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G E N E R A L ^ ELECTRIC
G ENERAL E LE C TR IC COM PANY
FA IR FIE LD . C O N N E C T IC U T 0 4 4 3 I
STERHEN a HAMILTON. J R M AM AO K N KM Vl.OHM CM TAt. VC1CMCC AMO T tC M H O tO O T
November 24, 1986
FEDERAL EXPRESS '
Dr. Stephen H. Safe, Professor of Toxicology
Texas A&M University Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology Highway 60 College Station, TX 77843-4466
Dear Dr. Safe:
Thank you for the papers on PCBs as dioxin antagonists. I find them extremely
interesting and would like to see this work progress further to look at the carcinogenic response, and also look at the effectiveness of certain individual congeners.
Regarding our meeting on December 1, I will be accompanied by Dr. Joseph
Rodericks of Environ, who has personal knowledge of the PCB regulatory process, and Dr. John F. Brown, Manager of GE`s Health Research at our
Corporate Research and Development Center. We will be arriving at the College Station Airport at 11:50 a.m. and departing at 4:45 p.m., same day.
I would like to start the meeting by summarizing the reasons why we think that a new approach to quantitating PCBs in fish, i.e., quantitation of specific .
toxic congeners rather than total PCBs is more scientifically sound than FDA's current approach.
I would then like to discuss with you the kind of toxicity testing that might make this a convincing argument to the Agency.
I would also like to discuss toxicity tests that would demonstrate the
differences between the Aroclors that were released to the environment, and those largely dechlorinated mixtures found in the sediments of certain rivers. For your interest, I am enclosing a copy of chromatograms of Aroclor 1242 and of PCBs found in Hudson River sediments.
I trust we will also have time to discuss your dioxin "antagonist" work as well.
We should have a very interesting and productive meeting.
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Sincerely yours
SBH:cas
Enclosure ce: Dr. J.F. Brown
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ure 1 Capillary gas chromatograms of PCB specimens illustrating patterns 5t commonly seen in upper Hudson sediments: (a) Aroclor 1242 standard; ;) "Pattern B," dechlorinated Aroclor 1242 from Core 18-6, 16-17"
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