Document B537qqMY7VNpRx7n97eV3JOYE

FYI: D. R. Bishop J. K. Craddock J. C. Nassif L. J. O'ueill 10-12-83 EPA, Utilities Grapple with PCB Problems PCB's in transformers may be a thing of the past sooner than expected TV Environment*! Protection Agency (EPA1 and a few utility companici Mem ready to accede to demand* that slept be taken quickly to replace electrical equip ment containing polychlorinated biphen yl* or PCB'*. Thi* appear* to be a rtvartal. at least on the part of EPA, of a long standing view that PCB's in electrical equipment pose no signiAcaat health haxard. TV utility companies, however, have responded as a result of recent PCB accidents and the lawsuits that followed. In 1976, when Congress banned tV manufacturing of PCB's. it presumably thought tVt problem* with this perva sive and tonic chemical were for the most pan solved. But a loophole in the law allowed tV continued use of PCB's In electrical transformers and capacitors at insulation. A year ago, the utility industry successfully argued before EPA that transformers Mled with PCB's should only V replaced as the equip ment won out. At this rate, transformer* would V replaced in 20 years. TV cost to proceed any faster would V prohibi tive. the industry contended. Now BPA is moving to dose tV loop hole. Because accidents involving tV nleaic of PCB's ere occurring much more frequently than previously be lieved, EPA it considering a costly pro posal that would ban PCB transformers in public buildings. But in IV past 6 months, two utility companies say thsy Vve decided to speed up the replace ment program not because they believe there ire carious health hazard* linked with PCB's but because they say tVy re weary of trying to counter the public n perception that PCB's arc cairemcly tonie. Public concerns were heightened af ter transformer accidents in Bingham ton. New York, and San Francisco re sulted in the contamination of commer cial buildings, costing miiiiont of dollars to dean up. Other companies ere campaigning to calm public fears about PCB's. General Electric and Monsanto, for example, have been active m disseminating infor mation claiming that tV health effects of PCB's Vve been overblown. Although there It good evidence that PCB s are tonic at high dose levels, tv companies maintain that the data on low-dose ef fects art far test dear cut. Last May, the Pacific Gas and Electric^ Company decided to replace its large transformers shortly after one of ihem SCIENCE. VOL HOMS 216324 exploded and contaminated a high-rise office building in San Francisco. The episode, and the subsequent lawsuits, prompted the company to allocate $60 million over the neat 3 yean to replace about 1000 PCB transformers. "We got tired of batllini public perception." aid company spokesman Tony Ledwclt. Re cently, the Florida Power and Light Company, which services half of Flon- de. took the same step end wilt spend SIJ million over the nest J yeetv Althou|h it he$ not had e major PCB accident with its transformers, "we're getting ahead of the (erne before a problem occurs," said company spokeswoman Siacey Shaw, citing ihe accident in San Francisco and a similar one in Binghamton that oc curred in 19(2. "The public's cosscerns about PCB'a have been severely exag gerated," she said. The cause for concern can be largely attributed to the fad that PCB's are pervesivc in the cnvironmeni. Accordmj to EPA, there are 730 million pounds of PCB's either in storage or in use in ihe Unitad Slates. In a national health study, EPA found that almost everyone has a delectable amount of PCB's in adipose tissue, although the number affectad has dropped since Congress banned the pro duction of PCB's in 1976. About i per cent of the U.S. population in I9SI had more then 3 parts per million in their fatty tissue, a drop from ( percent in 1977. The meaning of these low levels in not clear. ' Hfiut many studies show that heavy PCB exposure is toxic, according to data presented at a recent meeting on PCB's held at the National Institute for Envi ronmental Health Sciences at Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. PCB's nre in a class of compounds relatad to dibentodioxint and dtberuofUrant. Ac cording to Ernest McConnell, chief of the chemical pathology hrmsch at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, PCB's rank third ha- hind dioxins and furatia when the most toxic isomerof each group it considered. Although General Electric hat stated that "the question of whether PCB's cause cancer in animals is unresolved." there is little, if any, doubt in lha aca- demte scientific community that PCB's ere animal carcinogens at high dose lev els. According to separate studies by Diene Norback. a palhologist at the Uni versity of Wisconsin Medical School, and Rcnetc Kimbrough, a medical officer at the Centers for Disease Control, PCB's cause liver tumors in rati when the animals are fed a heavy dote of 100 parts per million over a period of 2 yean. In animal studies, large doses of t ocToaca istt PCB's arc also known to cause a drop in body weight, enlarge the liver, damage kidneys, and change skin pigmentation. They cause reproductive disorders in minks and monkeys. According to one study, minks fed a diet of Ash contam inated with PCB's showed a severe de crease in their reproductive rate. Mon keys exposed to PCB's became infertile. If. however, the monkeys ware taken of the diet with PCB's, their fertility re lumed. It is not cl*it whether PCB's are mutagenic. Several accidents with PCB's have provided some clinical data, but Kim brough of CDC said at ihe institute meet ing that "it is difficult to sort out the toxicity'' because some of the accidents occurring in other countries may involve different mixtures of PCB isomer*. An other problem is how to test for the Workm rtraa up ti nt a Kt rrtntformtrfirt In tan Framcitro kn May. The rrMni prompted Peeffir Gat and ftrenir ta lyrxf Iff axffWoa i* rtpfatt eh tkt nmfanirt (ar$t iraatfarmrrt wir* Kit presence of PCB's and how to beat de termine adverse health effects. The con sensus seemed to be that fatty tissue provides the most sensitive temple for PCB's. Some scientists advocated serum samples, however, as a speedier and less invasive test. The drawback it that se rum does not bind PCB's ns much as adipose tissue. Several studies do reveal some toxici ty of PCB's. In 1961. about 1300 Japa nese became ill after eating rice oil con taminated with PCB's that had leaked from a heat exchanger. With PCB con centrations exceeding 100 ppm. many developed chloracnc, a disfiguring acneUke disorder. According to a literature search by Robert Miller, chief of the epidemiology breach of the National Cancer Institute, nine pregnant Japanese women who had aaten the rice oil gave birth to children with various abnormali ties. Some of the babies showed dark pigmentation, which disappeared several months later. At least two children de veloped overgrown gums. The babies were alto underweight. Kimbrough tug- gened that more extensive study of re productive effects in humans is needed. A number of Taiwanese were also poisoned in 1979 by rice oil that had been contaminated with PCB's. Shu-ying Tang, a physician and biochemist at Nstional Taiwan University, reported that researchers in her group have confined neurological damage with PCB exposure among ihe Taiwanese who consumed the oil. Other scientists alto noted molecular changes in liver cells from piiients who have been exposed to KTB's. It is un clew. they say. tUI these changes mean because the patients Tiavc not es yet shown any clinical symptoms of dis ease. Arnold Schecter, professor of preven tive medicine ai the State University of New York at Binghamton who has been studying the firefighter* and others in volved in the accident there, suggests that PCB's in transformers may even be more hazardous than currently believed because furant are formed when PCB's art subjected to the intense heat of afire. Soot taken from the contamineted state building contained from 270 to 1200 parts per million of dibciuoftirans. According to Martin Helper, chief of the exposure evaluation division at EPA. fires involving transformers and capaci tors containing PCB's arc much more common than once thought. "It's no longer a one in e million chance. It's much more prevalent." By contacting fire departments, for example. EPA hes discovered that "there have been e cou ple hundred fires involving transformers. Now the whole picture hes changed." Helper estimates that there are 20.000 to 30,000 transformer* with PCB s. Whether other utility companies will fol low the lead of those in Califontie and Florida is unclear, hut Helper speculates that the majority "win have to be forced to replace the old equipment." Manrowt tun n MOWS 216325