Document RJnvK432w4aOrk03Z0zJnd9Xk

LONDON "Times", Dec. 17, 1970 Science Report Pollution: Sewage killing marine life THr way in which several tow of the Industrial cbemieiii polychlorinnled biphenyls. or I'CBi ere He* ittg dumped cmoH year in co*ul water* round Britain ii outlined in e report from the Freshwater Fisheries laboratory, Pitlochry, Scotland. It provides the povsiMe explaoa* tion of buw this substance has been able <o accumulate offshore in sufMcftt quantities to harm marina Ufa. is earned bv host to the estuary end dumped in deep water six miles south of Cisrroch Heed, Isle of Bute. It appears that it > in this pn cess that ouantttie* of hiphenvis mi being dispersed in the sou. Prelim inary estimates suggest that about a ton of PCBs is being dumped ft the Clyde estuary this way. Similar ilupouJ operations t< r Manchester and London iodieale Ihei similar quaotiuce are being | Anxiety about the spread of PCHs has prown over the past two year* pslb the detection of henn* [real IcVels in sea birds, seats and ! other marine life. These chemical* :have been contributory cause of ithe death of large pnmdation* of !ome wildlife species. ; | PCBt are produced for a wide variety of industrial oroceMCa. lire {mod likeh' enuae of their spread 'seemed to he 'he discharye of fee* tory effluent into rivers and thence Idown to eetuaries. But it has been difficult to reconcile this seemingly 1 straightforward event with the find* iina of biphenyl MthsUrtoc* in eer* I tain eases of wildlife death. ! The invest)jtalma ai Pitlochry started from an an&lvnii of marine f fish and molluscs in Scottidi. waters I that showed the highest residues. iof PCOs to be in samples, taken ' from the Firth of Clyde. ' I Attempts were made to trace i the source of pollution by exanw ' mint the vamma waters discharged : into the met at mtervais.alotig the Clyde to the centre of Ousgow. No detectable amounts *cie . found; nor were any appreciable levels vhown in an cxeminathui *f (he diluent imm ihe trunk aewent ! tarrying the bulb of treated waste discharged from many hundreds of factories. . In the report Mr. A. V. HoWen dmenbes bow the iBweedpaBon then turned to studying tike sewage form BeaBtMut works whwb dumped in the northern Irish Jha end the Thames estuary. . Mr, Holden suggest), uwt some PCBs may be entering the -tea directly m .irta* where waste is discharged uffshoru without treat* inent, and the disposal of sludge on land could lead to PCB residues entering the terrestrial ecosystem by transfer through food ciiains. By Nam Wright, Science Cense rest VoL 221, Dec. 1*. \ HONS 033620