Document Rj3nR8mv00dELp4JjvaV0dO9k

I\e\v'sday fcRDEH CUV. N. Y. KW. 344,627 *B2Qm EPA Fights, Pentagon Buys PCBs5 By Carole Ague ; While the Environmental Protection Agency acts against companies pollut ing the environment with PCJSs, the General Services Administration and the Defense Department reportedly requ i re the use of PCBs in their own contract specifications. PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are the chemicals that General Electric has dumped into the Hudson River in such volume that the State Department of Environmental Conservation just last month banned nearly all fishing in the river. The problem is that PCBs--a Awniftil similar to DDT in its persist but we procure transformers that con tain it--because they're the best for the job," the spokesman said. There are more than 200 variations of PCBs. They went into production in the tJ.S. in 1929 as an electrical insu lating fluid for transformers and capac itors, replacing mineral oil--which did not have the fire-resistant properties of PCBs. PCBs are also used in the man ufacture of carbonless "carhop" paper, printing inks-and special adhesives. At a conference on PCBs in Haupp a u g e vesterday organized by Rep. Thomas Downey (D-West Islip), the EFA's chief of water enforcement, ence in remaining in the environment and in accumulating in h urn an fatty tissues--also accumulate in fish, espe cially fatty onefe like striped bass. The EPA is now in administrative hearings to try to stop General Electric from discharging all PCBs. It i expect ed to act within a month against other companies polluting with PCBs, whos$. sole producer is the Monsanto Co. of St Louis. But while these actions are going on at EPA, the Defense Department spe cifically requires the use of PCBs when it lets contracts. "PCBs are the only acceptable substance which complies with existing fire codes and regula tions," said a defense department spokesman, Lt James Britt, yesterday. `Therefore our specification? to the manufacturers obviously include that Oz (s> o vr a substance" EPA officials say that the GSA ami- larly requires the use of PCfia. A GSA spokesman yesterday confirmed that the chemical "appears in the products that we buy," but denied it is a specifi cation. Tt is not in ir gwdft^lqps Richard Elye, said that pollution by direct discharge of PCBs was only a small pari of the problem. "There is an estimated 100 milticn pounds of the stuff in landfill," he said, adding that PCBs leach into underground water ways. Downey called the meeting to urge aupportof the toxic substances control bill, which has been pending for five years. The bill would give the EPA the power to screen potentially toxic sub stances, instead of acting only after the damage has been dore, as is now the situation. Unlike rodentiddes and in secticides, which the EPA has :he pow- to to ban, the agency can only regulate other toxic chemicals used in manu facturing. As of now, the federal government has set a tolerance level for PCBs in fish and in the waterways at five parts per million, which is higher than in Canada, where only two parts are tol erated, or Japan, where the tolerance is three. GSA officials said yesterday they in tend to stop using PCBs but could not say when. Defense Department offic i a 1 s said they have no intention of changing their requirements for its usage.