Document qa78NDB2n856qpb0EEDxRMnDq

ton.nItLtlROOTIT AUG 1971 .' fCBs fcolychlbrlhatefl blphknyls)--industrial chemicals tintUr to 6'DT--haWEien implicated in the death* of mord than 17,000 ledblrtfd found on (fie shore* of the Irish Sea In the fall of 1969. Some estimates put the total death MU at ctos* to 100,000. published this spring The reports, according j to the Marine Pollution Bulletin (May 1971), do not single out one pollutant or disease as the cause of the birds' deaths, but rather note that the birds were in a vulnerable moulting stage, somewhat undernourished, and had fairly high levels of lead, mercury, and other heavy metals In their bodies. However, none of these factors were likely to have caused v/ldccprcad fatalities. ! Perhaps the most significant finding was that the birds' livers contained high levels of j PCBs. The laboratory reports point out that 1 the amounts of PCBs In the birds may have [ been sufficient additional stress to tip the | balance between life and death. j / Monsanto Chemlca 1 Company, sole * j / manufacturer of PCBs both herc and in Britain, . haa recontly limited the sale of PCBs to I those Industries where use of PCBs can'be t controlled (such as In heat-transfer * applications). In order to prevent their release to the environment. / HONS 032283