Document Vjvj9EZDnz98GeV12xy4Kgo08

PCBs: Many questions, few answers By K. B. SAWYER ^ pnxM M FCBa wr aw'"'mem raismg more qmstieao dm snvrjne CM tetewer. At stake may be people's health, aknf with the future of state fisheries prrcrams. sport filling ami Ike com merosl fishing Many. ^CBs are polychlorinated biphen yl The chemicate are etobie and heat resistant. They are used a electrical and heat-transfer systems, certaia piastres and Inks aad various indus trial proems*. They lire leaked into the environment in massive toes. In large item quantities, they damage and kiB animal life. Sa will a number ef ether tbiogs ao one bothers to wry about. Of spatial imarest in western Mi chigan the fact that PCBs get inte Lake Michigan and arc abaorbod by almost everyth!ag that swims. The chemical is absorbed through the skia and throegh the giUa or other Wterlng system used U chtttn oxygen. Bigger aaimale eat smaller ones and conmcaently absorb mote PCBs. The lar- PCBs may be cutting down ihe re production of some ftsb. And they may not There are several indicators. bin no proof. PCBs in sufficient quantity will kiN mammals. There is no indication dial PCBs have reached levels likely to damage people m Michigan . . evos these who eat lots ol fish. But there no evidence either that PCBs might accumulate to dangerous levels il a person ate a lot of fish for 15 or 21 years. What can be determined is that there is a tremendcus need for more leuaiclr The coniarnmasts are in other lakes The fish do pick up PCBs and people aie being rxpooed 10 them. PCB could be damaging fish pro grams by slowing or stopping re production. PCBs could cause a slowdown or even an end to Ihe Miciugan Great Lakes tokens program. Aral PCBs could end up making people sick or killing them. Or it could be that PCBs are not guilty of much of anything, that something eiae is to Marne Or. PCBs toald be combined with some other i hrmrcal to cause a lot ef problems that neither oouM cause alone Coho carcasses taken ai a pier near Lake Michigan were said to mink loden. The to Mapped tyradw Dr. Harold Humphrey. of the Mi chigan Public Health Department's "We have been conducting a study oo people who ceaawne Lake Michigan fish *e identified Maple who coasume a good deal ef fish from Lake hCchigm. Muskegon was not one of the study communities. "Over a couple of years, we took btaod specimens and tested tot PCBs We aleo had a contiui group. "We found that people who eat a let of salmon and lake trout have more PCBs in their bodtei Ban those who do The Flint Journal FUNT, MCH. _ O..21M50SM. URP7S FEB3&W6 3 O z Co U> U> "We haven't bad tec fish-catiag roup tabe uniquely dHheonc-Thera is o forawtert pattern ef item ar rubfcais "So far as the Great Lakes PCB . . ! StUL _ vice of no more dan one maul of sal mon or trout a to. There's a large margin of safety People should avoid Joha Seioctynski. who works at a Muskegon tackle store, said pike fi shermen he has talked to this winter charge of toxic materiele with tee Department of Natural Kenources (OMR). nM. "Lake tram have been in share. Normally, token spawn on etfteore reefs and may have to be planted teete toe repretemtton. "But. PCBscnrtd be involved in oar lake Crow problem." Hrstt said. There is oo inteciDon. boever, that the lugh Into of PCBs in salmon are affecting a get full of PCBs m (be Mt weenot their We. when they store M and otergy tor the spawning run IS parts per million, with it running " ` i the larger fish. Lake trust t and w to M ppm * ' i gt higher ia the a pan of tee lake." Hem where piamed ia Lake Michigan streams and PCBs cauM be tee cause Were, he said. The federal Food and Drug Admin- totrwttee (FDA) baa set the tolerance level at S ppm. "That came from tests on rats, said Richard Powers, an asnsuni to Hesse. "Then it was loond teal rats can metabolize PCBs more than K..1MM Rhesus monkeys can't stand as much." ___ The FDA is considering towering the level to 2 ppm or IS ppm Canada already baa sat a tewl at 2 ppm. to that safe? "No ane hw eto I a said. But KBS do PCBs may be killing seagulls m Ltee Ontario. Thera is a high mortali ty among gulls there- Mm* to* salmo" frera Lake Michipa died. PCBs effect reproduction in seme animals, even at 5 ppm. Even at 2-5 PP*- * w*c`* _______ m are much smaller an imals than people. Fish make tm * mock smaller pen of the diet tor ate hall a pound of ftoh at M ppm per meaL it would take meals tor kteo to ml wtmt is set as the toiemble tovei in a thousand days '' Hon *d. He said pertiLpralleyts. whuteteh. r i Hil l nHn Page C-17 PCB: Queries without answers to** * ?; And. FCBsmay not be the on y problem. There era sa many *"5 ft> hta. thro., water and tbrwteteo air. AS much as com through the air. ,) c*m*T e*ven screes tar them an. none ^-------. M .3u|. said. "It could be something we hrai'i even thmgbt ef" that hows- ho sM. "That h hlilnll ,ktm-na mg the fishery problems. "A cotnbtoatloaof ckomiCBk with PCBs ia a good On tbe Pore Marquette River. guMewd toaettane ttoberman repotedfindiag large numbers of dead bran treat in tee fall white the sal- m are spawning. The bcewns feed heavily oa salmon eggs Be thought i nwmnliiitrf salmon eggs might be ,_ "fj* fishery. When oar FDA limits for PCBS. caa wootlaae to expose fi- "Tbe probability of it being reused by KBs I* very slim." Hesse said. "Salmon eggs test at about W ppm aad Tbe FDA B^ppHre only to flak beiag tote. A pdt citnen can eat ail he wests, lo 1571. tbe state warned fishermen that one meal per week ought to be tbe Hunt, bat little hat beaa seid since teen. If tee FDA level is lowered to 2 ppm, "virtually ell species would bo unmarketable sad the Great Lake* commercial fishery would be dead." Nathaniel P. Reed of tee Deportment to Interior mid. Rep. Philip E. Ruppe. R-Boughten. said, "I'm amounted about people who nteg be sitting on a keg of dynamite We dart know what's MKraMe. or be* we eo^ get PCBs out of their system." "I would sey tent any level of PCBs is potentially harmful to hamans." A bin ia the Michigan Legislature would outlaw the use ol KBs in the Kate. However, it wduid do little for tuntoteits would come from the west in tfw prevailing wind. PCB* apparently have had no known effect on other animals m Mi chigan. "1 don't know ol any prob lems." mid a DNR wildlife biologist. " I 1975