Document peJOkkdRMK6m4xpYrmNOZLn87

QftAW TWJ w- f ); 'MM /('<.- r{;i, r.^-j i!-:<v r v i I > t .1.! Chemical .pollution: polychlorinated Biphenyls of-: b,ui i.i ` PolydiloriiMted typhcrtyU (PCBt) are 'The fnfcjol uses of PCbs derive from widely inM Industrial cbcndcats thsl ' their notiitamrftabllity,' high dielectric wtrt {icvci Intended [or rtleate into the' constant, and plasticizing abilities. These nvlronmenl. but (hey have nonetheless uses indude applications * dielectiic been found in rilnwaiei, lrl human lie- fluids Ineapacllors nnd transformer^ uc, and In many species of birds and as hydraulic fluids, end as heat, transfer Ish. liow fens Odme to be widely' fluids; also PCBs have been widely ditnibuied In the environment and used hi plasticizers and tolvenU in What bloloflcel effects (hey have ate adhesives, aeatanU) paints, and printing slUllargCly unknown. But like DDT, Inks. Some percent of the large PCBs apparently dcii'adc Very slowly phase correction capacitors Used in under natural conditions. They' tend to transmittii^ electric power, for exam aecunuilslc In Ok food chain, and once ple, fcontaln'PCTls-- Amounting In 1968 Ingcslcd, the)/ ate atoled In the body's to almost 2.5 million gallons In ^he fatly Ustuel. As la true With many other United States alone*; replacement of for PCBs within the environment, al though (he 'atmosphere also appear* to be a mdans of dispersal. Adel Sarofim of (he Massachusetts Institute ef lech- oology has estimated that from 1000 to 2000 tons per year escaped Into the atmbsphere In pftsl years from plasti cized materials containing PCBs, and that about 4000 tons per year entered waterways from dumping and leakage Of lubricants, hydraulic fluids, and heat transfer fluids. Other aourots may in clude leaching from dumps and land fills, where, Sarofim believes, about half of the PCBs produced eventually chlorinated hydrocarbons, even entail dotes Of PCBs Can be toxic, although It Is hot Clear (hat the amounts found ill fish or'birds have had detrimental attceu/Ttic only epidemiological infor mation about PCB' effects on man comci from an accidental poisoning Incident Iti lapkn ln which some 1000 persons Were 'affected. "1 Polychlorinated biphenyls are Ms- lively Inert compounds that bsve low tolubliities in Water. Ihe PCBs fcio- dueed conimciclslly 'arc fixtures. In- ebipordUng *6mt SO Ot more Of the i0 different NX coiiipOuhds that art theoretically possible fr<srtt Chlorinating biphenyl, The. (host eptnmbh Industrial mixtures' dvri-agi helwccit' dO ahff 60 percent 'chlolihe eOntftd, but (Jielr ism1 meVie winjld'slllctn ,1s [ only partially' knewii, thuicoftijflicslihg the problems of aamptinfi wtstf analysis, b*s chroma-' tographlc IcctwIqiKl art hosy rtiosl cdmnlohly used to determine the prest aiice and the kntounl oT PCBs hr a . AhspIcV the' method hoWsfKcIfk'for identifying pstlleular PCB corhpoundi bceause.of Ihe lack or atpplci of (he dlrieriilitlsO'mcrs asteiefepee tlaitdards.1 There appears to'be seme virtaMtity In' blologlcil and elienileal wtetivltijcc among the ` cOo^pOundi; highly ehlollnatcd PCBs 'Win,'to peiaist io' the kriVlren- nktsi the' longest [and ire less, toxic ' lharl (be ihOie rapidly' degraded low ' ehlorinY forniS T'hqrt It also evidence (hat tOnle .fcdihrogrclal PpB nurtures, elpeelslty those nrSMiractiWcd In'Bo- ' PCB* by other Qielectrit, fluid*, accord- fog lo Martin feroadhurst or the `Na- tlonal BureaU pf Standards, Would quire that (he capacitors be rebuilt and that they be SO percent larger. Alter-' (tale materials ^or jdastlclw applica tions of PCBs/od the other band, are readily available. . . J' . Industrial rise of. PCbs bas grown steadily alnoe tholr introduction in 1930. VS. (tales W 19*0 came o aboxit 34,000 tons, with Cumulative, produc tion over iheyeaf* amounting to an animated 4X10* lon8,<By compart- pri, U.S, production of DDT in recent years hat been about 70,000 tons!) Less, In fact aimost nothing. U knowh about the quaofitles. produced b'orld- Wife; In Addition to ue production In the ynlted Sftntei, PCBs gre made In Europe, Japan, W tile W-S.fc. the only UyS. produoer ofr PCBs/tht Mon- igrito Chemical Corporation, `refused until recently to release production flg- iifts, but fhcoompanybas taken' the ujnisual step of refusing to aeli any more PC?Bs for plasticizer applications aitd (hose heal transfer application? In*. volvlng food preparation. Current an nual U.S. tales, at a result, have fallen' to about 20,000. tons per gear, althougli exports havi bOpflnued to Increase. now Tcbs are,released into the en vironment U not known, but 'aevikral clentislf 'bdieye that Sewage outfalls and industrial disposil inio waterways atf niajor febUte^s. ltiVeri iand itreams njay'be the primary means of transport' phd up. Although measurements of PCBs lo air and water are Kant, the general pattern from these measure ments and from more extensive mea surements Of PCB residues In biotas It consistent, according to Sarofim, with the hypothesis that discharge of PCBs Into the environment occurs mainly near industrial areas. A similar pattern was found by Oilman Velth of the Uni versity of Wisoonsin In bit studies or Lake Michigan watersheds; he also de tected PCBs In the sewage of >11 mu nicipalities studied. Once In the environment, PCBs ap pear to persist for a long time. Labora tory studies by 0. HuUingcr of the National kescarch Council of Canada lii Halifax and others have indicated Sat PCBs can be dechlorinated by iravlolet light end lead to the forma tion of jktydto*yi derivatives and other polar compounds that are more readily degraded by microorganisms, but the extent to which this occurs under nat ural ponditiohs.lt not known. In many areas, however, PCB residues in fifth are equivalent to or higlier than DDT and other pesticide residues. David Stalling of the Bureau of Sport Fish eries and Wildlife, Columbia, Missouri, found PCB residues ns much ns 100 times larger than DDT residues in fish from heavily Industrialized areas, with roughly equal residues of both subeiances In fish from many other regions. `The highest PCB residues hi fish teem to occur In highly polluted coastal wate^' jike Tpkyo Bay and Long Is *kloic erlalkd htrcfhiMr' to k*ny 'Br aK'flttakt' nr.iutoitc? fcci^hn V ihups jn Ck toigieMnlna land ^ouhd- and In some Inland water ways-, such as the Oreat Lakes- where afccrtbcd to' P(!)Bs llKfemidv. luk of Gnvljsnmtnul Hrptlh.lclenpri, MmikIi Cpho sajmon have'becn found with THn|W Pant, Nptffi Ctrolinh. '' PCB concentrations In excess of 5 parts .liiArHjXni' ifiy fi*. *'5 HONS 0 8 6 0 4 1 pot million, the limit at Which the IJ.S. egg* with high PCB residues have been POB mixture, which Vos believes to be Pood and Drug Administration attempts (raced to contamination ot (he poultry dibenrofursn. to aelae contaminated fish and poultry feed by leaking heat exchangers, ax- the results of a 2-ycar Study funded told In Interstate,; fxsnjnserce. - blore .repl in one Instaneg where the source , by Monsanto showed liver damage and typical concentrations, in (lion species of the' J*CBs remalnb Unflctcniiihcd, 'sonic difference In weight gain In rets of Hah In the North Allantic, range Residues arc present in dairy milk in and dogs whose feed contained 100 from 0.01 to 1.0 ppm. Fish taken from . some localities. ppm of PCBs, but no teratogenic or utytls|Hrl>cd ,nibtic,,tlV have hew , Officials of tl>c Food and Drug Ad- mutagenic effects. At a dose rate of fput)d to eoi)it<ln.wn|rrable residues,: ministration characlcriae PCBs as 10 ppm, thew were appsrcntly no tf- ' Bot|i siJrfnee f(>cding (Bs|> and those "potential (tut pot. immediate health feels of any kind, except for nome Ini- that (hjcll. al greater depths contain havprd," and claim, on the basis of. palrmenl to the hatching of chicken ' PCBy (feven jiidhcf optirenlratiomi ore theif monitoring programs, that except eggs. Reproduction was affected most found It) birds Orn| feed on Ash, resch- for his ealjog of fish the American by low-chlorine PCB mixtures, hut iqg fOO^ip)100p,vpnm Ip ooi mounts coofumcj receives, no gyslepratic ex-, long-term damage to the liver seemed and ospreys. Aboordfns ,Robert Ttise- posure to PCBs. However, FDA *u-' to be due to high chlorine mixtures. By tyikigh of ok University of California's thority extends only to Interstate talcs cpnliqst, In one of the field occurrences Bodega Marine Laboratory, residues of foo^ and FDA .guidelines tend to of PCB contamination, the hatchahlllty are generally highest tn bird specimens rcllect Only the average consumer. It ofeggs at Holly Farms In North Caro- frofli (he North Atlantic or from along seems likely, because of the localised lioa was ncliceably decreased, even , th( ,iC^ilf'(rislis, ,posir generally, nature of PCfc aburoes,arid variations, though the concenlralion of PCBs In lower iii birds from the South Atlantic In individual diet, fhat heavy fisb eaters the feed ws less than the no-effect Wd Cenirsf psclilr Oceans, Residues anfl tonie ottcr Individuals.experience, levels reported in the Monsanto study, ' ajipcar |0 bc |owc|t In wjldlife from |bf more sinbslqnlinl knpoptres.. r, , ( . ,, - Although most birds and mammals ^nlare(lc toglon,.,y ,t-/i tjie .pnly ,^inlcitl,,lii>eriet|be',wHh, appear to he relatively resistant to " ^0*1 , Inhabitant* ,apparently human Illness .that Is directly iitpetj: PCBs, some species, such as mink, seem have sbntc residues, 11 only (fares, of able to FQB oopsiinipllonoccurred In So he more ausceptlMc. Pish are also PCBii In thfir "bodies. Preliminary date; 1968 In soutliern Japan. More than mere susceptible, Stallings found that from a,nationwide monitoring program 1QO0 persons who had eaten rice oil blucglll and catfish died when expoaed being coordinated by OtcEnviron- contaminated pbb PpBs that leaked for several weeks to concentrations be- nnjrntal Ptoleclioit Agency show that from * heat exchanger during ninnu- tween 20 and 3D parts per billion, that ' percent pf nyire than dOO ia<nptc? i faclurc developed darkened skins, eye (rout died at about ( ppb, and that hr l)iiMfih . adipose tissue contained discharge, severe acnc.and other syrup- lethal doses for Shrimp were as low pCB itstduei of at lets! ( ppm. One (pntsOf Whatcantc tobe called Yusho. as 1 ppb. . ,Individual, an old man W{th up known oil dlseaec.paUcptawere found ro have The biological action! of PCBs In Industrial exposure to PCBs, was found consumed an average of J grams Of aide the body are also relatively un , by flic Michigan Department ol Health PCB, with symptoms Appealing at a known. PCBs have been shown to alter (o have lOO ppni In his fatty (issues. mlnlffiupr, dose of about 0.3 *. the liver (Issue, inhibit the growth of cul- ihc soiiite of PCB residues In hu- PCB* cars readily cross the placental lured oellt, and affect a variety of en- man tissue is presumably food, (studies barrier, and scvcrallpfants were born xynse systems; but in most bistanccs lit Sweden have indicated that fish are with Yusho symptoms, some to ap; % mechanism of action Is still turret- (he pMiiieiy source of PCBs for mos| ' patently unaffected mother*. Recovery lain. Paul Llchtenslcln of the Unlvtr- Swedes, With hversie. fanake *>f.PCBs1 1 appears to bcdifiicoll, according .to city of Wisconsin has shown that PCBs , from ail aburcei estimated to be about Masxnpri Kuralaunc of Kyufbu Uni-, Interact With DDT and other cMcri- i mlcityitol per kilogram of body vertoyTnFukuoka,J*rao,Wllh WUP- baled pesticides; nonloxic amounts of weight 'pet 'day. Individuals Who ate' toms stilt present In marly cases 3. ?c*fi PCBs In Insecls Increased the loaiclly I*(iic amounts Of fish consumed idtbtir Inter; sio methods of treatment to* of DDT and tome orgsno phosphate lib t/nscs lit much pets*. Babies re known, it is nil Hear Whether any of pesticides by as much as 100 percent, retired' 0|e hlglHil fioses i>Cr kffo^am' the, subsequent deaths pmong the pa- Mudt of the nseerch on PCBs has ' Of body wclghl, largely fronimtlfResi- (ienlscan be fillrftuled to aeule PCB pointed to the stmllarlty of PCBs and duct Of PCBs |n foOd were somewhal polaonlng. anfl h it ktltl net known DDT in their environnrentai effects, tnidfier'thin (host of Di>T *nd metabo- whether fte commercltl PCB mixture lbey are both widely distributed in the , lllci if chlprintied ^eSllcldrs. / ^ involved .ooiitslncd trsces of dlbcnxo-" environment, they both effect the re- Tn the. ilnjted Stsles. fhc patiero furans or pthgr impurities. , , productive eyalem of birds, and they ; appesty (o he the same, with PCBr Altbougli PCB? have been In UK for enter the human diet primarily through ' edinmoh to TreBiwalcr Osh eueh as more (ha(\ jb yeart, detailed etudles of residues In fish. But PCBs, unlike DDT, ' erfho salmon ktw Take trout. Smell ihelr toxic properties have only recent- were seldom deliberately released Into - residues lit ex-reals have been traced ly been vnjtonaken. Ihc atudies arc the environment. Their presence and te ihe recycled Juipor useil In packag- complicated hy vsrlsbllity^ to (he. tox- persistence there reempbssis* the like- lt\g and thertce (q fihe'lnlt In I brand pf lci|y Or difTefent commercial samples of llhood (hat any widely used Industrial 'mttboillcss' garboh baperp anrorig Other Kis. Pxperlnsents ln (he Netherlands chemical piay become an environmental SOuices, The ink no loirger contalns by J. <J. Vos of (he University of pollutant, and increase the responalbil- . POBs. illd.Wlorts nlT bditf inadc to , Tfrecht diownd Ilv ` danuige and ' fly for public disclosure of production 'mgiamtC Obt tfld stooii idl lhe tsrbon edenis to AlCVenS snS (kin lesions br quantities and use patterns When similar |sqpit In the Manufacture oT ricydled rabWta. The Worst efleels aecnted to be Situations occur in the fuldic. papei Bcveral batches of jpoullry and caused hy an iniptnity in the European -- Au.ru l. Hammond ' : (is y ... : ' " aciKNCP. vor in MUNi UOOOw^