Document Rp8N8503NJogonjmMBMGz6LRa

Cljr Ulrmltiriliam rCf.iia BIRMINGHAM, ALA. D. 179,129 SUN. 219,339 AUG 1 1976 (Chemical facmg EPA ban BY ROBERT SIGNER WASHINGTON (CDN) - The Environmental Protection Agency has taken the first step toward preventing further pollution of U. S. waterways by PCBs, a major industrial pollutant. The federal agency announced It will hold a hearing Aug. SO on proposed regulations that would ben or limit the discharge of PCBs into waterways by industry. PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls! are used in the manufacture of capacitors, transformers and other industrial products in the United States and manyother countries. THEY ARE SIMILAR to DDT in chemical con struction, are not reodlly biodegradable and have a long and durable lifetime. State end federal laboratory tosts have linked PCBs to a variety of human illnesses from skin le sions to miscarriages. In e broader sense, they af fect the chain of life, first contaminating basic foods and then invading human body fat and remaining tl parti per mllliaa ta !<l parte per mUDou respectively. EPA specialists acknowledged that no immedi ate benefits could be expected. The regulations will not take effect until a full year after being issued in final form -- and that process could take six months. MONSANTO Industrial Chemicals Co., with headquarters'b SirLoiiis, is the onlyproducer of PCBs. The company said in January that it will phase out production after the industry makes ar rangementsfor alternative materials. Therein lies a critical problem. No substitute has been fully acceptable to date. Last month the EPA said that a fluid called potydimethylsUoxanc was "far preferable'* to PCBs for use in transform ers from Uw environmental viewpoint. But the agency said this fluid was more flamma ble than the PCBs, implying industry might there fore find U unsuitable. Tbe EPA proposed specifically that all indus tries manufacturing the chemicals be prohibited fromdischarging any PCBs. It also proposed that plants that use PCBs to pro duce electrical transformers and capacitors be bar red from discharging the chemicals in most wastes resulting from the manufacturing process. Other limits would be set on the discharge of PCBs into waterways from plant operations. LAKE MICHIGAN is the most severely con taminated of the Great Lakes in terms of PCB levels. Concentrations of up to lftft parts per million trout have been found. The Food and Drug Administration has set a maximum level of ft parts per million of PCBs in fish and has been criticized by some environmental and health groups for permitting even that much. Generally, the Lake Michigan eoaceatratlea of KBs to below ! parts per milHoa, aa laterlor De partment spokesman snid. In smelt and lake treat, the mage af PCB resldas b tbe lake has been Irani HONS 037292