The Perils of PCBs

Spring is usually a time of heightened activity along the Hudson River, as fishermen turn out in force to share in its bounty. But this year is different. New York State authorities have already closed the river to commercial fishing for striped bass, eels and several other species. Now, fish and game officials fear they may also have to forbid fishing for the roe-laden shad that are just making their appearance in the Hudson. Reason: the river is polluted with a particularly persistent and dangerous class of chemical compounds called polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. Worse, despite remedial action by General Electric Co., the principal polluter, the Hudson is likely to be contaminated for years.

PCB compounds have been accumulating in the environment for more than 45 years. In commercial production since 1929, the colorless, odorless, syrupy PCBs were once widely used in industry as softeners in plastics, paints and rubber, as additives in printing inks, and in oils used in the preparation of laboratory slides.

Mine Field. Because of increasing questions about the safety of PCBs, their use has been almost exclusively confined in recent years to transformers and capacitors, in which they are sealed. The chemicals are ideal for these electrical devices because they are excellent insulators, highly fire resistant and good conductors of heat. GE uses the PCBs in equipment manufactured at its Fort Edward and Hudson Falls plants on the upper Hudson, about 45 miles north of Albany.

There was little concern about PCBs until 1968, when an estimated 1,600 Japanese came down with a baffling and painful ailment labeled Yusho (rice-oil poisoning). Their symptoms--skin eruptions, vomiting, inflamed eyes and palsy --occurred after they had eaten rice oil that had been accidentally contaminated by PCBs. Japan promptly banned almost all use of the compounds, even in electrical equipment, and suddenly everyone was wary of their presence. In 1970 the Campbell Soup Co. found high PCB levels in 146,000 New York State chickens destined for its products, and the birds--which probably picked up the chemical from contaminated feed --were destroyed. By 1972 PCBs had been found in every major river system in the U.S. The compound had either been discharged directly into the water by electrical equipment factories, or had been washed into the rivers by drainage from junked electrical equipment. In few places were PCB levels higher than in the Hudson, where GE's two capacitor plants had been dumping them at the rate of about 30 lbs. per day since the early 1950s. In tests conducted last summer, striped bass, carp and other fish species were found to contain many times the allowed federal limit of 5 parts of PCBs per million. One eel was found to have 559.25 parts per million of the chemical--an amount so high that an adult who ate a 7 oz. portion would get 50% of his lifetime allowance of the substance in a single serving. Says Robert H. Boyle, a writer and longtime Hudson River fisherman: "Shopping in a fish market these days is like picking your way through a minefield."

Some Symptoms. The long-term health effects of PCBs on humans are still unknown. But GE has admitted that at least 65 of its capacitor plant employees have come down with some of the same symptoms as those exhibited by the Japanese victims of Yusho. The chemicals have also been found to cause cancer in laboratory animals.

Last summer Ogden Reid, New York State Commissioner of Environmental Conservation, issued a warning against eating Hudson River stripers. He also initiated action against GE to force the company to reduce its discharges to zero by next September. He was opposed by State Commerce Commissioner John Dyson, who argued that forcing GE to meet such strict standards could force the plants to close and cost badly needed jobs. Meanwhile a state-appointed hearing officer has been taking testimony from both sides in the case. In a 77-page interim opinion issued last February, Professor Abraham Sofaer of Columbia Law School found GE "overwhelmingly" responsible for the PCB pollution of the Hudson and ordered it to take steps to reduce its discharges of the chemical. Sofaer also found that the state had "exercised insufficient caution and concern" in controlling PCB pollution of the river.

GE has already cut its PCB emissions to about 2 lbs. per day and is moving toward compliance with a federal permit that requires the company to lower them to 3.5 oz. by July of next year. The company has indicated that it is willing to help clean up the Hudson, and has offered the state some $2 million for river reclamation and research. GE has also asked New York to exonerate it for its PCB discharges.

Though GE's offer is acceptable to some state officials, Reid objects to exoneration, feeling that the firm should be held responsible. Hearings that are still underway could resolve the question of GE's responsibility some time this week. But by the time they do, Reid will no longer be involved in the argument. Last week, citing the PCB problem as only one of his reasons, Reid resigned.

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