Document yrXgmKN34vKVe7DdDvgMkMyLE

'Bon on PCBf i | PACK ONt j plastic bottles OKd by House By ERNIE HERNANDEZ P-T Intfianipslii Bireaa The most frightening aspect about it, according to the EPA, Is Its resilience to * INDIANAPOLIS - The In deterioration! and ita tenden diana House look two envi ronmental leaps Wednesday by being the first legislative in the nation to ban cy to multiply when, for example, a worm is eaten by a fish and then by a bigger fish. \ and plastic bottles. House Bills (HB) 1207. banning the use of plastic containers for soft drinks and beer, and HB 1353, pro hibiting polychlorinated bi- nhmgjl <a vvr-iype cnemicompound) were adopted with little opposition. State Rep. B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, a teacher and chairman of the Committee on Public Health and Environment, sponsored both bills, which he called "extremely significant." Baser said PCB Infesta tion threatens the entire million-dollar coho fishing industry on Lake Mtchigso, since EPA has noted the Greet Lakes are among the worst trees of PCB contami nation. Bloomington, whore television components ere manufactured, also was list ed as a highly polluted PCB area. The Indiana State Cham ber of Commerce end varioui industries have sup ported the PCB ban, as has It's difficult to tell which has more impact -- on the environment and on Indiana industries. ' Bauer asserted the use of plastic containers for soft * drinks, recently suthoriied , i by the U.S. Pood end Drug t Administration (FDA) after ' yean of prohibition, could cripplo the tinning, canning and bottling industries. At the same time, PCB has been lodged so danger ous that U.S. environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Russell Train has warned against eating Great Lakes fish daily, said Bauer. PCB la an oily substance . used in electrical devices, M&nsanto, Inc., the only PCB manufacturer in the United States, and the firm has ceased making the campound except for use in closed Hems, such as inside transformers, said Bauer. At the hearing on the PCB bill, spokesmen for the EPA and the U.S. Fish and Wild life Service encouraged Hooeler legislators to pro ceed with haste on a PCB ban, since "every effort in every direction" would help. Hie PCB ban passed 86-2, with State Rep. John R. Larson, R-Valparalso, one of the dissenters. Senate Mi nority Leader Robert J. Fair is listed as one of six Senate cosponsors of tho legislation. suck as transformers and generators. It also has bean used, in smaller quantities, in the manufacture of paper Baaer said the ban alas \would require industries using the compound in else- products, paints and oils. Coatfaned so Al, cel. I House OKs ban on bottles Continued from Page 1 trical devices to present plans for disposition of PCB. Which can be decomposed safely if burned at temperalures in excess of 2,500 de grees Fahrenheit. State Rep. Gregory S. Reising, D-Gary, who spoke for the PCB bill, said the compound is known as a significant industrial boost er, since it's highly resistant (o beat -- a factor which also makes it difficult to break it down chemically. Since incidents in Japan, where 1,000 persons were made 111 by the effects of PCB in fish, attempts have ben made to manufacture adequate substitutes. Bauer reported considerable progress in this area. However, the problem lies la disposing of 700 million pounds of PCB already in the dumps, river bottoms, the Great Lakes and water- Tbe baa en plastic cantalners passed 53-36. In the Northwest Indiana delegartion, "Nay" votes were cast by Jewell G. Harris. D.Gary; Larson, and Jtrome J. Repps, R-Munater. . Bauer stressed tbe prob lem of plastic containers Isn't Immediate, since soft drinks in Indiana are still sold in bottles and cans. Likewise, there are oo known plans for distributors to sell beer and malts in . plastic bottles. However, it could be in.tensified, since Coca-Cola . bas been experimenting with a new type of plastic container on the East Coast. Bauer reported that by 1900, ` 10 par cent of carbonated - beverages In the nation may ; be sold in plastic containers. "That will mean 10 billion ! trash bottles, a new pollu;lkm problem," said Bauer. '"Let's stop (he problem before it starts." Tbe FDA issued its au ' thority far the use of plastic containers late in 1079. after ! years of prohibition because * carbonated beverages tend fto leech or seep through r plastic. f But Bauer reported the r FDA reclassified tbe types t of plastic containers and ap[ proved one of them for car[ bonated beverages, r From the environmental [ standpoint, the plastic con i'. tainers deserve a ban be cause their production takes i six times more energy than | cans and they give out foul and dangerous odors when burned, the South Bend leg islator said. Last Monday, the House agreed to an amendment of fered by Reising which would clarify the ban. It Srovidea that no carbonated everages in containers with ' less than 99 par cent metal or glass couM be sold in Indiana, | TI1E GARY rOST-TUBIM GARY. IND. 0. 7'i.30j S'jn. 77,370 JAN 29 1976 V* MONS 032962