Document OEbmRedeLjLzxLR4vm4DXwrqv

Monsanto will &t. Cant* quit supplyingInbr-Cruwrraf k sr. LOUS. MO. 0. 266.783 SUN. 271.078 ' OCT 6 ^ &<l PCBs in a year r The Monsanto Co. will withdraw aa the oatioc'i tJar stippRer M PCB* (polychlorinated biphenyls) by !t. SI, 1977 ia an effort to reduce the substance's Impact on the environment. Earle H. Harbison Jr., general manager of Monsao- to's specialty chemicals division, said the firm would i have withdrawn production of the chemical sooner had Monsanto's customers' timetables permitted. ' The chemical, which is extremely fire resistant and la used as an electrical Insulator In transformers and capacitators has been found by tbe Environmental Protection Agency to build up in the environment and is thought to cause reproductive failures, gastric disor ders and skin lesions in mammals. . i THE EPA estimates about 380 million pounds of the : indestructible chemical have been dumped into * landfills, leaked into water supplies and allowed to sift into production sites. '. Harbteon said tbe same qualities that made tbe chemical desirable as an electrical Insulator line* it was first introduced more than 46 yean ago cause it to be aa environmental problem. 1 , "Becatae of this tendency to resin biodegradation. Monsanto announced last January iu decision to voluntarily cease production as soon aa the electrical Industry could find viable alternate fluids and convert ' Its equipment and components to thair use," be added. * The firm manufactures the chemical at its VlUlam - C. Knunmicb pUntia Jauget, 111. Twenty Jobs wfiltia i eliminated by the dfcislon to withdraw from the PCB r market, but a company spokesman said employe* | * working in those positions would be shifted to other wort at the Scuget plant ' > Throughout much of thair history, PCBs wore used a 1 such products as carbonless copy paper. An resistant hydraulic fluids, heat transfer fluids and plasticisers, ' Harbison said. ' | However, since the substance's environmental Impact ' was discovered in the early 1170s, Monsanto has limited ' production to electrical insulation uses only. - "THIS RESTRICTED sales policy reduced Monsan to's annual PCB production by over 99 per cent and Jhrther afimtaated the likely sourest of losses to tbe onrironmam," Karttsow said. Before 1IT1, tbe firm manufactured B million pounds el,the substance n year. After that, production wan reduced to 27 million pounds annually, a spokesman hr tbettrmsatf. In recant years the company has also taken extra steps to make sure PCBs were hot accidentally Introduced Into the environment and has operated an 1 incinerator to destroy PCB waste liquids. 1 Hattiaan said tb* ebemkal industry has teraad in an replacements tor PCBs that are currently being field \ HE ADDED that tbe proposed replacements ore not thought to offer a comparable degree of fire insistonce, t "The problem is twofold," Harbison said. `'Industry ` hat relatively little experience using fire resistant fluids in these applications and because fire resistant PCBs have always bean used, there baa never been a Brereststenoslaa . ... r-`*Tbto* ftact nis tuhuaut noo standard axirilt* gold* users te jbsir evaluations." ffiljf Iniirliu Ha tit] Capital TOPEKA, KANS. D. 59.220 I OCT . fi inTe ^Chemical insulator's production stopped ST. LOUIS (UP1) - Monsanto Co . tbe nation's leading supplier of poly chlorinated biphenyl, used as an electr ic insulator, said Tuesday H would atop production of Ibe chemical by Oct. 31. 1977, because of possible hazardous ef fects on humans. Monsanto said the phasing out of pro duction over the next year would give time for manufacturers to find substi tute materials for PCB. Substitutes de veloped by the electrical industry ere being tested, although they may not prove an effective in resisting flare aa PCB. ------- The Environmental Protection Agen cy, which had called polychlorinated biphenyl a "significant basartTto hu-* man health and tb* environment." wel comed the news of Monsanto's deci sion. "The Monsanto decision Is a signifi cant step bi dealing with the total prob lem of PCB contamination,M said EPA Administrator Russell E. Train. "Environmental contamination will continue to be a problem due to the millions of PCBs already in landfills., oils, river and lake sediments, in ourt air and water and In wildlife and hu man tiasue." ^ HONS 050602