Document VGDy7jN2MyMDwrz3e2YvOVGqp

S.?.:tbr r*o ^AM^-LOC^TrON-fMOMCi R. C. Isham - BIND : Fpbruary 12, 1979 STURGEON, MO., DERAILMENT POSITION STATEMENT D. R. Bishop W. R. Corey J. R. Foehr T. L. Gossage E. H. Harbison J. S. Metcalf J. E. McKee M c P h i l l i p s "`-~ J. T. Nolan P. S. Park R. G. Pier G. Roush J. J. Spano R. A. Stohr G. Young Jill If you have any corrections or suggestions to this position statement, please phone extension 4-2621. Also attached is the EPA news release of Sunday, Feb. 11. R C I :smt Att. tjp (L*. tL , b" r . c*- IN - IO i (A *. (! ,'7 7 ) C00441 EPA NEWS RELEASE OF 9 a.m. SUNDAY, FEB. 11 (Phoned from EPA Region VII Public Affairs Department to U P I , A P , Kansas City Star, Columbia Daily Tribune) . On Friday evening, Feb. 9, the Monsanto Chemical Co. told EPA Regiop VII officials that the shipment of chlorinated phenolic compounds which was spilled in a rail car derailment in Sturgeon, Mo., on Jan. 10 contained trace quantities of a compound known as dioxin (TCDD). Monsanto reported three samples measured, averaging 37 pptj E (34, 36, 40 ppb) . The company could not identify which particular forms of TCDD were present. Acting on this information, Harry Gilmer, EPA Region VII on-scene coordinator, ordered the extraction of a sample of soil taken at the spill site sent to the University of 111. , Champaign. With the assistance of Region VII, Dr. Billie F a i r l e s s r Dr. R. D. Klecpfer, Dr. C. Cook of the University performed analyses which confirmed the presence of 2,3,7,8 TCDD at a level less than 0.01 ppb. Gilmer's team had explored the possibility of dioxin contamination and had both performed some analyses and had contacted Monsanto on this point. According to medical scientists at EPA headquarters in Washington, DC, the new information is of concern but presents no cause for change in the cleanup procedures currently underway. Dr. J. Seister, senior medical advisor to the office of t o x i c substances, stated, "The presence of dioxin in the spill material \\ changes the scope of our review but does not present cause for `immediate alarm in the levels reported." more-