Document pBg32mrB7vkL3Y0kGZVQjEjXk

July 29, 1971 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD --HOUSE II 7445 l Clty health omoinls In a two-pronged Attack estimated SOO who arc so sick they should bo Commission on Product Safety, the V or.'lead-paint poisoning. . hospitalized right away, they said Council on Environmental Quality, and - one part of flic program would detect and ' treat children suffering load-paint poisoning. The second part would amend the housing ^ codc to require elimination of lead-based * Mint from use In housing. < Only one death from lead-paint poisoning The current screening procedure Is op erated out of a mobile testing facility. Com munity aides knock on doors in the neighbor hood and ask parents to bring their children to the trailer'for testing. The test involves drawing blood from the arm Into a small con- the Environmental Protection Agency to take specific' actions to protect the Amer ican people as well as fisli, wildlife, poultry, and livestock from the hazards of PCB's. > has been recorded In the city In recent years. talner which is taken to the city's testing ; Yet in an almost unprecedented dis | hut officials fear that hundreds of children lab or where the blood is tested for its lead play of callous disregard for the safety ', may be suffering from Its effects. A study level.--Washington Post, May 28, 1971. of our citizens, that action was not forth ' hy the Poison Control Center of Children's ~ WISCONSIN coming. The results are now tragically Hospital of two dozen Homewood Brushton yoimi'sl.crs found that n fourth of them had ; a dangerous level of lead Ih their systems. ; The committee adopted a three-point res * iiv.tlon which provides for: Lead poisoning among Inner city children has become so severe -In. Milwaukee, that Children's Hospital has established a special clinic to provide Improved diagnosis, treat ment and aftercare of lead pojsoning vietjms. apparent. . And despite the unfortunate lesson of this massive PCB contamination of poul try, the Federal bureaucracy still has not v iiWuHimnmtes to begin drafting no^cafl 1 to- m amendments to tho housing and health in IIIOT, fils ililitlrtHi tiietl ffbin lead iiuUieiiiiitJi and In 1070. close to 60 youngsters were acted to prevent a recurrence in the fu ture. The failure of the Federal Govem- .wm trcaicd for the poisoning. Nono have died, . ment in this entire flatter is both shock- t an application for federal funding to car but an undetermined number have been left ing and inexcusable. ' . . tv cut a lead-paint removal program In exist- l:-C housing: . F.vploration of setting up a fund to glvo 1 poor home owners low-interest loans tta re- < paint tlielr homes with no-lead paint.--Pltts- ^ burgh Press, May 7.1071. ' " mentally retarded or otherwise brain dam aged. Lend poisoning has also been found among racing drivers and mechanics. Several years ago, a Milwaukee surgeon. Dr. Michael A. Polncck, medical director of tho Wisconsin In view of the unconscionable neglect on the part of the executive branch, the Congress must now act. I have introduced legislation--H.R. 10085--to prohibit the interstate dis I ViaOINIA Auto Club, found abnormally high amounts tribution of PCB's. And I urge that the , The Norfolk Lead Control Program Is the or lead In the blood tests of two nationally appropriate congressional committees ; flrsl one to be funded under a new set of known drivers who had been hospitalized immediately undertake a full and ex < siiccested commnulty guidelines drawn up for burns. After this discovery, Polncck took haustive investigation, not only of the , by the Public Health Service and also is the first comprehensive lead-polsonlng proj- ' eet In the nation. j The program Involves Initial screening s measures conducted by health department i naff ns well as a communitywide project-to blood samples from 35 drivers, mechanics and driver-mechanics during a week of races. More than one-third had high amounts of lead: 3 had such high levels that poisoning would be expected; they also had poisoning symptoms, including abdominal pain, consti current massive contamination of poul-. try and the need for Federal legislation to control this deadly chemical, but also into the indefensible failure of Federal agencies to take the necessary actions marshal support and Interest In combatting pation, nausea, muscle weakness and dizzi which would have prevented this inci \ lrad poisoning at the neighborhood level. ness. - dent. : The lend program staff have already spoken 1 to some 300 people, such ns PTA gToups, to 1 make them aware of the lead problem. i The program is headquartered in the . < Berkeley Model City Neighborhood Center and according to program coordinator Arlo * i Von Coker, he and his staff have collected ' more than 75 paint samples from homes Upon Investigating the three poisoned rac ing members, Dr. Richard D. Stewart, chair man of environmental medicine at the Medi cal .College of Wisconsin, found that the lead In the blood of drivers and driver-mechanics was unrelated to breathing fumes from lead ed gasoline or exhaust. Instead, It was ab- ' > sorbed through the skin when team mem bers dismantled engines and washed the parts. At this point I include an article by Hank Burchard which appeared in the July 29 Washington Post detailing the extent of the current problem. I also in clude a July 29 Washington Evening Star article by John Fialka on PCB's. The articles follow? tlroughout the city. Working through a list ' :c fili'.dren treated for lead poisoning at In kerosene. Contract drivers, who merely drove the [From the Washington (D.C.) Post, July 29, 1971] . .'lira's Daughters Children's Hospital in cars, had normal .blood levels of lead. But Millions of Chickens Tainted . and names supplied by city-wide clinics, '. Taker said that in most instances, as many os half of the samples collected come back -' positive for lead. _ f "Most lead poisoning cases that we've ~ found are in black neighborhoods where the drivers who also worked on the engines sometimes had a high blood lead level. Indi cating that lead poisoning might be a con tributing cause of_ race -crashes.---ililiuaukee Journal 'Ootober 4, 1970. (By Hank Burchard) The Agriculture Department conceded yes terday that millions of chickens fed on fish meal contaminated with a DDT-Uke chemi cal have been sold in stores in the Wash- : older deteriorating homes are," Coker said. ihgton area and much , of the rest of the ; ; He poted that most of these older and de1 terlorating homes are in the Berkley, Hi]htersvllle, Brambleton and East Ghent axeakof PCB'S---THoSEIiOuNnNEmAELiDmACF/OTiiIwROnNCONGRE'S^-(cPoTCuhnBet)r,yc.lehaekmeidcaIln, t'opofilyshchmloeriantapterdodubcipehdeantylas the city which are Model City areas. A re-T (MiTRYAN asked.and.waS- given-per^ Wilmington, XNT./C-'., plant between April 30 | cent seuilvrivraewy of hnormrtaeps (ina the ictliftwy showed ' mission to extend his remarks at- this * that over 80 percent of all dwelling units ;. built prior to 1939 were In these four areas. ` Fifty-three percent of all the city's subi standard housing Is located In these areas," point in the Record and to include ex traneous matter.) Mr. RYAN. Mr. Speaker, the U.S. De < Coker added.--(Norfolk) Virginia-PUot, partment of Agriculture conceded yester- .1 October 16, 1970, February 25, 1971. ' ' day that millions of chickens fed on fish and mid-July. From there it was widely dis tributed to poultry growers and hog raisers, mixed into up to 800,000 tons of feed. Some 35 million broiling chickens alone are sent to market each week from the 12 states where feed containing the fish meal was sold. How many of those chickens consumed j WASHINGTON, B.C. ' ' meal contaminated with a dangerous the' contaminated feed and how much PCB j The Community Health Services Admlnls- chemical--polychlorinated biphenyl-- was in their flesh when sold "cannot be ] tratlon, under a 8204,154 grant from the PCB--have reached tho marketplace and known," Dr. Clayton Yeutter. chief of Agri 1 Model Cities Commission, is conducting a mass testing of children in a section of tho. Inner city for lead poisoning. Of the 350 tested so far, five hnvo had to bo hospitalized. Another 30 children have a higher concen tration of lead In their systems than Is con sidered safe. These have been referred to hos . in turn consumers' market baskets. The'potential consequences of this con tamination arc staggering. But just as dismaying is the fact that this incident could have been prevented if Federal' agencies had lived up to their responsi culture's Consumer and Marketing Survey, said yesterday. Last Friday, Dr. Fred Fullerton of Agricul ture's Consumer and Marketing Service which had wltlihcld announcement of tho pcb affair for a week, said there was evidence that any contaminated chickens pitals and neighborhood health clinics for bilities to protect the public health and have reached any consumer." treatment on an outpatient basis. welfare. Dr. Yeutter explained The apparent con Health officials say they would like to test For 2 years, I have urged the appro tradiction this way: 11.000 children between the ages of one and six from the model cities area; the total pop ulation of the area Is about 80,000. The of ficials estimate that the city ha about 5.000--about 10 percent of the 50,000 who live in old and dilapidated bouses--who have priate Federal agencies to take specific "There was no statement that chickens protective measures that would have fed on the contaminated fish meal had not safeguarded tho public from the hazards of PCB's. During that time I have called upon the Department of Agriculture, the reached tho market. The statement was that there was no evidence--and 'thcro still Is ' none--that any of the marketed chickens contained more FOB than the 5 parts per higher levels of lead In their bodies than ora Department Of Interior, the Food and; million oonaldored acceptable by the govem- considered safe. Of that 5,000, there an an Drug Administration, the President's meat." . , " . : ' .. !->. ' ' . . re DSW 334121 * STLCOPCB4080698 . \ .t . . H 7446 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD --HOUSE July 29, 1971 Asked If there was any evidence that santo Company, the nation's sole manufac State Department of Agriculture found a chickens containing more than 6 p.pjn. had turer of PCBs, has been quietly moving vari residue of PCB In milk. They, removed s not been marketed. Dr. Yeuttcr said an an ous products containing It off the market. large quantity from the market and traced nouncement on the results of field tests By last August, according to William B. would be made by the department today. In any case. Dr. Ycutter said, "no chickens fed contaminated meal are on tha market now and none will be released for market." Asked If the same could be said for frozen chickens and chicken meat used In the pro duction of soups, hot dogs and other foods. Dr. Yeutter referred the question to Dr. ' Fullerton, who could not be reached yester day afternoon or last night. The effects of PCB upon humans, If any, Papageorge. _ manager of environment pro tection for Monsanto, the company had stopped selling It except for use In closed (systems, such as lfi large electric trans formers, heat transfer units and in electric capacitors. It was felt that it would b$ highly unlikely that the chemical could pose a danger when. Its use was restricted to such closed systems, Papageorge explained, are not known. It has been shown to cause NORTH CAROLINA LEAK low fertility In fowl and liver damage In rats, and Is thought by many scientists to be a serious long-term danger to man and animals. Dr. Yeuttcr said the public "should not be unduly alarmed" over tho PCB case. "It Is not worthwhile to worry tho consumer now about something he ate a few weeks ago. It hasn't affected my consumption of chick en. As far os we know every chicken sitting on every shelf Is safe and wholesome." But in mid-July a heat exchange unit,* used in a plant In Wilmington, N.C., In a process designed to remove tho bacteria from Imported fish meal, was found to be leaking. The result was the possibility that millions of chickens and other livestock may havo been eating contaminated feed. According to Rep. William F. Ryan, D-NY, who has been studying the effects of the chemical for two years, the possibility of such Rep. William Pitts Ryan (D-N.Y.), who a danger has been known for many months. Monday filed a bill that would outlaw all. Ryan Introduced a bill Monday which production or use of PCB in the United would , ban the sale of PCBs in the United States, sold yesterday he was "shocked and States. He told the House that he has urged outraged" by the government's handling of the Department of Agriculture, the Secretary the cose. ' of Interior, the Environmental Protection They're Just playing guessing games," he Agency and the Food and Drug Administra said. "The setting of the 6 parts per million tion repeatedly to ban PCBs. standard was purely arbitrary in the first Today, ho called for hearings on his bill place. From all we con find, the action of and the Inaction by the federal agencies. Agriculture and FDA (Food and Drug Ad- ' The leakage In Wilmington, he said, ministration) has been Insufficient to say "tragically Illustrates the failure of the fed the least. eral government to take preventive action 'They've hushed up earlier PCB con tamination cases and delayed announcement In this case until the chickens hod been sold. This Is unconscionable neglect In a sit uation of staggering potential harm." Rep. Ryan said he would call for hearings . not only on his bill but "Into Agriculture and FDA's eonduct." ' ' against the unconscionable use of this deadly chemical." ADMINISTRATION BILL The Nixon administration meanwhile, is pushing for legislation that could lead to tight regulation of Industrial chemicals like PCB. the chemical to a material used to line silos, whoro cattle feed was stored. Exactly how much PCB Is still being pro duced is a secret which Monsanto, the sole manufacturer, refuses to disclose. DEVELOPED IN 1930'S Acoordlng to Papageorge, a chemical en gineer, PCB. or polychlorinated biphenyl, was first developed In the early 1930s by the Swann Chemical Co. in Anniston, Ala., and later taken over by Monsanto. Until, recently, PCBs were marketed In some Industrial paints, coatings. Inks, and In some plastics. Now, because of Monsanto's change In marketing policy. It Is produced only for uso. as an Insulator In capacitors, an electricdevlco found In home nlr conditioners; ns a coolant In transformers; and as a fire resist ant medium In heat exchange units. Accordlngto Papageorge, total removal of PCBs from some of these closed system uses will be "next to Impossible." He pointed out that large cltle3 In the U.S. and many other countries use electric trans formers containing PCB because It Is an explosion proof ooolant, allowing the trans formers to be safely used In dcnsly populated areas. Them Is no substitute chemical with the same properties and switching to a different cooling system, such as air or gas, would mean drastically redesigning the transform ers In use, he sold. "Our entire electrical system depends on It," concluded Papageorge. "Believe me," he added, "if we could get out of this business, we would." LEAVE OF ABSENCE By unanimous consent, leave of ab sence was granted as follows to: Mr. Aspinall, from 3:30 pjn., July 30. Used since before World War II until re Warren Muir of the Council of Environ 1971, to noon, August 2,1971, on account cently In a wide rango of products, PCB has mental Quality.said today that the PCBs of official business. made its way Into the worldwide web of life are a good example of toxic substances not and has been found In fish, wild birds (up'to adequately covered under existing law. 1,000 p.pjrf.), human fat and human moth Under the Clean Air Act and Clean Water er's milk (up to .06 p.p.m.). Act, the federal government could draw up Monsanto Corp., sole producers of PCB In `standards that might regulate the dlsch'argo tho U.S. and In the United Kingdom, last of PCBs Into the air or water. This has not year stopped all sales of the chemical except. for "closed-system" uses In heavy equipment equipment and Industrial heating equipment such as the sterilizer In the Wilmington plant where the fish meal was contaminated. been done. The oilmlnlstratlon's Toxic Substances Act, due for hearings next week before tho Senate Commerce Committee, would permit tho government to regulate the manufacture and In that cose, PCB leaked from the ma chinery into the fish meal undetected for about 12 weeks. The discovery was made only after one of the plant's customers found that his chickens were sickening end becoming Infertile. The customer. Holly Farms, Inc., a majorsupplier of chickens to Washington markets, tested the feed, then notified Monsanto, which traced the source and alerted FDA. Holly Farms destroyed 77,000 chickens. The contamination Went undetected until that time because no agency of the govern ment regularly tests marketed flesh far PCB. everyday uso of such chemicals as well as regulating them as effluents. The evidence that PCBs, like DDT, can con centrate and travel through tho food chain was discovered by Swedish scientists In 1966, when they found the chemical in the car casses of large birds of prey, primarily eagles. Later they found it in other birds, fish and evergreen needles. Since then It has been found in man. In tests on mice, It causes liver damage and birth defects. TWO EARLIER CASES According to Rep, Ryan, federal authorities have already hod notice of two instances SPECIAL ORDERS GRANTED By unanimous consent, permission to address the House, following the legisla tive program and any special orders heretofore entered, was granted to: (The following Members (at the re quest of Mr. Crane), to revise and ex tend their remarks, and to include ex traneous matter:) Mr. Findley, today, for 5 minutes. Mr. Miller of Ohio, today, for 5 min utes. Mr. Harvey, today, for 5 minutes. Mr. Hogan, on July 30, for 10 minutes. Mr. Crane, on August 4. for 1 hour. (Hie following Members (at the re quest of Mr. Boggs) , to revise and extend their remarks, and to include extraneous matter:) Mr. Fraser, today, for 5 minutes. Mr. Prsyer of North Carolina, today, for 10 minutes. (From the Washington (D.C.) Evening Star, July 29, 10711 Fish Meal Culprit: Firm Is Corbins Suspect Chemical (By John Flalka) ' where state authorities, alarmed by PCB con tamination, have had to remove large quan tities of food from the'rimrket. . In 1070, ho stated, the Campbell'# Soup' Company discovered that a shipment of chickens it received from Now York state con Mr. Gonzalez, today, for 10 minutes. . Mr. Fuqua, today, for 10 minutes. Mr. Reuss, today, for 10 minutes. Mr. 8t Germain, today, for 10 minutes. Mr. Dorn, on August 5, for 60 minutes. PCB Is the shorthand name of a family of tained a high percentage of one type of PCB. ' 210 chomloal eubstanees, some of whlob have ' The New York State Department of Agri had widespread use In the United States since culture ultimately destroyed 146.000 chickens the early 1930s. and traced the chemical to plastic wrapping EXTENSION OF REMARKS By unanimous consent, permission to Because of mounting evidence that the used to package chicken feed, Rep. Ryan revise and extend remarks was granted PCBs are toxio to animals and, like DOT, do Mid. to: not easily break down In nature, the Mon That, same year, Rep. Ryan Bald, the Ohio Mr. Bennett, to revise and extend DSW 334122 STLCOPCB4080699