Document LpJG0p1MOXgDgeV4ZoyGLkj0Q

U^ashw\ijV'r\ S-t-Cbr e?/Ati['j& Effect of PCS Chemical Analyzed Are Alarms VT] r? r.-r> 7) , is ByCristlneHuirell Siar SuitVrfccr Although health and environmen tal experts are disturbed by recent findings indicating the presence of industrial chemicals called poly chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in mothers' milk, they feel that it would to premature to warn nursing moth ers against breastfeeding. This was the consensus of pediatric experts and federal officials who met yesterday at an all-day special ses sion called by the Department of Health* Education and Welfare* The meeting focused on what ad vice to give mothers in light of a pre liminary Environmental -Protection Agency study that found detectable amounts of PCBs in 78 of 50 samples oi milk taken from nursing mothers in II states including Maryland and Virginia. The average amount of PCBs In the fat portion of the milk was 1.8 parts per million, but the levels ranged from 0 to 10.6 ppm, with the high in a Michigan sample. When the nationwide study, conducted by re searchers at Colorado Sente Univer sity for the EPA, is completed more than 1,000 samples will be analyzed. NO G27E UKCWS V/HETHER the levels detected thus far are danger ous to human health, but the experts assembled at the National Institutes of Health yesterday worried about ____ ______j ,, .. iucUIUi School. Mothers fed PCBs in their diets had more stillbirths and mis-, carriages, and when their prcgnan-J cies did succeed the nursing babies were affected. The infant monkeys tended to be smaller than normal, suffered skin discoioration, swollen lips and. eye lids, loss of eyelashes, and were more susceptible to infectious dis eases, Allen said. And a few infants r. ------ ------i r ale since the PCB preparations fed to the monkeys differed from the PCBs that would normally be ingested by j humans. Different forms of PCB^ vary in toxicity and in the degree cf 'contamination by other chemicals./ Concerned about the. margin of safety. Kolbye concluded that "the recent work of Dr. Allen raises ques tions which deserve further investi gation." the potential impact since PCBs ex perimentally fed in higher doses to animals have produced a variety of toxic effects. Susceptibility differs among species, but health effects have In cluded shin rashes and discoloration, j liver tumors and reproductive prob-1 lems, said Dr. Albert Kolbye of the Foodand Drug Administralion. Particularly disturbing was a study of rhesus monkey mothers and infants by Dr. James R. Alien of the who underwent further study later seemed to suffer from bchavioria! and learning defects, he said. J^Allen estimated that, at the lowe^ rPCB feeding levels, the monkey milk had roughly 10 times as much PCB contamination as that seen in, Khc umans in the EPA study. WHILE THE FDA's Kolbye felt that monkeys can be "fairly good predictors for humans," he cautioned that the results from the Wisconsin H___u__m___a_n_ evidence uoif t*h.ijec uduammua<gj ing ei ffffoenctt*s- of PCB-s_c_o__m__e__s___on.ly f*roommp; o?t. soning accidents -- in ISC5, for example, mere than 1,000 Japanese \atc rice oil contaminated with PCBs J-- but the effects of long-term envi ronmental exposure to PCBs at lower levelshave notbecn measured. In the 45 years that PCBs have been manufactured, over 1 billion pounds have been produced ir. the United States for a variety of indus-.. trial uses. ' The chemicals slowly made their way into the nation's environment, but the alarm was not sounded until 1965. when PCBs were detected in the tissues of wildlife. 0502476 SINCE THEN the uses of PCBs have been cut back voluntarily -- the chemicals now are primarily used in enclosed electrical circuitry. But, noted the chairman cf yesterday's meeting. Dr. David Rail, director of the National Institute of Environ mental Health Sciences, "This is net a problem that is going to go away." PCBs are persistent compounds tnat aslnoiwmlaylsh,uinildcluup&ninc tmheanf.atty tissues of * ' I FDA officials in recent years have sought to restrict the intake of PCBs in foods as wcil as food packaging: STLCOPCI