept. merely "cancets" a registration, however, the manufacturing companies have 30 day* ' before they must stop shipping the products in interstate commerce. If they appeal the order, even this mild restriction 1* lifted, and (he company can continue to produce, ship, and sell the cancelled products during the lengthy process of appeal. I Furthermore, homeowners, gardeners, farmers or others who buy the products are free to use them in any way, even if contamination of large areas is the result. FDA Responds With Study The F.D.A., in response to Ryan's request for labeling, merely promised to study the amounts and toxicity of PCBs in food, liven if cautionary labels arc Implemented,the labels on containers have no binding force on the purchaser, and there is no guarantee that the products will not continue to be used in harmful ways. While still Secretary of the Interior, . Walter HJekei told Ryan that "when sufficient facts are established as to the sources and nature of the pollutants, we will be in a position to take appropriate "'7 The Monsanto Company, in response lot in's inquiries, first responded wit!'.) higuitles and refusals to provide details,! h is a lilt of PCD uses, production and. :s figures. The 'Company claimed, for^ impte, that a complete list ofvv Ihctmtaining products "would sene no y: ful non-political purpose." ^ But Ryan persisted, and in June, nsanto finally agreed to restrict the use FCBs to "closed-system applications," h as transformers, capacitors and heat infer fluids. As of Aug. 30, Monsanto aid no longer sell PCBs to customers for in general phslicizer operations where posal of end-products cannot be drolled. The company also said that it Laid no longer sell PCB-contalning traulic fluid ("Pydtual" is Monsanto's Jv name) after Dec.. 31, 1970. And illy, Monsanto said it would offer a jvery service for spent fluids Used as slants inm transformers and other .' ] jj led'iystcms' and begin research to cion mo.iifu.l4v>a<iw^;icahl^.PrHt- Jy It These_ actions were encouraging to Ryan,' who said in Congress: "l am' extremely gratified that iny exposure of PCBs as a major environmental hazard was instrumental in having them excluded (tom uses that allow widespread escape into the environment." * "However," he continued, "I am not Satisfied that PCBs are no longer an environmental throat," citing high PCB levels found this summer in England. Ryan , (Continued on next page) . E Threat Page Seven (Continued from preceding page) urged the United Nations .Con ference on the Human' Environ ment, which is to be held In Sweden in 1971, to study the danger of PCDs to animal and human life throughout the world, and to ban any use of PCBs that would allow further escape into the environment. . There will be some lag period before these steps show any re sults. After that, if Monsanto's former customers look for PCB substitutes, rather than buying PCBs from Japan or Europe, the projected decrease In quantity of PCB in the environment could become a reality. The only questlon then will be, was it too late? MONS 032579