Document Exn6gdZBkkvmJ1O25oj5Lo3Zn

PCB: The tough, insidious chemical that's evsrywheia and refuses to go away A highly stable, heat-resistant compound that once solved a lot of problems for Industry, has crept into the environment, poisoning fish, wildlife--and maybe even man. Now the problem solver itself has become the problem by TOMOFRE f PmtuIm it 11m Smilb Pyb and pelir bM In tin Attlte any these ImHI-- mi made agents efdisease. Wlwmli snowfall booUIm the dtiytota no bottles, 8a dt fioh swimming h the Groat Lnkre and Many American river aytoms -- Is kwb w high, la fad, that Michigan naherasa have bean warned net laad mow than one Great Lake* flak made week. Tkeet pobona an even found In minute aesaonla, accerdii* fo fo U8. Bevimnawatol Protection Agmcy, In the fatty tissue of perhaps halfthe human populationofthis country. .Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), a chaint<J wad by fadtatiy worldwide in a variety of pted- urta because of Ha rarietaaoe to heat, deteriore- tton and cheeaioat ohaap, la net easily dismissed -- or, evidently, controlled, lie eaiae properties that made H to attractive to induetry on now a large part ef the oeoceen over K, elnee He stobttty means H thgradas very slowly to nature, and He solubility focOHntaa Ha absorption In the fatty tioeueoffioh,wildlifeand man. Deed Moatty In a hpld form, PCB le a ehlori- aatod hydrocarbon compound. Hue higher the wont ef ehiorino, the non tonic and raobtaat to breakdown by natural onayeaoa i particular PCB compound becomes. PCBa can caueo akin Mona, eknoraanl ewoMw (edema), otttbbtho and aeon wear in laboratory animate. Humane eipoeed to high dnw hove eehibitod rooctiew raM* from fopb weoknws and nauaao to aUn and Beardboidem. Deapfto thia knowledge, PCBa, in one form er another,continuetopermeate prartknlyaD prate ofwrlivee today. PCB wae flret nMnufacturad by Germany In the IttOe. But rinoe World War 0, the wnpuri hae been available in jwl about every iadwtrWbod country In the world, Moraaato, thie cowtry** blggeet producer (fallowed by flmerol Beetrk and Waetlnghouae). hoe ooM oomo 400,- 000tomofPCBa oboe 1848. Applications of the chemical form o long let. The power industry usee km shoot tramfenam agent In high voltage eapaeHon had traaaformera, and the die caeting industry ae a moM-reiewe agent But thechemical bfound in a wide wrap of products the overage eonoumer comae in contact with aa ml U b wed la paints, inha, carbonless carbon paper, some photic and rubber products, various sealants, some envelops glues, borne elec trical futures (Mu the kekmSi In fluereseont lights) WmhablewillcovertofB, ironing board sev ers, copying machine lonma, some toilet eoape, name-proof synthetics. and dutch and brake Ka bosQuite literally, PCBa oabt about everywhere the average American gow today. Wo oomo into contact wkh them directly through the predarta they are wed id, and Indirectly mas thrae prodnets and their manufacturing byproducts me db cerded end eater out environment Juei bow they J PCM, HONS 0 Sbb'f'f HONS 036645 y_______________________ /1 a s^jt____________ . may be affecting us ~ if at eH -- ia a question tha fad* oral government cannot an* Mr. Nathaniel Read, U3. as sistant secretary of the Inte rior Department for Piah and WUdlife, told a Chicago conference last yaar. "I am deeply ehockad by tha per vasiveness of PCBe; they are literally everywhere. 1 am very troubled by the exceed ingly high levels found in fish in all our drainage eysteme, and I do not mean juat tha Hudeon and the entire Groat Lakes system..." PCBe are now found la practically every living organiem analysed in the At lantic Ocean, even thoee living at depths of 11,000 feet, according to a report by Dr. George Harvey of the Woods Hole Oceanographic institute. "Based on available data," Dr. Harvey con cluded, MH seeme safe to meumr that PCB# are preesnt in varying concentrations in every specie* of wildlife on A 1974 study from the In ternational Agency Cor Reeaarch on Cmnk, part of the World Health Organise , lion, stated that PCBa have been found in human milk in concentrations up to 1.1 ppm In Japan. In some areas ofCalifornia, thestudy said, human milk samplaa showed an average level "slightly above the maxi mum daily intalw which would oeeur in adults wlhg 1B0 grams of fish weekly containing lb ppm PCBe (aneveram for coho salmon In lake Michigan)" Yet ae one mm quit* euro exactly bow -- and In precisely what quantities -- PCBe act within the human body to produce the poiaenIng effect VA. Itep. Philip Rupps, R-Mtch., ranking member of tha Home Merchant Marine and Pisheriee Com mittee, said recently be was appalled at the lack of gov ernment effort to determine jimt hew toxic PCBe ere to mankind. "I am truly concerned about people who may be Bitting on a keg of dyna mite," he said. "We don't know what is tolerable or bow we can get PCBe out of out systems." Most of the PCB pres ence detected in fish, wild life and man are measured in what would seem Infini tesimally tiny quantities, ranging between 1 and HO ppm (parte par minion). H would taka 1,000 ppm, for example, to equal one-tenth. ofone percent. But foresawtant secretary Reed, "any level of PCBe are poten tially harmful to humans." PCBe can be absorbed by eating or drinking them tat food products. They can even be absorbed by breath ing. Discarded plastic prod ucts contaiair* PCBe, for example, can raleuae PCS molecule* ieto the atmos phere when burned in dumps. PCBa have already been discovered in air sam ples hr locations like Chi sago and Florida. The FDA has established temporary maximum Units for PCBe in various foods, animal feeds and food-pack aging materials, which have helped reduce exposure to PCBe through commerda)ly-offered products. The standards are U ppm for milk and dairy products, 5 ppm to fish, thtilfiah and poultry products, .1 ppm in infant fobds,and 10 ppm in food pockaging materials. Just a few months ^o, however, It was learned that the Michigan Department of Agriculture wsa quietly trying to locate perhaps as many ae 100 didry herds being fed feinted silage from din that had been coated with a sealant containing high levels of PCBe. Sealant scrapings from braids the silos contained up to 10,000 ppm PCBe--one percent Milk from at least two of these dairy herds wee pulled off the market for a time. Withdrawn from the con taminated silage, the oows soon exhibited PCB milk levels within FDA guide lines ofL6ppm. But when Agriculture in spectors thought they had tire problem completely solved, PCBe above the "safe" level showed p un expectedly in a random sample ef cheese. Now it appears that a number of beef herds have been fed from PCB-conlam inated silos fsr perhaps as long as the pest 16 ar 10 yearn. Agriculture Department veterinarians seem to take tattle notice of that, however, pointing out that the FDA has not even set a PCB standard in red moat "We have no legal grounds for taking action even if we found high PCB levels," said chief state vet erinarian John Quinn. The only known Instance of severe human PCB poi soning occurred in Japan (often e beOwether of envi ronmental problems to come) book in 1998. A but exchanger leaked PCB fluid* into nearby rice fields, and Japanese fami lies sating the highly con taminated rice -- more than 900 persona -- soon exhib ited symptoms Uke akin le sions, hearing losses, edema,, jaundice, btindnaes and ab dominal pain. The weight of new boro babies waa lower than the national average and skin discoloration was evident Cirrhosis of tbs Uver dho occurred in some victims, along with caneartyps cell changse in the liv ers ofother*. Result* in laboratory ani mals have been just as dra matic. Dr. James AUou wed Deborah Baraotti of the University of Wisconsin Medical School tasted rhe sus monkeysby adding PCB to their diets. Divided into two groups, one received 9 ppm doses while the other gotonly 2J ppmdaily. At Ike end of a twomonth period, afl the aoimah hod tool hair end de veloped cfaloracns-liks thickening of the ekia. (CMoraow -- akin leeione -- wet first detected In chlorine plant workers around 1910.) Four months later, still on the diets, the females were bred with monkeys not fed any PCB. Nearly all the females is the 6 ppm group aborted or had stillbirth*. SUfhtiy mart than half the 16 ppm group gave birth to undemixed offspring. Mink farmers In the Croat Lakes area who fed PCB-taiated salmoa to t u.i;r Diiii'i; .'.nr DURON. M'cu o.fi.ow u.:. me , App Ok iq/c ATM ' <*' *, * . lessening the dosage efeonlaminated fish allowed oes* births, but the offspr ing wars almost aM under- \POBeh HUNS 036646 6 t i \ 4 T rvo o< , btfaMto M Mn (bn in the onvirewnent nm m Ugh m 100 yema far PCBa, but no on# noweforsure. - "There's no question H will be a problem for yearn to coma, even if all ionea ware ateppad UDNR'aHM Deputy DNR director Tody said that eltheugh two yohn ago the DNR Naurvayed and baipad halt prac tically all the m*)or open- end loesee of induotrial PCBa In this Mate, today the PCB level in Great Lakaa flab has not dropped ana lota. If anythiag, R baa incraaeed a tittle" aant can remove, at boat, about 00 percent of the PCBa la induatriai dischargaa, according to - porti. PCB containini Uama dumped in rafuae arem cause contamination aa the laaching precam oc cur*. Normal refute fndlitbe bunting these products oiaqdy allow the PCBa to dmtioyed. Japanese <naB-yueho."teongieh re Mdorsona. This woman oawtoclod thesfcbimgta|<nm by eoBng foodpnpmd wtth riot hMjr oonlambmlad by Japanese brand1 a^by moraBmn600 Japanese *** ate thaoontamlaalodland. The only known way to absolutely destroy PCBa is la a furnace where tbs tomptoatuve eaceede 2,400 dogreee Fahrenheit It takm a model furnace, and very foweiiat in the US. Following the lead of On tario, Michigan's DNR offi- Ife proposed m( provides for on Immediate ban on all noo-closed mtam mm of PCBa, and within two years bon induotrial rhomlrals aa H did DDT, an mrirndtural composed." (faaaa as. cbia are negotiati* with PeerUrn Cemeot Company of Detroit to buiM asuitable incinerator here to destroy liquid PCBa. CanadaTpUto efen*ctinoot,aoacrui ' board baa of aD PCB w.. maaant baa worked on a project worked perfectly. unite* H is proven Ihoro i na lU. The maaoura would bo require aetificatiea ot BPA 90 day* before msou- wluotaiy restriction profraaa with various iadnatoiaa uainf PCBa. and with to 6,000 Pi "That doesn't solve tho problem of contaminated factura of any now pnoeflilj (oak dialled, BPA would bo oaapoworod to hdt mdfacturaofa rhatnloal Action la poadiog at tho atato (aval aa woH PoBowIm Michigan's bad (aa (hoy did In tba otnigfte to control DDT aavand yoara ago), othor Groat Laboa ototao ara nan debating PCB elimina tion lew*. Many aclantiata have questioned wby BPA dooan1\Just ban uao of PCBa ufacturar of PCBa hi tba UB. WMla Monsanto's pro duction baa dropped -- un der federal urgfa -- 'from 70 ailttion pounda amnmly in t9?l to roughly 40 milUoa tkia yoor, PCB eolao eontlmio to provide e alaaobla nMtory reward far tba eompany. PCB ownpounde normally aell at around 06 caata a pound, groaaing bout ttS million for Menaantothlayoar. Monmntohmvotuotorily dropped aoam of the more 1 colida," Heeee mid. "The nly present recourse h a bndfUl for them hare in this tote." Moat of the Ul effects of PCBa detectable thus far in human* seems to be the re cull of indwtrial saposure. General Beetrk Company rocantly admitted that 80 or 60 of its employes at Hudcon Rfvar planto amnufaeturing electrical equipment had become sick over the Pa* 16 yuan' parhap* be cause ofPCB tipoeura. oontrola aa It did In tba cwo of DDT, without waiting for a federal act. "BPA daina R doaan't have the legal authority to highly chlorinated com pound*. Companlaa requir ing thorn, however, have obnpty turned to foreign oureoa. About 000,000 pouode ore Imported a year. IV aouram of PCB upoeure are divers*, however. A study of rofuee area work- Jam ehpwed that about 60 Panant had PCBa in their ^ Ktok I r b`A P M0NS 036647