Document 99o8n0NxLqa9a3bqwd9brxJDV

HONS 0 0 1 0 4 9 V.Iir r.1'"-' MARI 3B77 Area faces long hassle with PCB pollution By JACK STEWARDSON TV problems posed by PCBs in the flew Bedford marine environment are Hkety to be wws that n not going to Evea though state ani federal otficMs base taken strides in tbe past year to identify tbe PCB problem Mttle. if any. idea of be* to fieri with eradkatlng tbe staatioo on a long term One of tbe characteristics that has made tbe cMorine-tesed compounds an mvliwunaal hazard -- their stability and rerirtaaoe -to 1m i~toiiQ down -- Tbnt most ef tbe PCB effort to rite baa been directed toAmnuauing furthgPCB dhMarges into area waters, sock as tfcroagb permits from tbe U S. E TtrrwmuUl ProtectMi Agency(EPA). aad tlaiagb wiraiagi of tbe potential health hazafri of tbe cbendcala. like that tanned tost week by the state Department of Pnbfcc Health. *Doh*t know enough* "We don't know enough about the bog range ejects of PCBs to have long range ptw," Ciaiimiisiuwei DavM fitafiby, bead of tbe state Department of brisMatil Qeriity Engineering, "rind "Our long range plan at tbe mo went is a abort to mid-range tolonnetms ptherng proyam. " Neither Standby nor a spokesman for tbe EPA. Pari Keoegb. are able to ay Kb certainty whether some mum of eradication, ndi a* dredging, can be used practically to deal with the PCB probtorn. "We don t bno* whether an abate ment program would work." Standby commented. "We don't know bon fast it worid gB away if ** left it alone, or if it would go away." Keough. tbe public affairs officer for tbe Boston EPA office, added, "before we eaa determine tbe feasibility of cwefiWfe it ap. we shorid know more jbont tbe extent of the proMem State not alone "hi toe tag ran H may be better onriromoeatafly to let what's then rit tbere." be said. Evea if dredging of con taminated spoils is economically feasible be noted, there wontd bean ad ditional problem of disponl of the contaansnated sprite. If Massachusetts seems to be to a quandary over PCBs. it b Car fram be- la New England cities sndb a* Pitts field. North Adana. Bemtegtco, Vt. aad Bridgeport. Cana.. tn dealing with tbe problem. Tbe Great lakes ana. New York state and many southern state are attempting to deal with tbe newly stability and beat resbtant nature, they recognised problem, and acmnling to proved sdaptaMefer maoy commercial federal officials, fish from every major uses to addition to their more recent watershed show some trace of tbe ose to tbe raaaufactBU of transformers compound. and capacitors to tbe electrical in In Ner York, the state Otvimaroen- dustry. they were used as additives for tal Conservation Commission. study pterics. priori and ntober. to beat trans ing tbe matte but has come to 00 con- forming equipment aad tbe inewufac- ctoston. tare of carbonless copying paper. An area of the Horioo River from PL Edward to Tray has been dosed to all type of fishing because of PCBs. and commercial fishing baa been banned from Tray south to tbe buttery to New York City Two New Bedford firrae. Aeronu in dustries. be., and Cornel DufioUer Electric Corp. have been Bring PCBs in their manufacturing process, which with other sources m the years, have contracted to tbe loeri fmrirm Cleaning effort planned The state and General Electric, wkich has dtoebarged tbe chemicals in the post, have agreed bo pari M mdMon toward cleaning up tbe river aad tbe electric company has added another ft Bullion to research tbe problem. Accorring to Robert McManus, public affairs dweetor for tbecommission. tbe state "hasn't made any deorion on whether to dredge it or leave tt. We've got cowsritiug contracts out now to get some adrice on what to do with it." PCBs is the common abbreviation for polychlorinated biphenyls. color less. odorless, syrupy liquid* delved from a mixture of ctomly related chlorine-based compwmds. Because of tbeir high degree of First evidence in 1960 Uke many man-made UAqwadi currently coming voder scientific scrutiny evidence began to first ac cumulate to tbetnid-UMs. more than S years after (bey were first produced conunerctoBy. that PCBs couldpooeew- problems. Initially, traces of be compounds were dteiovered by flweriti scientists testing fish and wttdUfr samples to INI. Two years later, however, advene affects oa bantme were noted when a severe sfcto dtewdei. later labeled tbe Yuaho syndrome, developed in Japanese families who accidentally in gested rice contaminated by a commer cial PCB brand. Symptoms found among affected Japanese Incleded apper eyelid sweding. visual bnpainneri. acnsBte formatfons of tbe skin, and heightened traces of PCBs were passedonto babies at birth. Snbseqntntty laboratory tests on monkeys at the IMrcraty of Wtscoorin Scbori of Medbine and on rats at lbs Center for Disease Control to Atlanta. Ga.. produced marked reproductive faihwe to tbe moriwys and rigns tbnt PCBs were a cancer source to tbe rat*. InMownber of tf75 the PCBproblem came to tbe fore in tbe United States when then EPA Director RasseO Tnto catted for a national hen on the me of Production to 9top The major VS. nuuriacltr of tbe compound!. nxeewbfle. tbe Mmemtn Co., made e decirim to atop father production of PCB by be end ef 1*77. In April tbe EPA. which w ` ` firms mtog PCBu were dbcbergtag w to l.d ounce* of tbethewtiealdaily toto the Acnrimet River and city sewer system. Lest September the EPA released lest Barings wMdi Mowed sene seriment samples tbnt registered among tbe highest PCB levels then in nationwide testing and shellfish samples which coutatoed tbe highest levels lend to tesfiag to that rite. These flnriagi tombed off a crash sampling piogtuu among federal, state and local officials of bath sedbnent. sbeHTob and fWito which M to test week's health warring by the state Dcpei tuiml ef PubUc Health. Although tbe warning applied to bot tom baring fiafteh end eris taka from points north of a Dae draws from Mtohamn Print to Rocky Priri m West bland, and sbeOMi taken toride a fine kora Rkketson Print to WilMr's Potot, toe state md federal giunmto plea tort to determine wbetoer riber types of mnrtoe life, smb as lobsters and migratory game QM Uke striped bass and Huefbb tnigbt be affected. Earner ttri yew the EPA set rio- Merge standards bun Atrovot end Ooradl DUbfitor that wil raqahe both firms to dtechargi. PCBs to cententra- on net en.verttag t* pnrti per NBfon. At tbe sente time a ban an tbe me of PCBs was Impased nationally through its W^riagton office, effective nest year. Tbe long terra solution to tbe praMuu already here, however, remains ehahre