Document ppedKX0y0oRD1BBxrR86vRZbE

<- Monsanto it TO D. R. Bishop - BIND Nov. 25, 1975 Mr. J. E. McKee - C2SA Mr. P. R. Wilkins - 1650' R. E. Beal - B2SB T. H. Bottini - B2CA W. R. Corey - B2SA K. W. Easley - 1920 F. J. Fitzgerald - B2SA R. W. Flint - 1740 W. C. Hammann - B3SA E. H. Ha rb is on - B3SA D. B. Hosmer - ElSF J. C. Larkin - B2SB G. J. Levinskas - A2SC R. D. McDaniel - B3SA J. P. Mieure - T2F R. H. Munch - TIB W. B. Papageorge - B2SK P. S. Park - E2NE C. Paton - B2SC S. Pickard - 1920 R. G. Pier - B2SK R. A. Pohl - B2SB R. G. Potter - B2SB G. Roush - A2SA D. L. Sliney - B2SB J. C. Weber - BIND W. W. Withers - B2SA D. Wood - B2SD P. L. Wright - A2SC J. J. Zeman - B2SK Jane Shaw, staff reporter for Chemical Week, called today as a follow-up to the PCB meeting in Chicago which she attended. She said she missed the Thursday afternoon session and wanted a rundown on alternate materials. I briefed her from Mr. Wood's paper. She then asked for our reaction to the conference and I told her I would first like to hear hers as an interested third party. She said she felt Monsanto came through the conference with its good name intact but that PCBs were pretty well clobbered -- obviously to .drum up support for Toxic Substances Legislation. I told her I agreed and beyond that I felt the EPA would issue a report saying that overwhelming evidence was presented that indicates PCBs are being found in ever increasing levels in the environment; that there is cause for concern that at certain levels, PCBs might be hazardous to human health but that much work needed to be done to confirm this; that, they will call for a ban on all except `closed-system dielectric uses (adding that without Toxic Substances Legislation they will not be able to enforce the limited ban) , and they will express the hope that acceptable DSW 261036 STLCOPCB4061883 Nov. 25, 1975 Page 2 satisfactory alternates will be developed that will make possible a total ban within two to three years. Ms. Shaw asked what the chances were of having a flame retardant product to replace PCBs within two to three years. I told her that this is highly unlikely and that to my knowledge no such flame retardant candidate has been identified, even in early research, as of now by Monsanto or anyone else. . She then asked a very interesting, almost pleading, question: "You are not going to put flammable fluids in transformers in theaters, are you?" I told her if PCBs were banned, given the alternates currently under development, that flammable fluids would ' be used in transformers in theaters, hospitals, schools, hotels, office buildings and, indeed, in the fluorescent light fixture hanging over her head at this moment. I then suggested that this is precisely the kind of trade off that society and industry must be prepared to make if they ban PCBs. She said, "My God!" Thought you'd find this exchange interesting. /mks DSW 261037 STLCOPCB4061884