Document DDYVYMnk8eV8Mgmevm5QDrOr4

JT WALL STREET JOURNAL' July 9, 1973 ^DA Sets Final Rules enough for detection at the lower levels. The tolerance for food packaging material Intended ,To Curb Use of PCBs for foods for other persons was increased to 10 ppm from 5 ppm because test data showed there wasn't a significant increase in the In Food, Related Plants amount of migration of the chemical from the, packaging to the food at the higher tolerance. Tolerances that remain unchanged from the Original proposal in 1972 are 2.5 ppm in milk on Its Regulations Seek to Prevent a fat basis; 2.5 ppm in manufactured dairy! products on fat basis; five ppm in poultry on a: Excessive Exposure to Chemical fat basis; 0.5 ppm in eggs and five ppm in the That May Be Harmful to Man edible portion of fish and shellfish. A final change in the proposal allows an ex emption from the tolerance for food packaging By a Wall. Street Journal Staff Reporter WASHINGTON -- The Food and Drug Ad ministration issued final regulations restricting polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs in feed, material if the food was separated from the packaging material by a barrier that keeps the chemical from entering the food. . The regulations take effect in 60 days. food and food-packaging materials. The limitations, originally proposed last year, are designed to prevent contamination of food with the chemical, which in high concen trations has caused liver damage and other harmful effects in test animals. Government experts say the risk to humans of long-term, low-level exposure isn't known, but restrictions are considered necessary to head off any possi ble future hazards. - PCBs persist in the environment, so if limi tations aren't imposed. they could -build up larger concentrations, producing more exten sive human exposure, FDA aides explained. "Although it is impossible for the FDA to remove PCBs from the environment, these regulations will assure that consumer exposure from food is kept to a minimum," Sherwin Gardner, acting FDA commissioner, stated. The requirements will ban industrial use of PCBs in plants that process or make food, feed j or food-packaging materials. The substances are generally used as a heat-transfer agent in : electrical equipment. They are manufactured : in the U.S. by Monsanto Co. The FDA made some changes from its orig inal proposal in March 1972 in the temporary( PCB tolerances, or maximum amounts permit-; ted in various foods, feeds and packaging ma terials. : The following tolerances were reduced be cause the higher limits were shown to produce Undesirable residues; to 0.2 parts per million from 0.5 ppm for finished animal feed for foodproducing animals; to two ppm from five ppm for animal feed components. The tolerance for PCBs in infant and junior foods was increased to 0.2 ppm from 0.1 ppm Jwcause test techniques didn't prove sensitive DSW 325332 gwwswewntw.ui ii'ii.miiiHic j-wnau " u .iihijw| STLCOPCB4075512