Document g2y1ojN2yb81XaoQgXQGYy7eL

PCB-ARCH-EXT0376144 High amounts of PCB dumped in N.C. found in women's breast milk . RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - A study says 12 women living along North . Carolina roadsides where toxic , PCB was illegally dumped have a higher level of that same type of . PCB in their breast milk than most women. However, the study also says , that although the level of that type of polychlorinated biphenyls was higher, their overall level of PCB was similar to that of most wom en. - The researchers who conducted . the study said they had not seen any illnesses either in the women or their children attributable to the . PCB. The study was made as part of the Breast Milk and Formula Proj ect of the National Institute of En vironmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park. The study has been submitted to the Journal of the American Medical Associa. tion, but has not yet been accepted, project director Dr. Walter Rogan said late Thursday. . PCB like that dumped in 14 North Carolina counties in 1978 once was used in electrical trans formers because of its insulating properties, but it was banned in 1978 by the Environmental Protec tion Agency because it was sus pected of causing cancer. In all, about 25 percent of the 900 women in the study had some of the chemicals that were dumped along the roadway, said Mary Tully, research coordinator for the In fant Feeding Study at Wake Medi cal Center, one of three centers where the study is conducted. "The PCBs (in the 12 women) resembles Aroclor 1260," a type of PCB, Rogan said. "That type shows up about 25 percent of the time in, as far as we know, normal people of background exposure." "The 12 had specific levels of PCB -- each of them had some exposure in some way," Tully said. "One woman had walked through it looking at some land, most of the others lived along the road or near it." "There's no detectable hazard," Rogan said. "We also follow the children and have seen no illnesses contributable to PCBs in breast milk so far. "In addition to those kids, we have 840 others we followed, some up to age 4Vz, and thus far, we've not seen any illness we think is attributable to PCBs specifically," he said. Soil along 210 miles of state roadside was contaminated by the illegally dumped chemicals. The state has dug up that soil and is burying it in a dump near Afton in Warren County. Warren County residents and their supporters have been protest ing the dumping, and 242 people have been arrested in less than two weeks as protesters have tried to stop trucks headed for the dump. A dump truck headed for the landfill overturned Friday, spilling dirt contaminated with PCBs into a soybean field. M.C. Adams, manager of main tenance and equipment for the state Department of Transporta tion. said the truck veered off a Johnston County road to avoid a collision with another vehicle. There were no injuries and state crews quickly scooped up the spilled dirt. San Jose, CA (Santa Clara Co.) 4 Mercury-News (Clr. Sat. & Sun. 258,937) SEP 2 S 1982 _Allen* P. C. B list. 18US Antioch, C.A. <C Ax .'.I 13 <Cir n. 13,492} SEP 201982 JUUn'. P. C. B F.st. 1888 y^Study shows increased PCB levels SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -- A study of mussels The study indicates the amount of toxins has bee off the Southern California coast has revealed in creased levels of PCBs, heavy metal and pesticides decreasing in Northern California while it has bee in some harbors, a state official says. increasing in Southern California. No warnings o The Water Resources Board and the state collecting or eating mussels have been Issued. Department of Fish and Game recently released "We are still not able to determine how these r the results of the joint mussel testing study, named cent findings will impact man," said Rolf Mall, en "Mussel Watch," which was conducted mainly vironmental services supervisor for the State from 1979 to 1981. . Water Resources Control Board's Long Beach regional office. "But we feel that the data is pretty Mussels from the Long Beach-Los Angeles Har reliable. bor showed an increase of 300 times the concentra "At this time there is cause for concern, but only tion of DDE, a pesticide derivative of DDT, the a low level of alarm. But from this point we wit study showed. observe the program with interest, and the state Some of the highest levels off the California coast board is looking at it." of chlordane, copper, lead and zinc were found in Authorities say they do not know at this time samples near Marina del Rey. The levels of the where the pollutants are coming from, but are look pesticide chlordane were 10 times higher than at ing at marine traffic, wastewater discharge and nearby sampling stations and 100 times higher than home use of DDT. in Northern California. "We are not able at this time to eliminate any Newport Harbor mussels showed a 30-fold in possibility as the source of the problems," Mall crease of DDE between 1979 and 1981, and levels of said. "And it could be a collection of all of them." chlordane and PCBs from the mussels in Anaheim Five mussel monitoring stations have been set up .lay were termed "abnormally high." between Huntington Beach Pier and Crescent Bay, thp rpnnrt