Document KGem2GqrjoqROdR8XRpqDKom6
/ New Plastic Pollutant in Bay, Mothers' Milk
By Rrttert Gillette
is polychlorinated biphenyl,; under tbe trade name of Aro But scientists here regard ocean hx> grown to nearly
or PCB.
(dors. He said tjpasmto has such spills as only a small - twice that exacted from nat
LA JOLLA -- An alarming It Is used to make plastics,* w* responded to queSUons facet of global marine poQu-: ural sources.
new chemical pollutant re synthetic rubber products.{about the chemistry of PCB turn.
| The heavy metal has been
sembling the insecticide DOT and epoxy adhesives. It ap- and* its *long range e*ff*e`c" ts on Dr. Edward Goldberg, a ' known as a poison for ages,
is accumulating in Pacific parently escapes to the envi animal life.
professor of chemistry at' "but as yet we don't know
and Atlantic Ocean marine ronment m fumes and indus-, PCB is the latest addition Scripps, observes that with! the effects of lead accumula
life, according to a scientist trial waste water. Dr. Rise to a growing list of chemi lead, the chlorinated hydro- j tion in ocean food chains.*'
from tbe University fornia at Berkeley.
of Call*
brough said yesterday. PCB haj also been found in
cals, generated for the bene fit of man, that are appear
carbons, and crude oil, "man; Dr. Patterson said. has left his imprint in aE] One disquieting hint,
how
The s&bsiance apparently human milk analyzed at the ing in ever larger amounts in parts of the world ocean,1 ever, is that marine plants
is playing a role la the rapid
liijr of at leari aq --*
the peregrin? , fefeon, affiftt may have abet-
|ted the disappearance from
the Gulf Coast of the brown
pelican.
.
University of Colorado.
Though it is not an Insecti
cide, PCB belongs to the same chemical family as
DDT chlorinated hydrocar
bons.
.
the open ocean -- and in some cases, in the food man takes from the sea.
Whole Pfetare
As such, tiie presence of PCB in marine life is the
which covers two-thirds of
tbe earth's surface to an av
erage depth of several
miles."
Lead, used as an anti
knock agent* in gasoline, is
pouring from tbe world's au
and animals -- hold most of
tbe lead they .ingest, then
pass it on to the next link in
the food chain.
t
I
Plastics
They are not easily broken newest symptom of "man's tomobiles at a rate of about j down in the environment. chemical invasion of the one mQtion tons a year, Dr.j
Swedish scientists first They tend to accumulate in ocean" -- the subject of a Clair Patterson, a geochem-,
identified the pollutant in fish taken fitomthe Atlantic. Now
fats and oils in living tissue, grim and occasionally out and they can disturb a varie-1 raged discussion among 200
1st at Caltech reported.
in Pasadena, { t
in recent' months, UC re ty of chemical processes) scientists, here for two days Rain and snow sweep?
searchers "have found it in within living cells.
at the Scripps Institution of flakes of the automotive fall-j
.birds and fish from San Dr. Risebrough said Mon- Oceanography.
out from the .air and carry it]
Francisco Bay.
santo Chemical Company is { To most Californians to- to the sea.
.
Dr. Robert Risebrough, of apparently the sole producer j day, a polluted sea most like- As a result. Dr. Patterson
r
the UC Institute of Marine of PCB compounds in the )y means the huge oil slick in said, the. amount of lead in
o
^Sriepcao^said the chemical United States, selling them | the Santa Barbara Channel. tiie upper 3000 feet of the
0
j; ?