Document e8Y86MeVm3zrzrdwLVGyYjY4

Monsanto OAT I unjrcT TO ' : W. B. PAPAGEORGE - ST. LOUIS November 20, 1970 FILE cc J. Mason H. Bergen R. E. Kelly E. Wheeler P. Park Visited with Mr. & Mrs. Franklin Humphrey, owners and operators of a dairy farm in Columbiana County, Ohio, Mr. Harry W. Schmuck, Canton, Ohio, their attorney, and Mr. Ed Smith, representing the Co-op dairy located in Alliance, Ohio on November 18, 1970. 1. The Humphrey's were first informed that their milk was unacceptable because of its PCB content on February 27, 1970. PCB levels have been reported from .26 ppm to over 1 ppm from that day to the present. 21 cows of a herd of about 60 are pro ducing milk free of PCB; however, 16 of these have never been fed silage. 2. PCB levels of the composite milk supply, although still exceeding 0.2 ppm, are dropping and the State Department of Agriculture is convinced that milk will be acceptable soon. Silage has not been fed to the herd since March, 1970. 3. After testing the water, hay and forage from pastures in which the cattle graze, the source of PCB was isolated to the silage from two concrete block silos which were coated about three years age with Michigan Silos "cumar" coating. The coating was applied with brushes on an old surface which was wire-brushed. No special curing was made. The silos were not filled until the coating was about 6 weeks old. 4. The silos are both of open top construction. The smaller silo was covered with a plastic rain shield. There are no mechanical devices in the silos. The silage is air conveyed into the top of the silo and removed by pitchfork from the top and pitched to the ground from openings in the side. The silage consists of chopped corn. No other ingredients are added. PCB-ARCH0744814 -2- 5. The Humphrey's apparently have not experienced any unusual reproduction problems. 6. The Humphreys are very bitter as a result of their 8-9 month loss of income. Mrs. Humphrey, in partic ular, sincerely believes that the States' laboratory results are not reliable and therefore Dr. Hill should not have applied the PDA guidelines until more experience was gained. Mr. Smuck stated that if he had reputable laboratory results which indicated the State laboratory was in error, he would take his case to the State Assembly. Al though no one stated it, I sensed that animosity between the State people and the Humphreys had reached the level at which good communications were becoming difficult. Some comments which were made indirectly implied that the Humphrey's felt the State was being very inflexible with them but apparently is approving Mr. Schwarzwalder's milk with PCB levels higher than 0.2 ppm. 7. In discussing various ways to help farmers who are experiencing the PCB problem, the Humphreys and Smuck indicated strongly they would not use an old silo regardless of the treatment it might be given. Smuck stated that he did not believe that Congress could introduce legislation providing indemnity for farmers whose income was being affected by PCB because of political implications of apparently helping a large corporation like Monsanto. The only help the Humphreys want at this time, in addition to what they seek in their lawsuit, is laboratory analyses that would help them fight Dr. Hill. 8. When I suggested that I would like to take some samples to help us study the total problem, they offered to provide the samples only if I shared the analytical results with them. This posed the question we had not resolved for other similar requests but under the circumstances I decided to share the data with them. 9. Samples of current and old milk, paint scrappings and silage from both old silos and water were obtained.- 10. The Humphreys are Installing a new glass-coated A. 0. Smith silo which will be placed in service within a week. ms 0510816 PCB-ARCH0744815