Document EdzXn2Q2zyYdZq8OKrNRw2dGb

U.MN. UtiUii ells Dei , r0 ji Of n OK3ilG'C* sy1 c-StGnces K ~ 1 >. By WALTER SULLIVAN New Yorfc Tttnct Ke Service oil, widely used In Japanese , cooking. i STOCKHOLM -- In the face Officials of the World Health * x CS>f grim verbal and visual evi- Organization said Hus Incident ^ donee from Japan of what was the first indication that heavy metals and chlorinated . PCB can 'substance be fatal. Because the has been widely r hydrocarbons can do lo human vL/ beings, a key committee of the used in a variety of things, including paints, electric insu-. - \v United Nations Conference on the Human Environment has approved a call to ail nations to minimize the releaso of such substances into the envi ronment. lation and carbonless paper, and because it is not appetis ing to bacteria, it has been accumulating in the environ ment. One cause for concern is the While avoiding a judgment , on the effects of supersonic air V traffic on climate or health, it also voted yesterday to ask Or nations undertaking programs ^ . that might alter the climate to "carefully evaluate" the re strong chemical similarity of PCB to DDT, which is even more widespread but has not boon shown, so far, to be a serious threat to human beings. < suits. The fruits of such re Japanese Disease A search would then be dlsseml- The Japanese also raported nated to the world "to the on the itai Itai disease, which maximum extent feasible." for many years puzzled physi The latter qualification was cians along the Jinzu River of Inserted at tha suggestion of Honshu Island. the United States and ap- The disease which causes 6roved by a small margin. the bones to become excruciat lowcver, the 112-nation com ingly painful and break with* mittee considering these rec* .even normal body movements, ommendations then agreed to `was finally traced in the late. & the final text without dissent. The committee, one of three considering the agenda items, met as the conference began Its working sessions. 1960, to cadmium poisoning. Por years the metal had been entering the river in ef fluent from a silver, lead and zinc mine upstream. The river * Changes Unlikely water was used for irrigation While all decisions made in and the metal had soaked into the committees must go be the soil of rice paddies. fore tho final plenary sessions, Since the source of the dis representation in the plenary ease was traced, 132 victims of sessions will be the same, so the disease have been identi changes are unlikely. fied, of whom 32 have died. l' 1 \ X To underline the urgency of rcconwsrnctotion on lo:,ic Substances, the Japanese pre sented a report on three types of poisoning that have struck their population. The third and best known of poisoning outbreaks >Tjfk tho-c eating fish and sheiltish from Minamata Bay on Kyu slut Island. Now known as Minamata disease, it has been One, as of February, had Involved 1,081 people, of whom 26 have cicd. It was traced to tho leakage of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) into rice bran traced to methyl mercury dis charged by a chemical plant. As of March, 181 victims had been Identified, of wbom S2 had died. . MCNS 069059