Document Jr02g4d1NZqqYaVqY10607GLr

imh sewer News WKU. 1 IO.MH* SFP 19 1970 PC8` lnul,l, . 1 urn taking the liberty of writing to correct a statement which appears in the item "Monsanto reduces tales" (SN: 7/25. p. 69V. "Monsanto will con tinue to toil car's foruse as.A-lubrrcani in transformer* and for paints and ad hesives, the company said." Polychlorinated biphenyls, known under the generic name of atkarelt, as well as by various trade names, are not used as lubricants but as insulating liquids. These compounds arc used for various reasons but especially because they are nonflammable, whereas pciroIcum-base insulating oils will, of oourse, burn. Samuel .Vau, Librarian William Stanley Library General Electric Co. rillifkkt, Mats. /, rhattanooga; tenn, - 0. 63,139 . OCT 41970 ttfto. News of Tennessee's . . . PKB5~SrcSflESS by Oen Cook J Pollution 'Score' Although pollution is one of the most serious issues of the day, maybe they should set up a football-type , scoreboard for it. Make the score 124, polltrtcrs ahead. Our side, Public, scored when the Monsanto Campany, only US, produeer of a group id environment ally persistant chemicals known to chemists as polychlorinated biphen- als, announced it is restricting pro duction and tightening controls over their handling and disposal. PCB's, as they arc called fr short, have been In aw for mure than 40 ymrs ami have hccu show, inf.' up with uierming regularilV in teals on wildlife. In the tests, PCII's* were confused for some litne will) DDT. The Iwo resemble in tlscir chemical structure. The public outcry led to Mon- DAN COOK sanlo's action. It is commendable. This chemical will no longer b used in "open syslrms." These are described as adhesives, sealants, chlorinated rubber, specialty paints and other aimilor items. It will be limited to "dosed systems" such as electrical transformers and capaci tors. In (his lode at pollution on the national scene, however, the Polluters still hold the lead on the basis of findings in the Mississippi River. 1 Other poDution eases still unchecked are numerous. The testimony presented on Aug. 28-27 before the Senate Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources and Environ ment, a group chaired by Michigan Senator Phillip A. Hart, indicates there's plenty battle room for congressional heroes in the war on pollution. The testimony tends to erase any belief that mercury com lamination of our lakes and streams was a mare fluke. It erases the thought that this was an isolated case of one metal by-pro duet which happened to slip out the back door of industry. Toxic substances such as lead and arsenic were discovered dumped into the Mississippi. Lead Found Conservation News, an educational service of Ihe National Wildlife Federation which reported the congressional proceed ings, labels It an "ru-do-it-untit-you-stop-mc" altitude. Almost 2V4 tons of lead is being discharged daily into Hi lower Mississippi between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, ac cording to the report. Hit Interior Department's Federal Water Quality Admini stration officials have named the Ethyl Corporation (producer of gasoline lead additives) s the leading polluter with lend. Other firms have been Indicted. Dr. Harry Schroedcr, professor ol physiology of Dirt, month Medical School, expressed (he serious notaro of toxic metal pollution. "I must emphasise," he said, "that environmental pollu. Uon by toxic metals is a much more serious and much more Insidious problem--pollution by organie substances *tch as pesticide, weed killers, sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide and other gross contaminants of air and wa ter. . "The importance of this problem is Illustrated by the fact that rats and mice spending their lives in an environment con trolled os to metallic contamination live SMS per cent longer than do animals in the contaminated environment of the usual 6 6 9 * e o SHOH