Document YGq4MYk9YD9bDJLkmkvX35bQn

THE NEW YdRK TIMES. SAlUlWAY, JANUARY 17. 1)76 A CHEMICAL PACT jClurged With Not Curbing Use of Toxic Substances Affecting Foods Dy CLYDE II. FARNSWORTH .spec if Id lilt N# IVV Tfnrt PARIS, Jan. 16--1 lie United Stales has been charged with not living up to its obligations) under what is in effect an, international treaty to restrict, use of a group of toxic cheroicals oud prevent them from [entering the environment snd contaminating the human food) chain. Title was reported yesterday! by officials of the Organization lor Economic Cooperation and .Development who noted that |thc United States and other 'nations In the organization had signed a commitment nearly threo years ago to control the chemicals, known as PCB's, for) polychlorinated biphenyls. By poisoning fish, the subsianco enters the human food chain. It has caused liver, can-1 leer and reproductive failures) in some laboratory animals. I Other nations who are major! offenders, according to data collected by the environment, secretariat of the Western coor-j dinating institution, are West Germany,- Italy and Spain. Among the countries that navel beat met the obligations of the undertaking are Japan and the nations of Scandinavia. Had the United Stales passed the legislation envisaged under the organization commitment, the General Electric Company would be birred ffom discharg ing PCB contaminants from |lwo capacitor plants into the Hudson River. . [in New York, a spokes man for General Electric said that the company, under e permit granted e year ago By the Federal Environmental Protection Agency, wae dis charging about three pounds of PCB chemicals a day from the two plants, at Hudson Falls and Fort Edward, into the upper Hudson north of Albany. [The permit, the spokes man said, allows the com pany to discharge up to SO pounds o! the chemicals a The 24 organization member) countries from Western Europe,, North America and devetooed: !Asia signed a council decision ]on Feb.' 13. 1073 to control ;the use of the chlorine-laded : PCB's and are now exchanging i information about what projgress they have made. An organization lawyer ex*, .plained tii.it a council decision,! hinder the organization's rutesi of organization, '`has the bind-1 ing effects of a treaty." j Organization officials here! were surprised by the terminoi-j ocy of Rimcll t.. Train, bead! lof the Environmental Protec-J t;on Agency, in referring to the councit decision in one re cent statement as a "recoin-1 mendation." .: The council also adopts re commendations, but these are not binding on the members. "I don't understand." ssid, one organization specialist who asked not to be cited by name, "how the United States couid solemnly make an agreement and at the same time not be in the position to carry it out." A toxic substances control act has been bottled up in) the Congress for five years,1 having run into intense indus try opposition. But officials of] the Organization for Economic) [Cooperation and Development1 cannot fathom why the Admi nistration does not propose leg.islation to deal specifically [with PCB control, especially! [since there is Dnjy* one major American manufacturer of the' Isubatance, the Monsanto Chc-| jmicgl Company of St. Louis, i Without controls Jobbers can distribute the substance freely and hnports can come in from manufacturers abroad. PCB's re relatively easy to make, and because of their inertness, fire resistance and ability to hold an electrical chafge, they are widely used in the manufac ture of capacitors and genera-1 ;tors in the electrical industry. They are also used in lubri cants, paper coatings, hydraulic fluids, plasticizers, inks, paints and adhesives. : High officials from the orgajnizatlon's member countries! re to meet In Paris March 15 to discuss application of the council declaion. Christian Harter Jr., Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Environ mental and Population Affaib.1 is to lead the American delega-! |tion. The council decided that! PCB's shall be used only fori specifically defined Industrial! " ^ commerical purposes The record also said that member countries "shall: con trol the manufacture, import and export of bulk PCB's; Insti tute adequate arrangements for the recovery, regeneration, ade quate incineration or other safe disposal of. surplus and waste materials; instituiue a special uniform labeling system for |both bulk PCB's and PCB-containing manufactured products, and established safety specifi cations for containers and transport. The United States Is by far the largest producer of PCB's. According to organization data for 1971--more recent statistic* are unavailable--the Unitedl States produced 18,000 tons: West Germany, 8.000: France,! 7,600; Britain 5,000; Japan,! 6.800: Italy, 1.30O and Spain' 1,500. The Soviet Union is also be lieved to be an important pro-, ducer, but figures on Us output| are not available. In Eisicrri1 Europe, Fast Germany is prob ably the biggest manufacturer, organization officials believe. At the coming March meeting In Paris, the United States is. expected to run into criticism1 from the countries that have met their PCB control obliga tions. Since the council decision, Japan has stopped all manu facture of the product and banned imports, except for a 'specifically defined special case. On June 1966 about 1,000 Japa nese were poisoned as the result of leakage of a heat-trans'erl fluid containing PCB in a rice oil pasteurization plant. West Germany, lika the Unit. ed States, has no PCB legisla tion and is believed to be in creasing production. France passed a law in July tut year controlling the produc-, lion, manufactura. and use of PCB'S. .. Britain enforces control pro-| cedures through what isj known as a gentlemen's agree ment among users and *he single manufacturer, a Mon santo subsidiary. All the Scandinavian coun tries and the Netherlands. Austria and Switzerland are believed to have effective con trols. .. Italy and Spain* have not carried out the council de-, clsion. Italy is said to provide, 'figures on its production, but --^q wftr hfts sntoyd y do^ MQNS 032617