Document qkmv5DOvkbd3MgqkQQV9Ygy6G

uu likwSy Mews Dng@s;t Eer-viiea JOURNAL WESTERN MAIL, Cardiff DATE 13th January 1971 ' . PAGE > \r. a. ' j MAKERS PUT CURB ON CHEMICAL , AFTER BIRDS DIE By PETER JONES, Our Environment Correspondent . ~A WELSH riSODUCfiD chemical 1 found in the bodies of some of the thousands of birds which died in the Irish Sea last winter will be | banned where it could damage the | environment. i ' Monsanto Chemicals of Newport, I I who produce the BCP range of ; |j chemicals, will from March supplies to customers who l cut off put it to - 1 uses they consider "non-controllable." By this the company, sole BCP producers In Britain, mean appllca* tlons where It is not reasonably pos : sible to contain or prevent leakages 1 into the environment. Praised It has not been proved that BCP --short for poly-chlorinated-byphenoh; --was responsible' for the sea-bird massacre. But a Monsanto spokesman said yesterday that the company hao decided on the partial ban because of the persistent nature of the ' chemical. . , "It could build up in the environ- . ment and constitute an-'ecological, hazard," he said. , c. i A spokesman for a leading con- jservation society last night praised' the Monsanto decision and urged other^ industries to follow suit. . ;. Manufacturers alYected by the ban " will include those producing paints and varnishes, particularly for Indus- " trial use. Monsanto are developing A substitutes for these customers. Sacrifice The ban is entirely \oluirary ar.d I understand the. company havs been assured by their three Continental competitors that they * ill r.ot attemot ;o take up the business that Mon santo are dropping. I also understand Monsanto hope to get their competitors to i"ree to a similar ban on ``non-ccmrollable'* applications being enforced In Europe. Monsanto would not say how > much money they expect tc lose, , other than that the decision `repre- ' sents.a fair commercia. sacrifice. Nor would they give production figures, although' the spokesman did say that none of th s dozen men employed at the plant would lose his \ Job. ' The decision was welcomed by a ' spokesman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birus, wbo have , four reserves in. Wales, and by the i Nature Conservancy* t. 4. * .. ' . ^ * . -' v . 'c '" < *M a / V 00524 TOWOLDMON0055400