Document pmzG6xEpMyqrZ9v3X95zOJx7X

(Thr tVtitfli jFrtt f?m* * PETRO'T. MICH.' ?. rjr. 745.70s MAR 2 01977 'Iowa Averts Road Poison Disaster | rtJES MOINES. Iowa - (AP) A solvent containing enough a highly toxic substance to kill or cripple almost everyone in Iowa almost got spread on (be states gravel roads, ait official said Saturday. . Pete Hamlin, a state De partment of Environmental Quality official said there could have been a disaster if &e substance had not been detected. - THE SOLVENT contained polychlorinated biphenyl tPCB), a colorless and odor less liquid tbit is almost in destructible, be said. PCB can pur cancer and birth defects % ingested and has been held vespansiMe for deaths throughout the world, Hamlin said. The substance was mistaken by a trucker for crankcase oil. often used to control dust on gravel roads, he said. Hamlin said the Environ mental Protection Agency in Kansas City informed h i m Thursday of the lO.OW-gallon shipment containing the PCB and ha located die track Fri day. How the*EPA learned of the mix-up was not reported. The truck*! driver bed mis takenly leaded his tanker with aware the liquid contanied the chemical, but it refuses to j a solvent containing six parts PCB when he purchased it in burn PCB imported from } per thousand PCB, Hamha St Paid, Min., Hamlin said. other countries. Hamlin said. I said. He said (tie safe level in There was no report on the The state agency will test the 1 drinking water is eoa part per intended use of the PCB sol shipment to determine where ] triliton. vent. and its origin was not it originated. The shipment was bound for known. . If the substance was im- ; an Iowa firm that sprays MONSANTO Industrial .ported, it will be shipped to a 1 gravel roads, and if the roads Chemicals Co. of St. Louis, the * chemical landfill, he said. ! had bpen sprayed and the PCB only U.S. manufacturer of the In 1968, about 1.000 Japanese { had contaminated food or chemical, has announced accidentally ate rice contami* 1 water supplies, it could have plans to dfccontinue produc nated with PCB. They suffered j been "catastrophic," said tion by late this year. ulcers, jaundice, swelling, loss t Hamlin. , Monsanto owned the only of hair, birth defects andl ^The driver said he was un incinerator that can destroy -i"*--- 1 Legalities Obstruct Probe DBS MOINES. Iowa (UPD--Efforts et Iowa officials attempting to duspose of a large quantity of ertnkcaet oil contaminated by the higNy toxic chemical PCB were being frutfrated by legal obstacles and restrictive federal guidelines. About 10.000gallons of PCBtainted oil were shipped into Iowa from SL Paul. Mim., Mat week. The Iowa Department of Environmental Quality said Monday it averted a "near disaster" by identifying the shipment and seeking a eeqrt injunction barring its further movement. SUte officials said thechemical ceuk! have entered the food chain and endangered the health of thousands of lowans if it had been spread on roedi. v>V0XS6?RS FA NOTES ~ **' p ' PCB. if consumed, can cause cancer er birth defects. Officials ad Monday the state faces ewiwn ebetacka in disposing an estimated 30,906 gaflens of the PCB* tainted oil. Federal refutations require that P<B be inrimruted in special combustion tanks at the Manaiwta Industrial Owmwsls Co plant at St Ms, the m*r V* manufacturer, erbyrind atifedartny ap^wvid chattel landfill site at MfMM. 01 . MAR 2 21977 mons ooifci*