Document g2qzjXRJEdDNojoMJKryGo5eq

/ The Menace of PCS EnvIronmcMoNsls were confident that they had ferreted out the nation's ma jor pollutants after (hey put the linger on substances like dot. mercury, lead and phosphates. Now tin important new comer has cropped up in the form of polychlorinated biphenyls (pens), col orless. odorless, syrupy chemicals that are manufactured in the US. under the trade name Arocfor by the Mon santo Co. Until recently, PCBs were used in industry in many ways, for in fish-meal plant whetw'bre leak | For all the grim warning signs, there ing from * pijarTfta heatingsrstem ;i* as yet no proof that peas at present into the meal. Officials were dtsmi low levels are harmful to humans. Most to learn that the leak had gone scientists, and critic* (ike Congressman discovered for nearly two months am v'Ryan. however, feel that the safest course that 13,000 tons of tainted feed had is to treat PCBs just as though they been sent to 64 customers in twelve ;were the most potent of pollutants, un Southern and Midwestern states. Mil tbsls determine exactly what the long Ryan was furious. "The Federal Gov . lermbffecj* may be. ernment's actions are inexcusable." he said. "This entire incident could have been prevented if the Department of Ag riculture and (he Food and Drug Ad stance as soltencrs in plastics, paints ministration had lived up to their and rubber, ns additives in printing responsibilities to protect the public." inks and papers. Although they arc He then introduced legislation that Copies to; Cunningham now tiled primarily as agents in heat ex would totally ban PCBs from interstate Corey^ changers. there it growing evidence commerce. that alarming quantities of PCBs have Official Goof. Still, evidence of found their way into living organisms PCB pollution continued to crop up, MasojP y Befigtn and that they pose a potent new probably because markets were already parage orge threat to the environment. saturated with FCn products, in mid- Two years ago. New York Democratic August. FDA disclosed that it had Congressman William F. Ryan was told seized more then 75.000 fresh eggs 'Wheeled by a constituent about the dangers of from wholesalers in Norfolk. Va.. be PCS. Checking further. Ryan found cause the chickens that laid them had studies showing that large amounts of eaten feed containing the tainted Ash Pickerov Forrestal PCBs had been discovered in the thh and meal. Though the agency assured the tea birds of several countries. The stud public that no tainted food would Harsh-Brussels ies alto revealed that the compounds can ienk out, it later admitted an official cause liver damage in mice and disrupt goof: a shipment of 60.000 eggs hud tha calcium metabolism of birds, which somehow got through federal inspectors a. John I1f then lay thin-shelled eggs. Alarmed by and, presumably, into the stomachs of the findings, Ryan delivered a House Washington. D.C., residents. speech on PCBS. The Department of Ag Two weeks ago. the Department of riculture responded by halting the use of Agriculture announced that "unaccept PCMt--but only in pesticides. Then, de able levels of the poison PCH" had spite complaints from customers, Mon been found in turkeys processed by n santo announced that, as of September Minnesota subsidiary of Swift It Co. 1970. it would stop sales of PCHs except About 50,000 birds were voluntarily for "absolutely essential" use in electri withheld from (he market while ag cal equipment. riculture experts searched for the source Polluted Poultry. To the public, how of the contamination. Around the same ever, PCS was still largely unknown time. Michigan Governor Wfilinm Mil- --until the disclosure, in December liken ordered a halt to the commercial 1970, that Campbell Soup had found sale of coho salmon after pen was high PCII levels in tome New York found in salmon taken from Lake Mich State chickens destined for its product*. igan. Last week FDA disclosed that PCBs Once notified, the New York and fed had also been found in several dif eral departments of agriculture stopped ferent kinds of dried foods, including poultry shipments from the three coun baby cereals and shredded wheat. The ties supplying Campbell and ordered PCB source has been traced to the card the burial of 146,000 contaminated board packaging maieriul, which was binlt. Where did the PCB come from? made partly of recycled Pea-treated OIDciili speculated that it hod been copying paper. CiO transmitted by chicken feed made from PCBs are difficult to cope with for a Mai* bakery goods that had been number of reasons, first of all because wrapped in PCB-coaled plastic bags. the chemicals are hard to identify. They One of the wont instances of PCB pol o closely resembla dot they can be dif lution occurred lost spring. A North Car ferentiated only by spcclrographic anal oline poultry raiser, worried over the ysis. PCBs are long-lived and. like DDT. low hatching rate of his chickens, ran in their potency is multiplied as they work dependent tests and found that the fatty their way up the food chain. Unlike tissue of the birds contained up to 40 DDT. however, these chemicals are not p.p.m. of PCBs (the federal limit for sprayed but get into the environment ac poultry it 5 p.p.m.). The contamina cidentally, which makes them even hard tion was traced to a Wilmington, N.C-, er lo trace and control. HONS 031710 TOWOLDMON0003924 WATER_PCB-00000946