Document aEn6mn9bX7YrJowkxxzVp3Qb

U S BUSINESS SEEK WKIX 739,000 SEPUI976 (ggg) FCB poMuM** he* extended even to such rimow spots M mte like M South Africa SAFEtY & HEALTH The evidence mounts against PCBs For the Arst Ume. rest, a group of ehemicala that have long been sus pected of causing illnesaei ranging from dermatitis to cancer, have been pinpointed a* the cause of several in* dustriai eancer deaths. Mobil Corp. an* nounced that 7 out of 92 worken who were exposed to PCBS from 1963 to 1968 at its Paulsboro <N. J.) refinery devel oped cancer. Six have now died, and Mobil says twoof tho doatha are attrib utable to peso, which the company used to make proeeae catalysts at that time. And in an unpublished study, Mjaeamo Co., the eole U. S. producer of tBechemleala, raporta that an abnormally high number of ita deceased workers had died of lung eancer. The fetality report* added further emphaeis to announcements this week that PCBt, which are widely used as In- eoleting fluids in transformer* and ca* padtort, are more prevalent than any one had previously suspected. The Environmental Protection Agency has found KBs in mothers' milk in tasta in 10 states. And Yvonne snd Aigirdas Grekhus, researchers from South Da* kou State University, told an Ameri* can Chemical Society convention that PCBs have shown up in dangerous quantities in such unlikely places as lakes near South Africa* Hartebeestoort Dam. Federal India. These disclosures further oompjioate an already complex legal battle between electrical equipment manufacturer*, environmentalists, and the spa. In July the agency called for a reduction of PCBs in a plant's effluent discharge to no mere than on* part per billion by January, 1978. Moat users say they cannot possibly meet this dsad- line, and they will ask for s one-year extension. Monsanto has told ueers it will end PCB production by late 1977 and that its stockpiles will be depleted by May, 1978-a few months put the January deadline. "Why spend millions [for ef fluent-control equipment] to cut die- chargee for six months?" uks Clifford H. Tuttle, president of Aerovox Indus tries Inc., a manufacturer of electrical equipment. He say* that the industry is 18 to 22 months awey from convert ing to substitutes for pcbs. For its part, the CPA is sympathetic to the industry's plight. "The propoeed regulation* do present some diffi culties to the users," notes R. Kent Bel- lantine, an engineer in epa's standards division, But the agency's hands may be tied. It recently signed i consent agreement to end an environmentaliat-sponeorod lawsuit that would have forced it to step up control of toxic substances. Un der the agreement, epa must immedi ately start setting up standards for several toxics, including rcae. By law, it must enforce the pcb standard within a year of its enactment. The agency has already asked Congress for legislation that might allow it to ex tend the rca-enforcement deedtioe. Aside from epa's moves, the House and Senate have passed separate bills ban ning pcb production, but have at re solved differences in conference. e MQNS 036601