Document G5B75yJD1mmYpRm3Q4KB7MLpq

VJzsh Ster -- sfei/io environment T He said that apartment house transformers injikccs like New York would /be?gmpractically noisy and ji they were -as -'S as the buildings, ihemselves.ifcooled.by. air. . v By JOHN LANNAN that the size and gravity of the , Monsanto is taking' steps to Sur Suit Writer PCB threat cannot be stated. reduce any threat, including a Environmental scientists are PCB pose a chemical problem recov.ery and regenerating proc- concerned about some man made chcmicais which, because of their volume, could become more threatening pollutants than DDT. Called "PCBs," for polychlori- hrpakHnu/n^ . ess in which it collects spent resistance to. transformer fluid containing electrical. b10l0Sic*l ori pcBs and reprocesses it, Mason 'said. ' Made of benzene, a petroleum Warning of Hazards derivotivc, and chlorine, PCBs are used primarily as a dielec- n,,Ttih!eftiacoi mpany also is warning j naittnefd) KbiipnKhennnwyllsc, ftKhnewy hha vwea trio rial ft fluid /ilnAtrif P . 1 proved toxic to fish and some other forms of marine life and r . li. r, , . . means of doing the jobs PCBs Luce DDT. the PCBs -- whic.i do. It is studying a high temper-; birds. Scientists are still un are relatively insoluable in ature incinerator in which the! sure of their long-term effects water -- get concentrated in PCBs can be completely eradi- on man. marine organisms, and their cated. -- ' Because they are used in the tr.avel throug- h the food chain is: The Department of Agricul manufacture of products rang-1 similar to that of DDT. ture, at Monsanto's request, is ing from pesticides to ink to .L..i.t.t.le creatures collect and striking three products with plastics to hydraulic fluid, as concentrate the pollutant, then PCBs from its approved list, well as in the burgeoning field are eaten by larger creatures Scientists, meanwhile, a r a: :of electronics, they are scat which, in turn, are eaten by studying the extent of PCB. rcsi-1 tered throughout the enviro something else--including man. due. At the Patuxent Research; nment. No one knows precisely how Center of the Fish and Wildlife' As the products in which they the PCGs get into tr.e water, Services, ecologist Lucille Stick-1 are incorporated decompose and how they make their way up the ell says -that the concern is well- oxidize, the PCBs remain intact food chain to man or the extent founded. __ - to be picked up in the human of their toxicity at low levels. "We analyze whatever bald' food chain in a way not yet It also is difficult to measure ea=*cs arc fUI|d dead in thisj i clearly understood. ; the threat PCBs pose because counlry." she said, "and all conJ The pollutant light in Sweden first came to in the last dec- the sole Monsanto U.S. manufacturer, Chemical Co., refuses ^aln PCBs in approximately the sairm amounts as pesticide resit 1 ades. Scientists routinely moni toring pesticides in the carcass to disclose production figures'-- past or present-- without an aues' . In Lansing, Mich., Dr. -- Harold es of birds of prey, primarily eagles, found the DDT tests be ironclad government of absolute secrecy. guarantee ^*ce' an analytical chemist in charge of the state pesticide coming confused. th2^B^a^T sainples*7 checked `indicate ffi The DDT was there -- but so that hundreds of m.hion, of p,-^ ..appear to ^ as ubiqui_ was something else. By 1966, So- pounds are produced each year. ,0(JS as pjyj. .. ren Jensen and Gunnar Wid- John Mason, assistant general pr Thomas Duke, an ecologist mark had isolated the new pollu manager of thg_iirm s organics working at the Bureau of Corn- tant and identified it. division, doos. npt agree that mereial Fisheries pesticide labo- Later they found it in other PBs can ^e( proven toxic to ratories in Gulf Breeze, Fla., birds, fish and evergreen nee- ffish in low amt5uuts despite the said pcBs are being found in dj.i_e_s. Nrow it- hL a- s- b- een 'foundJ i'n fact that leakage from a plant shrimp, crabs and juvenile fish. man. on, the Escambia River in The Food and Drug Admims- . Conference Held Here ibama produced a major fish tration's chief of compliance, . Reo Duggan, said PCBs come These findings were consid owever, he admitted "con- under the general provisions of ered serious enough by govei cem that they are building up in the Food, Drug and Cosmetic ment scientists to warr; the environment and the hazard! Act even though they are not rnpfprpnrp, which met he f{- to certain species of birds... ."'used directly for these purposes. cently. The firm has two plants, one j The FDA has refused to con- ' IT"concluded so known Annoston. Ala., and ihe others' sicer_JSeveral requests^ for r.p- in Saugct, 111. Its products with prova; ter packaging materials PCB arc allL ti;ade-"am.ed--containing PCBs, he said, not jlor and identified ay number, because of any danger but due' aWe're just as concerned as to incomplete testing. anyone else about PC3s," Ma- Hc~acdea tlfat"^lCBs have son said. "But if t:,ey were turned up in both milk and fish uu * A banned, we'd have some very but "only as an isolated in-: serious problems in the eleciri- stance." 'j cal industry." r! ` cm -- DSW 282742 STLCOPCB4064071