Document DDy4jgB4orm8O2KDdb6RG62GQ

MIAMI. FLA. MEMLO 0 404,101-S 498.507 MIAMI Mil ROPOlITAkARtA #U0 19 >s78 *PastardIy Act' Carolina Sees Red Over PCBs McGEE'S CROSSROADS, N.C. -- Kalth Langdon planned to caleMat* Ma birthday laat Saturday by baring some friends over to bla brother's (arm near thla map dot la eastern North Carolina. But Langdon changed hla ndad. What made him change hie mind bee much of the Tar Heel atate In an "almost unbelievable anger," aa one resident pule it. . Several daye earlier, workerc on. the Langdon (arm began to led III. "I thought It waa my high Mood pressure," aald M.H. Coatee. "I waa. weak, etch at my etomach." "1 thought It waa aomcthlng they were apraylng on the tobacco or the PoteUks," aald Anne P. Stephenaoa. KIT IT waan't Coatee' Mood prtaaure, and It waan't aomathlng they were apraylng on the crape. It waa fumee from the indnettial chemical PCB, which had been Jmtpod -- Illegally -- along State Road 210 near the Langdon farm. The deliberate spills, about a foot er a loot-and-a-helf wide, extend ter beyond the atretch of State Read 210 between Smllhfleld and Angler. They have matted the graae . end dirt In the awake along 2SO ' * rural roods, roughly la a 1 SO-mile ndlue around the capital ettyof Raleigh "The wind could be a-blowln' K 1 to you and yoor cyea would sting. . your noae would burn and you'd be ' dek to your atotnach," aald Braxton MUee, another worker oo the farm o# Mitchell Langdon. "You'd want water, but If you drank water you leh like you wanted to throw it op. "You euro didn't want anything to eat at dinner that day." The dumping apparently occur red In the flrtt week of AuguaL Gov. Jamas Hunt denounced It aa n "daeuruly act" on Thuraday and aid the atate win apand up to 82.5 - "THERE IS m Imminent health danger," Hunt'a preae aecretary. Gary Pearce, aald Friday. "But PCB contamination la a long-term thing. Thera what makes it Mary. We don't know the long-term effects of PCBs on humans." PCBs, or polychlorinated Mphe-1 nyla, are extremely stable hydro carbons that contain chlorine. Be cause they are fire-resistant, they have been need aa an Insulating fluid In electrical equipment since the late 1920a It wasn't until I960 that scien tists discovered that PCBs don't break down, that they remain in the environment unless burned at about 2,200 FahrenhalL The other shoe fell a few years later; Scientists found that PCBs are a possible caucsr-esuslng agent and also are suspected of causing birth defects. By eating PCB-conlaminat ed foods, which can Include fish, beef, poultry, dairy products or vegetablas. humans may have a buildup of the chemical In thalr fatty tissue and.risk Mug-term NMU JhMMUi - oaths ago the ILS. Ea- Protection Agency (EPA) proposed that tho Importa tion and use of PCBs he prohibited. , MONSANTO CO, -...v, _ been tMnbgIyLL5. manufacturer of PCBs, voluntarily stopped produc- lij.'^.rtemltah a year ago. Bat EPA offlctala any about 440 mllBoo pounds have found their way Into the environment through leaks, va- porlxKion and dumping - both legal and UlagaL Stuart George, of the North Caro lina Department ef Natural Re -----------theorized Friday that earth. He alao add the Mala win pay for Mood-teate for people who Hunk they might have been axpaead. maybe Mat didst have the asm to itlapnes of It properly." - The Mate'a Bureau ef tmwwi..- non Is Moklug Into the dumateglaf. though the deed la only a'mtede- meanor la North Carotins. Sttffer federal c^ -- ` ` carry a maximum S25.000 age and one-year mi term. > Gov. Hum said health oflklala In i the IS affected counties win debwi - notices on the danger of prolonged | exposure to PCBs to reddents of the . contaminated areas. Warning atm* also are to be posted. I AND. WITHIN the next two weeks, stale Department of Trans portation employes are to begin cleaning up the rnedildea. First they'll cover the foot-wide spill areas with activated carbon to sack up aa much of the chemicals m pen albie. Then they'll dig up the tainted grass and soli -- an estimated 52,300 tons -- lor burial on three or four Isolated, state-owned tracts m the eastern part of the slate. Meanwhile. North Csrohuisns struggle with their anger over the dumidng. Natural Resources Secre tary Howard Lee called It "aa out rageous act against the environ ment." Stuart George, a Lae ubordhmu. aid, "People are Incensed that any one would Jump Into a tank truck in the middle of the night and dump euch a long-lasting, nasty chemi cal.'' j -- SIEVE SINK HONS 011104