Document o9q6no1nJv0vJ5YZGQ6qQ086R

Jfljr flWUlr rrr.s KrflWtrr MOUIU, MA SMf.*. CM53 MAR20 tST7 ^t- PCB disaster narrowly averted DKS MOINES, Iowa (API -- A solvent containing enough of a highly Untie substance to kill or cripple almost everyone in Iowa was about to be spread on the state's gravel roads, an official said Saturday. Pete Hamlin, a state Department of Environment ta) Quality official, said disaster may have been averted by detection of Ute substance. The solvent contained polychlorinated biphenyl fPCB). a thick, colorless and odorless liquid that Is almost indestructible, he said. PCBcan cause cancer and birth defects if ingested and has been held re sponsible for deaths throughout the world. Hamlin said. The substance was mistaken by a trucker for crankcase oil Mid would have been spread on dusty gravel roads, be said. Hamlin said the Environmental Protection Agency in Kansas City informed him Thursday of the 10.006- gallon shipment containing the PCB and he located the truck Friday. The truck's driver had mistakenly loaded his tanker with a solvent containing six parts per thou sand PCB, Hamlin said, adding that the safe level in drinking water is one part per trillion. The shipment was bound for an Iowa firm that, sprays gravel roads to keep down dust. Hamlin said, and if the roads had been sprayed and the PCB had contaminated food or water supties. it could have been ``catastrophic.'* The driver said he was unaware the liquid contain ed PTB when he purchased it In St Paul. Minn., Hamlin said. Monsanto Industrial Chemicals Co. of St. Louis is the only ll.S. manufacturer of the chemical. Hamlin said. It has announced plans to discontinue produc- firm by late this year. Monsanto owns the only incinerator that can destroy the chemical. hut M refuses to burn imported lCB. liamtin said. The state agency will test the shipment to determine where it originated, but "it would be inn good to be true if it were from Monsan to." Hamlin said The cosllv alternative would be to ship it to a chemical landfill, he said. In 1966. about 1.000 Japanese accidentally ate rice contaminated with PCB. They suffered several ill effects, including ulcers, jaundice^ swelling, lout of hair, birth defects and death. , HONS 001667