Document zzOXNeypn0rz3XpDGzppqqOv7

Officiate lineert Tim flows and Observer, Raleigh, N. C., Mon,, Dee. 14,1981 of threat - from PCBs still .byJPf.C. roa ; By MONTE BA8GALL ' x i ' Stall Writer " State health and safety officials are convinced, but cannot prove, that all the PCBs illegally dumped, in I97R along 211 miles of North Carolina highways are still there. In 1979, the last time they checked, the average concentra tions of the chemical essentially were the same as they had been a ; year earlier -- sufficient to require, that the contaminated roadway, soil be moved to an approved land-, fill, the officials said in telephone interviews. . How dangerous the PCBs are is another question. A Research Tri- , angle Park toxicologist said no one really knowk. ' North Carolina plans to entomb about 40,000 cubic yards of PCB- Subsequent laboratory studies Showed that PCBs also cofl cause cancer in animals. It Has not been- shown to cause cancer in huthatis. Alarmed Japanese officials banned the chemical from their country. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency imposed spe Strife officials covered the con cial handling requirements for . laminated shoulders with activat- , PCB levels of 50 parts per million ed carbon, a substance said to 1 and above. . . bond lightly with PCBs. They then f bevels along North Carolina applied a layer of soft asphalt to roadsides varied from less Ilian 50 keep the soil from eroding. y to several hundred parts pet mil "This stuff is so water insoluble lion, Meyer said. The concentra that you could flush water on top, ' tions in the contaminated Japa and the stuff would not move,",' nese cooking were estimated at 500 . said Meyer, who expressed confi parts per million.. - dence that the PCBs still are What, levels affect human health where they were deposited despite.' is difficult to judge, added a scien years of weathering.' ; tist. at the National Institute of En But March 1979 was the last time the position of the PCBs was moni-i vironmental Health Sciences in tored, said David Kelly, an assis-u soaked earth in a proposed Warren Research Triangle Park. taut secretary of the N.C. Depart County landfill whose construction "Wc don't know hov much it ment of Crime Control and Public , was blocked, until last month, by lakes to bo a health hazard," said Safely. ' two lawsuits. Dr. Mans L. Falk, the N1E11S asso "The testing indicated that ma Some opponents in Warren ciate director for health hazard as terial was still in place ...in levels County have argued that the PCBs sessment. ``That's the biggest exceeding the allowable thresh- should be left along the roadsides. problem that we have." hold , that the EPA'7 had estab-1 But an N.C. Division of Health Ser PCBs fall into the same family lishcrl," he.said in,a telephone in 1 vices environmental engineer says ; as DDT, a banned pesticide that j terview. V' ' Jl that \Vould violate federal law. once was widely used in North 1 `There is no indication that has j "The slate approached Washing- Carolina. As a group, PCBs are ] changed," Kelly said. ' 1 :j Ion ...and requested to treat it in less toxic than DDT, he. said. 1 Kelly said some additionafSpot place," said engineer William L. , But PCBs include 200 different checks may be run before the state , Meyer. ``That was refused." compounds, which vary widely in begins digging up the contaminat Under the federal Toxic Sub- 1 toxic effects, he added. Studies of ed soil, asphalt and activated car stances Control Act (TSCA), PC-B the PCBs in the Japanese, cooking bon, '! wastes of sufficient concentrations oil detected compounds similar to . The stale plans to remove a strip must be eliminated by incinera dioxin, one of the most poisohous 6 inches deep and 30 inches wide,-- ' tion, chemical treatment or care man-made chemicals. , , more than the area believed to be fully monitored burial. Like D D T, contaminated. ' "The only alternative we have . |y 1 ^mhfPCBs aecumu- "We're picking up a whole lot for PCBs mixed with dirt is to 1 & in body, more to make,sure we get it all," landfill it," Meyer said, in a tele 1 ^fiPtwliere pio.y may Meyer said. phone interview. ``That was the But Falk suggested that more , one method approved." Polychlorinated biphenyls have , -....ng-term health detailed monitoring might be, ^^crfccts. '"their advisable before tlve state decided been a source of confusion and jpersistence is whether die benefit of the move concern since long before the mid one of UiG prob was' worth the cost or the risk of Vi night dumping incident in North Carolina. lems. 'They.' are spreading contaminated soils very difficult along the way. In 19(58, PCB-contaminated cook ing oils caused a major outbreak Falk chemicals to get rid of," Falk of skin rashes, headaches and said in a telephone interview. . weakness in Western Japan . PCBs don't dissolve and go among people who ate food cooked away. And that, Meyer said, has in the lainLed oil. ; helped North Carolina control the Follow-up studies showed evi dence . of irregularities in the chemicals dumped along its road sides. __ livers, blood, nerves and immune and reproductive systems of some PCB-ARCH-EXT0378539