Document yk2jJ1Zn0aNDYQKVqd2E1y7q2

Time, October 11, 1971 The Menace of PCI Environmentalists were confident that they had ferreted out the nation's ma jor pollutants after they put the finger on substances like dot. mercury, lead and phosphates. Now an important new comer has cropped up in the toms of pol)chloriuntcd biphensls (Pens), col orless. odorless, syrupy chemicals that fish-meal plant wherg-PClts Ve leak | For all the grim warning signs, there ing from a pipe~Tn a heating system ! is as yet no proof that pcbs at present 1 into the meal. Officials were dismayed : low levels arc harmful to humans. Most j to learn that the leak had gone thy- 'scientists, and critics like Congressman | discovered for nearly two months ana-\'Ryan. however, feel that the safest course I that 1.1.000 tons of tainted feed had H to treat PCBS just as though they been sent to 64 customers in twelve were the most potent of pollutants, un Southern and Midwestern states. til tests determine exactly what the long Ryan was furious. "The Federal Gov- ! term Effects may be. are manufactured in the U S. under 'ernment's actions are inexcusable." be the trade name Aroclor by the Mon said. "This entire incident could have santo Co. Until recently, PCBs were been prevented if the Department of Ag used in industry in many ways, for in riculture and the Food and Drug Ad stance as soltcncrs in plastics, paints ministration had lived up to their Copies to: and rubber, as additives in printing responsibilities to protect the public." inks and papers. Although they are He then introduced legislation that Cunningham now used primarily as agents in heat ex would totally ban PCBs from interstate Corey S' changers. there is growing evidence that alarming quantities of PCD* have found (heir way into living organisms and that they pose a potent new threat to the environment. Tw o years ago. New York Democratic commerce. Official Goaf. Still, evidence of PCB pollution continued to crop up, probably because markets were already saturated with PCB products. In midAugust. FDA disclosed that it had Masojr ^ Beogen Pipage orge yPark \ Congressman William F. Ryan was told by a constituent about the dangers of PCB. Checking further. Ryan found studies showing that large amounts of seized more than 75.000 fresh eggs from wholesalers in Norfolk, Va.. be cause the chickens that laid them had eaten feed containing the tainted fish /Wheeled f PlckardV Forrescal PCBs had been discovered in the tish and meal. Though the agency assured the sea birds of several countries. The stud public that no tainted food would Marsh-Brussels ies also revealed that the compounds can leak out, it later admitted an official cause liver damage in mice and disrupt goof: a shipment of 60.000 eggs hud (he cnlcium metabolism of birds, which somehow got through federal inspectors then lay thin-shelled eggs. Alarmed by and, presumably, into the stomachs of E. John 10 ji'V the findings, Ryan delivered a House Washington. D.C.. residents. speech on PCBs. The Department of Ag Two weeks ago. the Department of riculture responded by halting the use of Agriculture announced that "unaccept PCBs--but only in pesticides. Then, de able levels of the poison PCB" had spite complaints from customers. Mon been found in turkeys processed by a santo announced that, as of September Minnesota subsidiary of Swift & Co. 1970, it would stop sales of PCHs except About 50.000 birds were voluntarily for "absolutely essential'' use in electri withheld from (he market white ag cal equipment. riculture experts searched for the source Polluted Poultry. To the public, how of the contamination. Around the same ever, PCB was still largely unknown time. Michigan Governor William MiU --until the disclosure, in December liken ordered a halt to the commercial 1970, that Campbell Soup had found tale of coho salmon after PCB was high PCU levels in some New York found in salmon taken from Lake Mich State chickens destined for its products. igan. Last week fda disclosed that pcbs ft? Once notified, the New York and fed had alto been found in several dif eral departments of agriculture stopped ferent kinds of dried foods, including poultry shipments from the three coun baby cereals and shredded wheat. The ties supplying Campbell and ordered PCB source has been traced to the card the burial of 146,000 contaminalcd board packaging material, which was birds. Where did the PCB come from? made partly of recycled PCB-treated Officials speculated that it had been copying paper. transmitted by chicken feed made from PCBs are difficult to cope with for a stale bakery goods that had been number of reasons, first of all because wrapped in PCH-coated plastic bags. the chemicals are hard to identify. They One of the worst instances of PCB pol so closely resemble DDT they can be dif lution occurred lust spring. A North Car ferentiated only by spoctrographic anal olina poultry raiser, worried over the ysis. PCBS are long-lived and. like DDT. low hatching rate of his chickens, ran in their potency is multiplied as they work dependent tests and found that the fatty their way up the food chain. Unlike tissue of the birds contained up to 40 DDT. however, these chemicals arc not p.p.m. of PCBs (the federal limit for sprayed hut get into the environment ac poultry is 3 p.p.m.). The contamina cidentally, which makes them even hard tion was traced to a Wilmington, N.C., er to trace and control. TRAN 064228 HARTOLDMONOQ24987