Document QkNw2mpKjJ0701OJ5Z78DDVx5

pRA PT ENVIRONMENTAL PRESENCE POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS Poliowing Monsanto's unilateral action restricting the sale -(or of polychlorinated biphenyls 4* sealed electrical systems, in uhlch they serve as fire resistant insulating fluids, encouraging reports were received which further support our contention that Kith proper handling and usage the release of PCBs to the environment csn be controlled. / team from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution studied North Atlantic surface waters and reported (Harvey et al, Nature, Lond. 197**, 252, 387) that, by the end of 1973 the levels of PCBs in these waters were about 40 times lower than those found in 1972^/ Thesfe reductions in surface water concentrations roughly (coincided with a,tenfold deorease In PB"contamininsa_t_io__n o. _f th..e. .. jptmosphcre over the northwest Atlantic during 1973 (Harvey and ( ^ pteintjauer, Atmos. Environ. H, 8, 777) and a fivefold decrease n^the PCB content of mixed plankton from this area between 1972' f/ / - nd 1973 (Harvey et^l, J. Mar. Hes. 197**, 32, 103). . ^\ ft In a recent report (Blus et al, Bull. Env. Contam. & Toxicol. U. S., 1975# 13. 646) the PCB residues reported in eggs of the brown pelican from Louisiana decreased from a geometric mean of 3.91 nig/g In 1971 to 2.89 mg/g in 1973. mM An example of decreasing PCB concentrations in fresh water as submitted during the 197*1 hearings relating to Toxic Pollutant V, ^'t^ttffluent Standards (Sec. 37a P. L. 92-500). Dr. Q. Velth, it .(Notional Water Quality Laboratory, Duluth, Minnesota, referred 0*9134 -2^r' in his affidavit to an^unpublished report entitled PCBa In the Great Lakes. Studies of the Saginaw River show a reduction In PCB levels following a program of monitoring and control. The presence of PCBs in food has also diminished. In a review of food surveys by the Food and Drug Administration | (Ramsey, Q. Bull. Ass. Fd Drug Off. V. S. 1973, 27, ^3), the PCB contamination of both food and packaging materials had shown some reduction in 1973 compared with the findings of 1971 surveys. .Ft* OUe trend seemed to be continuing. Av?----1197*1, ---aurvey_jeparta that. the_lev-al~of--PGBs--in paperboardhas dropped.substantlally from re*uli>8-nobed -in-a--1972 FDA-survey^ . Because of the significant "A decline in PCB incidence, the agency predicted that monitoring may be relaxed at some time in the future. (Food Chemical News, ^ U. S., 1975, 17, 11). `" In summary, these reports of the decline of PCBs in marine (j-e cf- p- and fresh water systems and in human food^lndlcate that' elimination of PCBs in "open" type applications has removed the major source of PCBs entering the environment. It is our considered opinion that the examples reported are typical of what is happening in other locations. }, .-t _/ 'O 'r --^ <J C MOMS 049135