New Verdict on PBBs

Michigan residents were increasingly alarmed over the past three years as officials quarantined more than 500 farms and ordered the destruction of thousands of cows, swine, sheep and chickens (TIME, May 10). These animals --and such farm products as cheese and eggs--had been contaminated by a fire retardant containing polybrominated biphenyls, or PBBs, that had accidentally been mixed with feed. But after examining farm families exposed to PBBs, the Michigan Department of Health announced that it had found no evidence that the chemicals had caused ill effects in humans. That reassuring conclusion was apparently premature. A medical study released last week indicates that PBBs caused some illness in as many as one-third of a group of Michiganders exposed to them.

Swollen Joints. Conducted by a team headed by Dr. Irving Selikoff of New York's Mount Sinai Medical Center, the study examined a total of 1,029 people, 638 of whom were randomly selected from both quarantined and unquarantined farms or had eaten food produced on them. The remainder were employees of the company that manufactured the fire retardant and others referred by doctors or checked at their own request. Among the randomly selected group, 37% had such neurological symptoms as loss of memory, muscular weakness, coordination problems and headaches; 27% suffered from painful or swollen joints. One in five suffered from a form of acne known to be caused by chemicals closely related to PBBs; 16% complained of gastrointestinal problems, such as abdominal pain and diarrhea.

Selikoff stressed that his conclusions are preliminary and do not necessarily apply to the millions of people in the state who may have consumed PBB-contaminated farm products. But convinced by the study that the chemicals were harmful to humans, Governor William Milliken and Bobby D. Crim, speaker of the state's house of representatives, immediately urged that the levels of PBBs permitted in food by state regulations be drastically reduced.

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