Document rd1EYLwGq3R79NZwxwERme6r

Newsday CAROCN CITY. N. Y. D. 453,0!JJ SUN. 400,771 JUL1 71877 4titmal Tests Show Reproductive Failure 1?0R a year and a half, 16 female monkey* were long-term, low level doses of PCBs hove been ob fed food contaminated with the chemical PCU served in humans, although consumers have been (polychlorinated biphenyl) in concentrations simeioting contaminated fish for years. The fatty tis lar In Uwiae found In fish caught off Long bland sue* of workers exposed to POH* have been found > . /**> and elsewhere in the United Stales. > to contain levels downs of times the proposed lim When the monkeys moled, seven miscarried. it*. but'the main detected symptoms have been skin Two could not rmirrive ai all Uterine growths wore sores that cleared up nfrer the exposures ceased. recorded. The monkeys developed facial sores and Animal studies, however, show reproductive swollen eyelid* and lost Iheir hair. Their offspring failure, cancer, decreased resistance to disease and all were undom/ed and contained detectable levels other ailments at dose* not far above what humans of the toxic chemical. could get over a period of many years, since PCBs__ Thr infants were then-breast-fed. Tlicy all de accumulate in the body, once ingested, and do riot" velop'd the same symptoms as their mothers. With break down. Currently, 90 per cent of the people in in four nmntlm, half thr infant* died. Two years lliis country have delectable levels of PCBs in their Inter, even when token ofTthe breast milk, the oth- futty tissues and the fatty portion in tho breast N er monkeys Mill exhibit learning and behavioral milk of the average woman has levels that ap dioobililic*. proach or exceed the new safe limits for edible fish. Last yeor. the (environmental Protection Agen- Recently, studies have found PCBs in the em ty began testing the breast milk of American wom bryonic fluid surrounding developing human fe an for 1*011 contamination. The chemical was found tuses and in the placenta and other tissues, in in the milk of ?rt of the first 60 women tested from amounts many times the safe levels. In fact, chil all over the country. The average levels were about dren are being born with PCBs in their tissues. half the lowed concentrations found in the mon Moreover, an official of the National Cancer In keys. and about sn eighth of the highest concentra stitute calculated for Newsday that a person eating tions. . the low levels of FCR* present in Long Island fish 11ml study. In Dr. J.R. Allen, a pathologist at increases the risk of liver cancer by 6 per cent. tlw* University nt Wiscomon, is one of the principal The most widely known and accepted animal reasons why the federal government is preparing to studies have found that: ,.-V\ r. * ' i* . V hiwer drastically ii* nMowshle limits of PCMs in Complete reproductive failure occurred when fish. In its |no|MH-d standards, expected to be on- minks 8le food contaminated with five parts per 4 .. acted this year, I lie Pood and Drug Administration million of PCBs, which is the current federal safe f;ea wen (Urtlier and cautions women of child touring age and children to eat ax few PCBluden fish ns (NibsiMe, even if the fish are just under the limit . ' IH'IIh me more lode then we had originally limit. After 105 days al 3.6 parts per million, all the lest minks died. That level is similar to (he average in Long Island bass and bluefish. Minks, or course, are smaller than humans, so exhibit more symptoms at lower dose*. <>. i V'-' . \V. :. thought," soul Mi/iibi-ili ('iimpln'll, an agency Chickens, rabbit* and birds fed doses of PCBs chrmiM who wrote ihe new guidclincs/The more from 10 to 100 part* per million showed various . hiformuliun we collect about them, the worse they symptoms including loss of fealhers, skin lesions, seem In be." tremors and diminished growth. . _ A I960 victim ol PCB poisoning in Yuslio. . , Pen negntivo effects from regular exposure to --Continued oti Page 23 shows acnetike skin soies, called cnurnci* MQNS 000242 r* v *J'1 Animal Testing Shows Reproductive Failures 1 --Coaiinusd from Page 6 ! Ei|hty per sent of the exposed rats tested { showed cancerous or pre-canctrous growths, com* ; pared to less than 1 per cent of on unexposed group. The doors wore about 950 times higher than people _ would gel If they at* contaminated fish. An inters* gency study of PCBs laat year said that although sueh doses (100 parts por million) are high when compared to dally consumption by bunions, they are not vary high for PC11 workers or for people who eat a lot of flch contaminated with the chemi cal. All delectable levels of PCBs in water, no matter how small, ware found to collect in the tis sues of marine organisms. At a tenth of a part per billion in water, Ash offspring become lethargic, stopped feeding, developed fin rot and started dying . 24 hours after luilchlng. At one part per billion of . PCBs in water, half the exposed shrimp died in 15 days. This concentration is similar to that in the Hudson Rivor from the Ooncral Electric Co.'s dis charges at plants near Albany. Reproduction rates in all species ware reduced at varying concentra tions. Rosialancc to disease was lowered; many apecisa died of viruses that did not. Infect on unexposed ' group. Even exposed orgunisms placed in dean wa ter tnmafurred lUe chemical to their offspring. The female rhesus monkeys tested by Allen devested telltale RCU ucne after about one month on continuous diet of the contaminated food. Of the female monkeys fed food with five parts per million PCBs, reproduction dropped by more than 80 per cent, Of those fed 2.5 parts per million, reproduction dropped by about 66 per cent. Male monkeys, on the other hand, had few symptoms at those down, Alien said. "These studies indicate that women who plan to have children hod best discontinue eating (contami nated) fish," Allen said. Ho said Unit a woman who simply stoiw ruling fish once she gels pregnant may already have consumed nod rniwtod FCBs in Iter tissues, bines the monkeys weighed about 12.5 pounds, a tenth whnt the average woman weighs, it would Luke a woman about 10 Limes as long to ac ' cumulate the same doses, ha said. * Even the proposed federal two-poils-pcr-million limit on cdihlr fish is not meant for daily consump tion, especially by women and children, said Uie FDA's Campbell. "We figure that four fish meals per month at those levels should be the maximum, especially for women ami rhilrirrn." site said. The caution on the consumption of PCBs by children is Itnxed primarily on t'nc fart that since rhildun ore smaller than adults, the FOB doses they receive when eating a contaminated fish are much larger per pound of body weight. "An average child minting at mother's breast for a year could ingest whnt odults ingest in a dec ade," aaid Joseph Highland, a biochemist und l*CU expert fbr the Kovironmentol Defense Fund, a Washington-based organization thut prodded the federal government two yeara ago into taking ac among the 1,200 PCB victims. Of those, nine were tion to curtail consumption of FCBs. from cancer, "suggesting a possible exrex* mortal In the absence of human analysis, the chemical can still be shown to be harmful in theory. PCBs are foreign to the body and are viewed by the sys ity (from cancer}," according to one of the scientific papers. The paper adds, however, that the "rigorous statistical analysis" has not been dune. tem as pollutants. The liver tries to change the sub tones in some way so that it can be metabolised and excreted as waste. But PCBs are so stable that they cannot bo broken down by the body, except slightly, in some instances. The liver works herd to metabolite the substance, and can be damaged in the process. Laboratory tests indicate that PCBs, even if they do not produce negative effects themselves, can change the liver in a way so that the budy is more prone to cancer from other toxic substances. Since the body cannot metabolise PCBs, they generally cannot be excreted. They concentrate in the lipids, or fatly tissues, which are the body's storage area for most pollutants and excess food en* .erg)'. The areas include the layer under the akin, the breasts and the abdominal area. They average about 20 per cent of the body's tissues for a person of average proportions. Among the 22 dead were a 13-year-old boy and a 25-year-old truck drivor. Autopsies discovered in ternal growths similar to chloracne and various ir regularities in lymph nodes, glandx or the liver. Neither of those two died from cancer The average concentration of PCBs consumed by the Japanese victims over several weeks was 2.000 to 3,000 parts pn million That is 1.000 to 1,500 times the proposed federal limits foi fish n itsumption. In Long Island waters, the avert.gr con centration of PCBs in striped bass and blucfitih-- those with the highest levels--is about three parts per million, with levels up to 2) parts per mifun To reach the minimum levels that caused ad verse symptoms at Yusho, a person would have to eat shout 500 pounds of contaminated fish The doses are cumulative, however Emit meal con sumed brings one closer to danger, scientist* my. The average Long Islander eats shout 50 pounds per year--about four times the national Negative health effects of PCBs were initially average, according to J. L. McHugh, a hiolngna at reported in 1936, seven years after the material tho Marine Sciences Research Center of th Slut*- was first produced commercially. A U S. Public University of New York at Stony Brook A If: -year Health Service report said workers had gotten skin dose of contaminated fish would equal tlw mini on-* from PCB exposures. Tne sores arc believed mum Japanese accumulation. Sports fishermen, now to be caused by concentrations of the chemical however, usually consume more than tl.r general in the fatty layer under the skin. The ailment be population, perhaps as much as 150 pound.- unntinl- came known as "chloracne," or acne from chlorinat l.v, according to Robert Ranee, heud of Sme Our ed hydrocarbons. Stripers, a Long Inland sport fishing If Why, then, wasn't the material curtailed? a fisherman and his family ale only (outiunmaied fish, they could therefore build up enough for the "The reports were evaluated as an example of minimum Yusho concentration in Ivan than five misuse and poor handling," said William Papa- years. george, a biochemist aitd PCB expert for Monsanto - -- Officials are qoick'to point out that the figures Chemical Co. of St. Louis, the sole manufacturer of are for the w'orst case. Not ail the fish fire contami PCBs. nated, and there is no way of determining winch But in the mid-19fil) the chemical started turn arc, without laborntuiy (iniilyam. ing up tn human hair, bird eggs and fish. Then, in In the last five years, the more studies that February, I960, about 1,200 Japanese consumers ate rice oil contaminated with PCBs. The chemical was used in a closed heating element and had acci dentally leaked into rooking oil as it was being pre pared in a factor)' in Yusho, Japan. By March, vic tims had skin eruptions, swelling of the eyelids and joints, impaired vision, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, overall fatigue, darkened skin, abnormal menstruation, impotence, jaundice, fever, hearing difficulties, headaches and spasms. The offspring born to contaminated parents had have been done, the more placet) PCM* l>ne fo-on found. Recently, the chemirol whs found in fish 11.000 feel beneath the ocean. The gnwnmrnt ha* been holding tearing* in Washington tin. mouth on the cleanup possibilities and alternatives De tailed epidemiological studies on huinuu* jum being started, and in a imirh-dispuied simh Uni versity of Pennsylvania researchers linkH I'('ft tu cancer in New Jersey workers. The Environmental Defense Fuad's Ihitbhmd contended that unlitoK drastic actum is tnhi n tn lim darkened skin and PCB concentrations in their tis sues. The skin symptoms persisted to n lesser ex tent after thrpe .wars. Of the 23 cumwninated it ex|K*ures, it will be just a matter of time until health problems start showing up in the general population. women who became pregnant, there were two still But scientists do not yet m*ree on the best births and 22 of the 13 hubios were smulier than course of action. There is cohm-iimio on onl.i tun i.n- nalionui standards, according to scientific papers in pccts. First, there is no easy answer Fecund. cue a new book, "PCB Poisoning and Pollution." federal expert put it, "the iinimal stuilm* ,<*- us Up to Sept. 13, 11)73, 22 deaths had occurred very great cause for concern."--Slum! Diamond HONS 000243