Document p2p2NNNJxYLgeREvBznbOGYNj
A
&au 5Traiuii?ci uxannmuvrK
D 230.572
FEB 25 1969 ^
r-'
New Plastic Pollutant in Bay, Mothers' Mil!'
By Robert Gillette
is polychlorinated biphenyl, <^ under the trade name of Aro-j But scientists here regard ocean has grovn to near!
of PCB.
(dors. He said Monsanto has (such spills as only a small; twice that expected from na
1 LA JOLLA -- An alarming . It is used to make plastics, f
responded to questions j facet of global marine poilu- j ural sources.
sew chemical pollutant re* synthetic rubber products,f about the chemistry of PCB jtion.
' The heavy me;al has bee
sembling the insecticide DDT and epoxy adhesives. It ap and its long range effects on Dr. Edward Goldberg, a known as a poison fur age.
is accumulating in Pacific parently escapes to the envi animal life.
professorof chemistry at "but as yet we don't *;r.cr<
and Atlantic Ocean marine ronment in fumes.and indus JPCB is the latest addition Scripps, observes that with the effects of lead atv-aub
life, according to a scientist trial waste water. Dr. Rise- to a growing list of chemi lead, the chlorinated hydro (ion in ocean food chains.
.from the University of Cati- brough said yesterday.
cals, generated for the bene- carbons, and crude oil, "man Dr. Patterson said.
| fomia at Berkeley.
PCB has also been found in fit of man, that are appear- > has left his imprint in all One disquieting hint. liyv.
!Itie substance apparently human milk analyzed at the ing in ever larger amounts in j
f the world ocean, ever, is that marine plan-
is' playing a role in the rapid University of Colorado.
the open ocean -- and in w"hich" covers two-thirds of, and animals -- hold uio.-t <.
Jdecline of at least one spe
cies of bird, the peregrine I falcon, and it may have abet
Though it is not an insecti cide, PCB belongs to the same chemical family as
ted the disappearance from
Uie Gulf Coast of the brown!
pelican.
.
DDT bons.
chlorinated
hydrocar
some cases, in the food man takes from the sea.
* Whole Picture
As such, the presence of PCB in marine life is the
the'earth's surface to an av-; Ihe lead they incest, tlu-
erage depth of several, pass it on to the next link t
miles." .
I the food chain.
Lead, used as an anti
knock agent in gasoline, is j
pouring from the world's au
Plastics -
|
They down
are not in the
easily broken environment.
newest symptom of "man's chemical invasion of the
tomobiles at a rate of about one million tons a year. Dr.
Swedish sclent is Is first They tend to accumulate In ocean" -- the subject of a Clair Patterson, a geochem
identified the pollutant in fish fats and oils in living tissue, grim and occasionally out ist at Caltech in Pasadena,
taken from the Atlantic. Now j and they can disturb a varie raged discussion among 200 repotted.
in recent months, UC re-| ty of chemical processes scientists, here for two days Rain and snow sweep
searchers have found it ini within living cells.
at the Scripps Institution of flakes of the automotive fall
birds and fish from San j Dr. Risebrough said Mon Oceanography. *
out from the air and carry it.
Francisco Bay.
{ santo C__h_e_m__i_cal _C__o_mp_a_n_y___is
To most Californiantso tthoe- sea.
j
Dr. Robert Risebrougfa, oft apparently the sole producer j day, a polluted sea most like-. As a result.. Dr. Patterson
te UC Institute of Marine of PCB compounds is thejly means the huge oil slick in <-said, the amount of lead in
Sciences, said the chemical United States, selling them t the Santa Barbara Oianoel. j the upper 3000 feet of the