Document evo4DoYZ499JBxnJJEEpV9vg
Greensboro Doily News, Thurs., Oct. 25,1979
Expert:
PCi
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RALEIGH (AP) -- A PCB expert has said the state ' erred in its calculations and exaggerated the danger of eating rabbits and doves trapped along the 210 miles of rural roadsides that, were contaminated last fall by, . PCB-laced transformer oil.
Dr. Renate D. Kimbrough, of the federal Center for ; Disease Control ip Atlanta, said the state needs to recal, culate statistics to determine how harmful consumption
of animals taken from the area actually would be.
r The state earlier released findings that the animals 1
contained up to 19 times the amount of the toxic chemi
cal. Considered safe for human consumption.
-,\
Kimbrough said she found the levels of PCB
. . showed they would pose no threat to humans if the ani
. mals are eaten on a limited basis.
`
' ,
,
"There's no harm from eating the animals on a lim
! ited ,basis from what I've seen so far," she said.
f
About 25 doves and nine rabbits were captured near PCB-contaminated roadsides and were sent to the federal'Patuxent Fish and Wildlife Research Center in ' Laurel, Md., to be analyzed.
;
Kimbrough said'experts at the center determined |
the amount of PCB ihr<each animal. Some of them!?
j showed a PCB content slightly higher than the ji
. 200-microgram: limit per person per day recommended
: by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
..]
She said the USDA level was based on the amount ':| ; of PCB contained in the fatty tissue of chickens, not y. ; the level contained throughout the entire body of the
chicken.
"The comparison is erroneous," she said. "You ,,
can't compare the (Maryland laboratory) results with >
what the USDA is doing because they (the USDA peo-' *
pie) are only analyzing what is in the fatty tissue. There
is very little fatty tissue in wild animals."
.
. The state had sent its tests to Atlanta for confirma- -V . tion/A spokesman for the N.C. Department of Crime : , Control and Public Safety said state wildlife officials ) will meet this week to decide if more tests are needed, i