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PCBs in the Hudson River
MarinePollutionBulletin the principal specific or point source of PCB discharges to the US waters. Discharges from plants manufacturing electrical equipment have been identified as the source of high levels of PCBs in fish taken from parts of New York's Hudson river. This prompted the State to recommend limits on the consumption of sport fish and to ban commercial fishing in certain areas. Similar controls have been implemented to protect the public from high PCB levels in certain species of fish from lakes Michigan and Ontario. EPA' s proposed standards were developed to protect human health and organisms in the aquatic food chain. Laboratory tests conducted with a wide range of aquatic animals and mammals have demonstrated a variety of toxic effects, including liver damage, tumors and reproductive problems. The EPA believes that the proposed standards will provide a reasonable degree of safety to organisms which are likely to be exposed to the chemical. PCBs are highly mobile and remain present in the environment for many years. They are particularly harmful to aquatic organisms, in which they accumulate in concentrations many times greater than those found in surrounding waters. In many cases, these large concentrations are then passed up the aquatic food chain to consuming organisms, including man. About 1250 million pounds of PCBs have been used in the US over the past 45 yr. The EPA estimates that at least 3000 pounds of PCBs are discharged to the aquatic environment each year by industries subject to these regulations. The regulations will only address the problem of future contamination from industrial plant discharges. Past widespread use of the chemicals in the production of lubricant additives, hydraulic and compressor fluid, carbonless copy paper, plasticizers, paints and other
products has resulted in PCBs being present throughout the environment. Although most of these uses have now been substantially reduced, PCBs already in the environment pose a problem for which no feasible and effective remedy exists. The public will be alerted to potential hazards by careful long-term monitoring of PCB levels in food. EPA's proposals complement a number of related government actions taken to reduce human exposure to PCBs. For example, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has established tolerances for PCBs in food and has banned the use of the chemicals in processing food and feed. The American National Standards Institute has issued guidelines for industry on the use, labelling and disposal of PCBs. The Department of the Interior has prohibited the use of PCBs in offshore oil operations. Also, the EPA has proposed regulations to control spills of numerous identified hazardous substances, including PCBs and has also issued recommended procedures for the disposal of PCBs by industrial users. It is hoped that the regulations will be issued in final form around the end of the year, and that they will be implemented one year after that.
PCBs in the Hudson River Levels of PCBs in fish from the Hudson River have been causing concern for some time, and the New York State Environmental Commissioner, Ogden R. Reid late last year banned commercial fishing in the river. Now General Electric, which used the PCBs in the manufacture of capacitors, has agreed to pay $3 million towards the cost of cleaning the river. Presumably this will mean removing a large quantity of PCB-contaminated sediment, and disposing of it elsewhere, possibly by incineration.
A Comparative Survey of Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Lake Sediments Hydrocarbon distribution in sediments from three lakes are related to the level o f h u m a n activity in the respective drainage basins. Petroleum hydrocarbon contamination is f o u n d in surface sediments o f a lake surrounded by a major city, compared to no detectable contamination in a lake located in a National Park.
Hydrocarbons are minor but ubiquitous components of the aquatic environment, with the primary natural sources being biosynthesis by aquatic organisms and terrestrial organic matter. However, because of the increased dependence on petroleum and its products, inputs of petroleum-derived hydrocarbons often may swamp the natural inputs and may have consequent undesirable effects on the aquatic ecology. To determine the presence of and to assess the effects and fates of these 206
petroleum compounds in the environment requires chemical analyses which are capable of discriminating hydrocarbons of recent biologic origins from those compounds contributed by fossil petroleum. In organisms specific biosynthetic pathways favour production of hydrocarbons in a preferred molecular size range, often with a predominance of molecules with odd-carbon chain lengths relative to compounds with even-carbon chains. Crude and refined petroleums, on the other hand, are complex mixtures of a wide range of hydrocarbons, and odd- and even-chain lengthed molecules are often present in nearly equal proportions (Blumer et al., 1972). Sediments are capable of accumulating and, to some extent, preserving hydrocarbons. Thus a sedimentary record of changes in hydrocarbon sources and levels of input may be preserved in the sediment column. This
products has resulted in PCBs being present throughout the environment. Although most of these uses have now been substantially reduced, PCBs already in the environment pose a problem for which no feasible and effective remedy exists. The public will be alerted to potential hazards by careful long-term monitoring of PCB levels in food. EPA's proposals complement a number of related government actions taken to reduce human exposure to PCBs. For example, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has established tolerances for PCBs in food and has banned the use of the chemicals in processing food and feed. The American National Standards Institute has issued guidelines for industry on the use, labelling and disposal of PCBs. The Department of the Interior has prohibited the use of PCBs in offshore oil operations. Also, the EPA has proposed regulations to control spills of numerous identified hazardous substances, including PCBs and has also issued recommended procedures for the disposal of PCBs by industrial users. It is hoped that the regulations will be issued in final form around the end of the year, and that they will be implemented one year after that.
PCBs in the Hudson River Levels of PCBs in fish from the Hudson River have been causing concern for some time, and the New York State Environmental Commissioner, Ogden R. Reid late last year banned commercial fishing in the river. Now General Electric, which used the PCBs in the manufacture of capacitors, has agreed to pay $3 million towards the cost of cleaning the river. Presumably this will mean removing a large quantity of PCB-contaminated sediment, and disposing of it elsewhere, possibly by incineration.
A Comparative Survey of Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Lake Sediments Hydrocarbon distribution in sediments from three lakes are related to the level o f h u m a n activity in the respective drainage basins. Petroleum hydrocarbon contamination is f o u n d in surface sediments o f a lake surrounded by a major city, compared to no detectable contamination in a lake located in a National Park.
Hydrocarbons are minor but ubiquitous components of the aquatic environment, with the primary natural sources being biosynthesis by aquatic organisms and terrestrial organic matter. However, because of the increased dependence on petroleum and its products, inputs of petroleum-derived hydrocarbons often may swamp the natural inputs and may have consequent undesirable effects on the aquatic ecology. To determine the presence of and to assess the effects and fates of these 206
petroleum compounds in the environment requires chemical analyses which are capable of discriminating hydrocarbons of recent biologic origins from those compounds contributed by fossil petroleum. In organisms specific biosynthetic pathways favour production of hydrocarbons in a preferred molecular size range, often with a predominance of molecules with odd-carbon chain lengths relative to compounds with even-carbon chains. Crude and refined petroleums, on the other hand, are complex mixtures of a wide range of hydrocarbons, and odd- and even-chain lengthed molecules are often present in nearly equal proportions (Blumer et al., 1972). Sediments are capable of accumulating and, to some extent, preserving hydrocarbons. Thus a sedimentary record of changes in hydrocarbon sources and levels of input may be preserved in the sediment column. This