Document qm5KRERw70YbOG3ORq2d5Yppj

MQNS 0 0 0 9 6 2 USUKL APR 30*?/ PCB could stand for Problem Chemical Bomb CHICAGO * API -- Polychlorinated biphenyl tPCB). a manmade dienkii used generally in electrical eqripmenL is found today throughout the United States m the air. water, soil and hi people Last year, after tests determined it was a heath hazard. Congress passed a taw banning production and distributionof PCBs by 1979. Approximately 1.4 billion pounds of PCBs have been produced sinceJfeBL. Jgf*Q Industrial Chemical Co. of St. Lotus oeganrnarwrfacturing the chem ical in 1939. At present, government figures estimate that about 759 million pounds are in use in electrical equip ment and some 459 million pounds exist in landfills, the air. water, soil or sediments. Samples of human rat tissues have shown an average of one to three parts per million (ppm) of PCBs in the hiaran population throughout the nation And a recent study showed that many frsh in the Great Lakes con- tam more than 5 ppm. which is the tolerance level for human consump tion set by the federal Food and Drug Administration The FDA is con sidering lowering the level to 2 ppm Karl Bremo\ toxic substances coor dinator for the U S. Environmental Protection Agency, said the chemical is "very persistent and slow to break down, if ft breaks down at all." THE FIRST INDICATION that PCBs constituted a health hazard occtared when workers manufacturing the substance developed small bum ps. sores and lesions on the skin. Bremer said In 1963. abotf 1.000 persons in Japan consumed rice oil that accidentally had been contaminated with about 2.009 parts per million of PCBs. Reac tions ranged from sores, acne lesions, blotching and skin pigmentation problems to miscarriages and stiflbifths. Bremer said many of the victims still suffer from the poisoning. Furthermore. PCBs are a suspected human carcinogen and have produced cancer in rats in studies at the Atlanta Center for Disease Control. Bremer said that in highly in dustrialised areas, higher levels of PCBs generally are found in fbh. animalsand the environment. He noted, though, that a national survey of PCB content in mothers* milk, conducted by the Colorado State Medical School, showed "it dkfcT matter much which geographical area themother came from." The chemical itself, depending on how much chlorine is present, can be a white, powdery solid or a liquid ranging from a dear, oily substaice to a yellow, sticky material. Its primary use is in eiectrial eqwpment. including transformers arid capndtoca. fluorescent fighting, mer cury and sodkan vapor street lights, catnl air-conditioning units and fcagh-effioency refrigerators. It also has been used extensively in artontess copy paper, in water proofingpairs. in hydrohcoils. in road riband in plastics. But in nearly every instance, accep table substitutes for the uses of PCBs havebeen hand. Bremer said A TYPICAL PROBLEM result** from use of PCBs b illustrated by whathappened whenabout 30.900 silos in IBirwts. Indiana. Michigan and Kentucky were painted with a water proof paint containing PCBs. Bremer sad. 'The PCBs were transferred from the paint to the grain stored in the sflos. That was fed to cows aid it cane out in the mik. Repainting doesn't get rid of to PCBs We don't know what to do with those silos The concrete is contaminated and we're having a real dbposalproblem" Disposal of PCBs may become even more dfficult. In Southern Illinois, citizens of tiny Wibonvifle are enraged that the chemical is being hauled from the St Louis area and deposited in a landfill near their comrmrity. They have threatened to blockade the landfill and are fighting the issue in thecourts. The federal EPA b required (Ms month to issue final regulations on PCBs should be completely broken down, but it takes special incinerators that heat to more than 2.909 degrees Fahrenheit to do that. The chemical incinerators presen tly in operation are overloaded." Bremer said 'They're also burring pesticides and other hazardous dvmicab. It s a real mess."