Document pBGoBaLwnadGXDmpvYyx8zDNj

4t4i7 snmcr wxir. 101.200 DEC 191975 (SB Chemical Pollutants: Polychlorinated Biphenyls Still a Threat Manufacturers and users of potentially toxic chemicals have argued that there is no need for federal regulations to control their use. They contend that voluntary con trols and self-policing are adequate protec tion from potential hazards. This type of argument has generally been successful in preventing the passage of restrictive laws, but the recent reemergence of polychlori nated biphenyls (PCB's) as a major envi ronmental problem suggests that voluntary controls may often be inadequate, even when the manufacturers apparently have ihe ben of intentions. PCB's are aromatic compounds con taining from 12 to 68 percent chlorine. Their high degree of stability and their low flammability make them ideal for many in dustrial uses. These same properties, how ever, make the chemicals exceptionally persistent in the environment--far more so, for example, than the chlorinated pesti cides such as DDT. Three years ago, the persistence and toxicity of PCB's in the en vironment had been fully recognized, and a variety of steps were taken that, it was thought, would bring the situation under control. In one of the most important vol untary actions, the Monsanto Company of Si. Louis, Missouri--ihe only U.S. pro ducer of PCB's--discontinued sates of the chemicals except for their use in eleclricel components. The Pood and Drug Adminis tration alto adopted an interim safely level of 5 parts per million (ppm) for PCB's in food, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued waste disposal re strictions that were supposed to keep PCB levels below 0.01 part per billion in rivers and streams. But these steps apparently did not pro duce the desired effect. The total amount of PCB's in the environment has not only not declined since then, but has apparently increased aubstamielly. According to Thomas E. Kopp of the EPA's Office of Toxic Substances, at least 4.5 million kilo grams of PCB's are lost to the environ ment each year through vaporization, leaks, spills, and burial in landfills. This is an exceptional amount considering that, last year, Monsanto produced only about Ig million kilograms and another 170,000 kilograms were imported. Some 360 mil lion kilograms have been produced in the United States since 1957. The most serious problems have been observed in the northeastern United States and the province of Ontario. Both salmon and striped bass from the upper Hudson R iver and Lake Ontario, for example, have been found to contain PCB's in concentra tions from 5 to 20 ppm. well above the 2 ppm limit for edible fish adopted Iasi IS ORCRM8ER 1975 month and the established U.S. limit. Sev environment are firmly established. Many eral investigators have reason to believe that if a limit of I ppm were adopted, none of the fish in the Great Lakes would be edible. investigators have shown (Sciencr. 27 Oc tober 1972, page 388) that PCB's interfere with reproduction in, for example, rodents, fish, fowl, and primates. According to As PCB concentrations nearly as high as sistant Secretary of the Interior Nathaniel those observed in Great Lakes fish have P. Reed, PCB's may thus hasten (he ex been found, according to Charles R. Walk tinction of endangered species despite our er of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in best efforts to preserve them. He ales as an fish from such widely scattered areas as the example the SI 75 million effort to restock Allegheny and Kanawha rivers in the the Great Lakes with lake trout, splakc. East, the Tennessee and Missouri rivers m and salmon when those species had been the Midwest, the Chena and Columbia nearly wiped out by the invasion of sea rivers in Alaska and the Far West, and the lampreys. Not only do PCB's interfere Rio Grande, Alabama, and Mississippi with reproduction of the restocked fish, but riven in the Gulf states. High concentra they also render those that survive inedible. tions of the chemicals have also been found And if the fish cannot be consumed by in waterfowl from the major U.S. flyways man, Reed argues, it will be difficult to jus and in other birds, such as starlings, tify the expense of further efforts to replen throughout ihe country. EPA Administra ish them. Another species which he says is tor Russell E. Train also says that PCB's directly endangered by PCB's is the buld have been found in the water supplies of eagle. Winnebago, Illinois, and Selleisburg, In In animals fed PCB's, other ailments diana, and that their presence is suspected have been observed. These include acne, in the water supplies of Bridgeport, Con loss of hair, enlarged livers, gastrointesti necticut, Escondido, Californii, and New nal lesions, and abnormalities of the lym Bedford, Massachusetts. phatic system. Furthermore, Renate D. Released hue Hirers Kimbrough of the Center for Disease Con trol has observed malignani liver (umors in The sources of this material are not rodents fed dieu containing 100 ppm of completely known, but much obviously PCB's. Her results have, however, not been comes from manufacturing plants where corroborated by other investigators. PCB's are used. According to Robert Dur- PCB's also produce adverse effects in fee of Vesar Inc. of Springfield, Virginia, man. Ailments such as those that occur in about 70 percent of Monsanto's PCB pro laboratory animals fed PCB's have been duction is used in electrical capacitors, observed by Masanore Kuratsune of whila the remainder it used in trans Kyushu University in 1291 Japanese per formers. The EPA has, in fact, identified sons who were affected by a 1968 incident ten electrical component plants where in which PCB's contaminated a batch of PCB's are released into rivers. In addition, cooking oil. In addition, workers using the one of these component producers and chemicals to manufacture capacitors at Monsanto itself have been identified by two General Electric Company plants EPA as the sources of PCB's entering the north of Albany. New York, have com sewage systems of Bridgeport, Con plained of allergic dermatitis, nausea, diz necticut. and Sauget. Illinois. ziness, eye irritation, and asthmatic bron A good portion of the PCB's in the envi chitis. ronment must also come from the import EPA contends that even though PCB's ed materials, which are even more poorly are hazards, it does not have the power tu controlled. Durfee says that some 80 to 90 restrict or halt their production, to stop percent of imported PCB's are used as their importation, or to prevent manu plasticizers in waxes that in turn are used facturing plants from releasing them into to form molds for producing high-quality waterways, all of which may be nccessuiy metal castings. The remainder is used for to halt the threat to the environment. Train what he terms "semidosed heat transfer thus argues that it is essential for Congress applications." to past the Toxic Substances Control Act Other sources of environmental PCB's now under consideration, which would giv include the effluent from mills that recycle EPA such powers. Passage of the act will business forms and other paper products make it necessary to find adequate new that were manufactured with the chemicals substitutes for PCB's in electrical com and smoke from the burning of such ponents. But even if these measures are ac papers. Lesser amounts are also released complished, the PCB's that have already from other products that contain small been produced may still threaten the envi quantities of PCB's. ronment for a very long time. The health consequences of PCB's in ihe -Thomas H. Mauoh 11 11X1 MOMS 086555