Document 99jde6M4XOGZGDqj4ExwvBOm6

Time. October 11, 1971 / The Menace of PCB Environmentalists were conlldent that they had ferreted out the nation's mn* jor pollutants after they put the finger on substances like DDT. mercury, lead and phosphates. Now an important new* comer has cropped up in the form of polychlorinated biphenyls (pcbs). col orless. odorless, syrupy chemicals that are manufactured in the US. under the trade name Aroclor by the Mon* sanlo Co. Until recently, pcbs were used in industry in many ways, for in* stance as soltencrs in plastics, paints and rubber, as additives in printing inks and papers. Although they arc now used primarily as agents in heat ex changers, there is growing evidence that alarming quantities of PCBs have found their way into living organisms and that they pose a potent new threat to the environment. Two years ago. New York Democratic Congressman William F. Ryan was told by i constituent about the dangers of PCB. Checking further. Ryan round studies showing that large amounts of PCBs hod been discovered in the tish and sea birds of several countries. The stud* ies also revealed that the compounds can cause liver damage in mice and disrupt the calcium metabolism of birds, which then lay thin-shelled eggs. Alarmed by the findings. Ryan delivered a House speech on PCBs. The Department of Ag riculture responded by halting the use of PCHs--but only in pesticides. Then, de spite complaints from customers, Monsanlo announced that, as of September 1970, it would stop sales of PCHs except for "absolutely essential" use in electri cal equipment. Polluted Poultry. To the public, how ever, PCS was still largely unknown --until the disclosure, in December 1970, that Campbell Soup had found high PCU levels in some New York Slate chickens destined for its products. Once notified, the New York and fed eral departments of agriculture stopped poultry shipments from the three coun ties supplying Campbell and ordered the burial of 146,000 contaminated birds. Where did the PCB come from? Officials speculated that it had been transmitted by chicken feed made from stale bakery goods that had been wrapped In PCH-coalcd plastic bags. One of the worst instances of PCB pol lution occurred last spring. A North Car olina poultry raiser, worried over the low hatching rate of his chickens, ran in dependent tests and found that the fatty tissue of the birds contained up to 40 p.p.m. of PCBs ( the federal limit for poultry is S p.p.m.). The contamina tion was traced to a Wilmington, N.C.. fish-meal plant wherg^-fClls wbre leak- j For alt the grim warning signs, there ing from a yripf--in a heating system I is as yet no proof that PCB* at present into the meal. Officials were dismayed ; low levels arc harmful to humans. Most to learn that the leak had gone dn* scientists, and critics like Congressman discovered for nearly two months anu\ 'Ryan, however, feel that the safest course that 13.000 tons of tainted feed had h to treat PCBs just as though they been sent to 64 customers in twelve were the most potent of pollutants, un Southern and Midwestern slates. til tbsls determine exuctly what the long Ryan was furious. "The Federal Gov term bftects may be. ernment's actions are inexcusable." he said. "This entire incident could have been prevented if the Department of Ag riculture and the Food and Drug Ad ministration had lived up to their Copies to: responsibilities to protect the public." He then introduced legislation that would totally ban PCBs from interstate commerce. Official Goof. Still, evidence of Cunningham Coreyt Mason PCB pollution continued to crop up, probably because markets were already T>^>ageorge saturated with PCB products. In mid- August. FDA disclosed thar it had seized more than 75.000 fresh eggs ^Wheele\ from wholesalers in Norfolk. Va.. be cause the chickens that laid them had eaten feed containing the tainted fish meal. Though the agency assured the Pickard^ Forrestal Marsh-Brussels public that no tainted food would lenk out. it later admitted an official goof: a shipment of 60.000 eggs had somehow got through federal inspectors And, presumably, into the stomachs of Washington. D.C.. residents. Two weeks ago. the Department of Agriculture announced that "unaccept able levels of the poison PCH" had been found in turkeys processed by a Minnesota subsidiary of Swift & Co. About 50.000 birds were voluntarily withheld from the market while ag riculture experts searched for the source of the contamination. Around the same lime. Michigan Governor Wfllinm Mil- liken ordered a halt to the commercial sale of coho salmon after PCB was found in salmon taken from Lake Mich igan. Last week FDA disclosed that PCBs had also been found in several dif ferent kinds of dried foods, including baby cereals and shredded wheat. The PCB source has been traced to the card board packaging material, which was made partly of recycled PCB-ireated copying paper. PCHs are difficult to cope with for a number of reasons. Bret of all because the chemicals are hard to identify. They so closely resemble DDT they can be dif ferentiated only by spcctrographic anal ysis. PCBs are long-lived and. like DDT. their potency is multiplied as they work their way up the food chain. Unlike DDT. however, these chemicals arc not sprayed hut get into the environment ac cidentally, which makes them even hard er to trace and control. HONS 031710