Document B8ZXnb0e8EZEM4vYxeVVkvw84

8F!j fBfciml JjtrnQi MIAMI. FLA. AUS19 678 ____________ `Dastardly Act' Carolina Sees Red Over PCBs PTpm %HH tm*W(r >rH the IS affected counties will deliver McGEE'S CROSSROADS. N.C. -- Xektii Uniton plinintf to ctl> brate hi* Wrthday last Saturday by havtog tom* friend* ovr to hit notices on the danger of prolonged txpoture to PCBs to residents of the contaminated areas. Warning signs aim art to be posted. hrothtr't farm naar thi map dot in AND, WITHIN the next two aattara North Carolina. But Laagdon changed hit mind. weeks, state Department of Trans portation employes are to begin What mad* Mm change Ma mind hat much of tha Tar Heti atatt in an cleaning up the roadsides. First they'll cover the foot-wide spill "almest unbeUevabla anger," aa on* areas with activated carbon to suck rtafdtnt putt it Several days earlier, worker* on. tha Laapdon farm began to feel ill. "I thought (t wu ay high blood pressure," said M.H. Coates. "1 was. up as much of the chemicals as pos sible. Then they'll dig up the tainted grass and noil -- an estimated U.900 tons -- for burial on three or fdur isolated, state-owndd tracts in week, tick at my stomach,'* "1 thought it was something they the eastern port of the state. Meanwhile, North Carolinians were spraying on the tobacco or the potatoes," said Anne P. Stephenson. struggle with their anger over the dumping. Natural Resources Secre BUT IT wasn't Costas* blood pressure, and it wasn't somethin! tary Howard Lee called It "an out rageous act against the environ they war* spraying on the crops. It was fumes from the industrial chemical PCB, which had been dumped -- illegally -- along State Road 210 near tha Laagdon farm. ment." Stuart George, a Lee subordinate, said, "People are incensed that any one would jump into a tank truck in the middle of the night and dump such a long-lasting, nasty chemi The deliberate spills, shout e toot cal." or a foot-and-a-half wide, extend far beyond the stretch of State -- STEVE SINK Road 210 between Smithfield and Angler. They have melted the grass and dirt in tha swalaa along 230 miles of rural roads, roughly In a 50-mile radius around tha capital dty of Raleigh. "The wind could be a-biowtn* U to you and your eyas would sting, your noaa would burn and you'd be sick to your stomach," said Braxton Milas, another worker on the farm of Mitchell Langdon. "You'd want water, but if you drank water you felt Mh# you wanted to throw it up. "You sure didn't want anything to eat at dinner that day." The dumping apparently occur red <n the first week of August. Gov. Jamas Hunt denounced H as a "dastardly act" on Thursday and said the state will spend up to <2.5 mlilfon to dig up the contaminated earth. He also said the state will pay for blood tests for people who think they might have been ex- HONS 011109 "THERE IS no imminent health danger," Hunt's press secretary. Gary Pearce, said Friday. "But PCB contamination is a long-term thing. That's what makes it scary. We don't know the long-term effects of PCBs on humans." PCBs. or polychlorinated biphe nyls. are extremely stable hydro carbons that contain chlorine. Be cause they are fire-resistant, they have been used as an insulating fluid in electrical equipment since the late 1920s. It wasn't until ]96d that scien tists discovered that PCBs don't break down, that they remain in the environment unless burned at about 2,200* Fahrenheit. Tha other shoe fell a few years later Scientists found that PCBs are a possible cancer-causing agent aod alto art suspected of causing birth defects. By eating PCB-coutamluaf- ed foods, which can include fish, beef, poultry, dairy products or vegetables, humans may have a buildup of tha chemical in their fatty tissue and. risk long-term health problems. , Just two months ego the U-5. Ea~1 vlronmentaJ Protection Agency (EPA) proposed that the importa tion and use of PCBs be prohibited. MONSANTO CO,, which had been THrimiy ll.S. manufacturer of PCBs. voluntarily stopped produc ing the chemicals a year ago. But EPA officials say about 4dO million pounds have found their way Into the environment through leaks, va porisation and dumping -- both JegaJ and Illegal. Stuart George, of the North Caro lina Department of Natural Re sources, theorized Friday that "some company, sitting on several thousand gallons of the stuff, maybe just didn't have the assets to dispose of it properly." The state's Bureau of Investiga tion is looking into the dumping, al though the deed Is only a misde meanor in North Carolina. Suffer 1 federal chemical-dumping laws carry a maximum <25,000 tine sad one-year jail term Gov. Hunt said health officials in Envoy to Togo INamrd WASHINGTON -- <AP) -- PrMident Carter haa named Marilyn ?. Johnaon, S3, a career diplomat, to be U.5. ambassador lo the Republic of Togo. She will replace Ronald D. Palmtr.wB^as resigned.