Document peJVpw8w7GKLK9LK97zXnepMk

cfir JMrott Wttt 5ns* a 533*360 SUK. G42J54 SEP 3 0 1971 I Ti'n Scare Exxagg&r&u J9 BY DAVID HESS *rt rr*w WWUHW Wf in the natural environment, he said. IVASHISGTON -- HeadTine seeking `'alarmists'* have ex aggerated the danger of toxic PCB on human health, the he*d of the Food and Drug Ad ministration (FDA) said The only large-scale poison ing of humans occured in Japan in 1968. when a heat ex changer leaked PCB into rice oil later consumed by people. About 600 persons became ill Wednesday. and a few died. Some babies FDA chief Charles C Ed later were horn with de wards said public confusion ceased birth weights and skra over PCB. a chemical used in discoloration which later several manufacturing proc faded. esses, stems largely from "a. I few alarmists. . .who have been aided and abetted by un balanced reporting." At the same time. Edwards conceded that the confusion is due m part to "deficient knowledge'* about PCB, and said his agency does not know how tong-term exposure to PCB might affect human health. FDA says the rice oil m that case was contaminated at very high PCB levels of 2.0.'n- 3.OT0 parts per million. In comparison, Edwards says. FDA's safe contamination level tor fish is five parts per million. . - PCB contamination of 250. 090 chickens and turkeys in North Carolina. Minnesota and New York prompted the gov ernment to seize the processed fowl and stop their distribution to markets. I'sh rr.d other rn-.if; apparently a1'1' -ssrepiihic lo PCC cmii^-vr.-.tinn, rl'.'iough the I DA soy. u has rot found dangerous leva's of ct>ri.-tni- nation in the maier!yof food tests it his cci'du* t-d. The danger, Edwards ins-, sists, has been overated and docs not warrant "national health alerts'* or "crisis head- Fne*." '"The FDA." he said. "rcj-.Tts the "ecd and fe.'S'hil- ity. ->s Mtmo have pr^nr-ed. or en yfr:gri ban on PCB." and is l:sMn:* "positive steps" to iir;*! with the situation. I or o*ic th;*ig. he 'aid. Mon- 0.. the nattm*s largest PCD maker. has agreed to sell th** compounds for non-food related purposes only. The National Cash Register Co., he went on. Is not using PCB in its rarboh paper, nor is it usrng carbonless carbon paper which contains PCB in making recycled paper in tended for food packaging. i And the T-DA itself is step- I ping up its surveillance of the food industry -- and insisting I the industry.police itself more stringently -- to prevent PCB ; contamination of foods, he said. STUDIES, he said, indicate there are certaia safe levels of PCB in fish and eggs. But even those levels, be implied, are subject to change with ad vancing knowledge about the substance. PCB is short for polychlori nated Hiphenyls, a family of industrial chemicals used la making plastics and ad he* sives. printing inks, electric and building materials, heatexchange mechanisms and paper products. Papers used to wrap zutaln processed foods, Edwards said, were found to hiweao tafoed PCB aad transferred traces of it to the feed. jc oz C/> o The highly toxic substance a1o is found in trace amounts