Vol. 1,No. 2
Sept. 1,1971
INFANT MORTALITY STUDY
An Environmental Protection Agency researcher has made
a study of infant mortality in the vicinity of three nuclear
electrical power plants. Her conclusion was that she was
unable to detect any changes in infant death rates which might
be associated with emissions of radiation from the reactors.
The research was conducted by
Mrs. Edythalena A. Tompkins, Human Studies Branch, in
EPA's Division of Radiation Research. The reactors she
selected were the Humboldt Bay Reactor at Eureka, California;
the Dresden Reactor at Morris, Illinois; and the Big Rock
reactor at Charlevoix, Michigan.
The results of Mrs. Tompkin's investigation do not
corroborate reports by another researcher, claiming a
correlation between the operation of the same three
reactors — as well as certain other nuclear facilities — and
increased infant deaths.
Mrs. Tompkins chose the reactors at Humboldt Bay,
Dresden, and Big Rock because they were among the first large
reactors to become operational and therefore provided a
longer timespan for study, and also because in comparison
with newer reactors, the three reactors had a relatively high
rate of radioactive discharge.
She used the same method for each reactor. For the time
period in which to compare infant mortality rates she chose
the five year period before the reactor went into operation and
the five year period—four years in the case of Humboldt
Bay—following start-up. Then she examined the infant
mortality rate—the number of infants under one year who died
per one thousand live births—in each of four concentric
geographical bands around each reactor site: one band from
zero to 25 miles; one from 25 to 50 miles; one from 50 to 100
miles; and one from 100 to 200 miles.
In the case of Humboldt Bay and Big Rock, she found no
evidence to suggest an increase in infant mortality associated
with these reactors. In both cases, the infant mortality rates
continued to decline in the off-site population after the
reactors started up.
In the case of Dresden—the patterns of live births and
infant mortality rates were quite different from those at
Humboldt Bay and Big Rock. Dresden, about 30 miles
southwest of Chicago, is in a heavily urbanized area, whereas
the other two reactors are in relatively sparsely populated
regions.
SEE MORTALITY PAGE 4
LEAD-FREE FUEL
Lead-free gasoline apparently could be made generally
available by 1975 at an increase in cost to consumers ranging
from two-tenths to nine-tenths of a cent per gallon, according
to a study done for the Environmental Protection Agency. The
variation in cost would depend upon how soon industry would
have to provide the lead-free gasoline and whether it would
have to be for all grades. However, it will be 1976 before all
gasoline grades could be made lead-free, the study reports.
The availability of a lead-free grade of gasoline having a
research octane rating of 93 is envisaged. Gasoline having a
research octane rating of 93 is adequate for cars made in 1971
and later. The 93-octane gas would be an addition to the
conventional regular and premium leaded gasolines.
Using this three-fuel approach, the study said, various
regulatory strategies could be devised to remove the lead from
gasoline at different rates of speed.
EPA announced in January its intention to propose
regulations on the use of lead additives in gasoline. It is now
anticipated that enough information will be collected in time
to allow publication of a notice of proposed rule-making by
mid-December 1971 on allowable levels of lead in the various
grades of gasoline, including a proposed schedule for achieving
these levels.
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TOXICOLOGY CENTER COOPERATIVE RESEARCH
On November 25, 1969, President Nixon officially
announced that all U.S. germicidal warfare weapons would be
destroyed. As a result, the Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Arsenal,
formerly used by the U.S. Army for research and storage of
biological warfare weapons, has been ordered disarmed. The
facility, recently transferred to the U.S. Department of Health,
Education and Welfare under an Army permit, is now to be
used as the National Center for Toxicological Research; it will
be administered by the Food and Drug Administration to
"... study the biological effects of potentially toxic chemical
substances found in man's environment.
The objectives of biological research to be conducted at the
Center will include: 1) information concerning adverse health
effects of long-term, low-dose exposure to chemical toxicants;
2) determination of metabolic processes for chemical toxicants
in animal organisms; 3) initiation of improved methodologies
for evaluation of the safety of chemical toxicants;
4) development of scientific research data which may facilitate
accurate application of animal data to man. As a "National
resource," the work of the Center will be accessible to other
U.S. governmental agencies, industrial firms, and universities.
An inter-agency agreement, indicative of the facility's
"National resource" status, was recently reached between the
FDA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In order
to foster a more indepth analysis of food, therapeutic drugs,
and environmental contaminants, the two agencies are acting
in a cooperative effort to improve the Nation's knowledge of
chemical toxicants.
Each agency is expected to designate $4 million in fiscal year
1972, to be spent as determined by a pre-established Policy
Board. Composed of three representatives from DHEW and
three from EPA, the Board will serve as the point of
coordination of Center activities where project objectives of
both FDA and EPA can be considered, developed and applied.
NOISE POLLOTION HEARING
"Noise is the ultimate insult," a Chicago naturalist told the
200 people attending EPA's noise hearing in Chicago July
28-29.
"It belittles us. It gives nothing at which to strike back. It
kills what is left of many things we have loved — music,
beauty, friendship, hope and excitement — and the
reassurance of nature," Dr. Alfred Etter of the Morton
Arboretum said. He was one of 27 public witnesses to appear
at the second of a series of hearings on noise pollution being
held in eight cities across the country by the Office of Noise
Abatement and Control.
The hearings which were authorized by the Noise Pollution
and Abatement Act of 1970, are being conducted to
determine the state-of-the-art in noise control technology and
to get public attitudes about the problem and current
abatement efforts at all levels of government. The information
gathered at the hearings will be included in a special report on
noise which EPA will submit to Congress by the end of 1971.
In addition to public witnesses, representatives of industry
and the scientific community are participating in the hearings.
In Atlanta, the theme of the hearing was construction noise,
and in Chicago aircraft noise was the principal topic of
discussion. The locations, dates and themes of the other six
hearings are: Dallas, August 18-19, urban planning,
architectural design, and noise in the home; San Francisco,
September 27-29, standards, measurement, legislation and
enforcement; Denver, September 30-October 1, recreational
and agricultural noise; New York, October 21-22, rail
transportation and urban noise and social behavior; Boston,
October 27-28, physiological and psychological effects; and
Washington, D.C,, November 9-12, technology, economics,
and national, State and local control programs.
There has been, so far, general agreement among industry
and professional witnesses that the technology exists to
control most sources of environmental noise — cost and lack
of public demand being the principal reasons why it has not
seen wider application.
The principal complaints of the public witnesses has been
against airport jet and highway traffic noise. Most of the latter
group have stressed the need for some sort of mass
transportation as one means of correcting the problem.
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SPOTLIGHT ON RESEARCH: SLUDGE DISPOSAL
Disposal of large quantities of sewage sludge, in a safe and
economic manner, is a problem for many large metropolitan
areas. With EPA grant support, the Metropolitan Sanitary
District of Greater Chicago is now demonstrating the
agricultural benefits to be obtained from applying digested
sludge to field crops. Criteria are also being developed for use
in selecting such disposal sites.
Preliminary laboratory, greenhouse and field investigations
were conducted by the Agronomy Department of the
University of Illinois to determine: 1) the effects of the
amount of sludge applied and the frequency of its application;
2) information concerning contamination of surface and
ground waters with pathogens and organic and inorganic ions;
3) changes in the physical and chemical characteristics of the
soil when subjected to heavy and frequent use of sludge;
4) identification of crops and crop systems which absorb the
maximum amounts of essential and non-essential elements
transferred to the soil from sludge fertilizer; 5) the effects on
the food chain of a buildup of trace elements in crops.
Results of the preliminary investigations were encouraging
from the standpoint of increasing crop yields, and from the
all-important public health considerations. Soybean and corn
plots were administered an average of 10 inches of sludge
during the growing season, with 1-inch doses applied at 8-day
intervals. Plants treated with sludge displayed more vigorous
growth than did untreated control plants. In 1970, for
example, the average corn yield in bushels per acre amounted
to 88 bushels without sludge fertilization, whereas 137 bushels
were produced in the same year, using 9 inches of sludge.
The Sanitary District of Chicago has recently acquired
7,000 acres of strip mined land in Fulton County, Illinois, to
be used in a large scale demonstration of sludge disposal on
land; future plans are to accommodate the digested domestic
sewage sludge from the entire Chicago area - 1000 tons of
dried sludge per day.
Ultimately, it is planned to move the sludge by pipeline to
the disposal site — a distance of 160 miles. However, full-scale
operation of the project must await acquisition of the pipeline
right-of-way, and other necessary financial arrangements.
In the meantime, preliminary implementation of the
concept has begun. Six hundred of the 7,000 acres of strip
111
Digested sludge is pumped in TO ana neid in this 60 acre
lagoon prior to applying it to croplands. Metropolitan Sanitary
District of Greater Chicago has acquired 7,000 acres of strip
mined land in Fulton Country, III., for experimentation and
demonstration of agricultural sludge fertilization. The project
is being conducted by the University of Illinois with grant
support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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After lagooning, digested sludge is applied to agricultural lands
by means of a mobile sprayer.
mined land, have been prepared with construction of berms
and terraces to contain the liquid sludge which will be applied
to the fields; this will prevent run-off or ground
contamination. A two million cubic yard (60 acre) lagoon has
been built, in which transported sludge will be held.
Currently, 4 barges are in operation, each carrying 2250
tons of liquid sludge (6% solid). Each travels from local
Chicago digesters down the Illinois River, to Liverpool,
Illinois. From there, the sludge is pumped to the lagoon
through a 10.5 mile pipeline. Only 1.5 miles of the pipeline
rests upon district property; the district has leased private
property to accommodate the remaining 8.5 miles of pipeline.
Because the facility still operates on a smalt scale, however, the
barges do not haul to capacity and the lagoon is not yet filled;
as the project progresses, there are plans to haul more sludge
and two additional lagoons of 3 million cubic yards each will
be built.
There seems to be local enthusiasm for the large scale
disposal of sludges for economic reasons. Currently the site of
the project maintains a very low tax base due to the poor
condition of the strip mined land; it is widely hoped that with
application of sludges the ravaged land will be reclaimed for
agricultural use, with a consequent increase in land values.
For additional information concerning this project
write: Mr. John R. Holloway, U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, P.O. Box 597, Cincinnati, Ohio 45201.
MORTALITY
CON'T
In the vicinity of Dresden, she said, "The infant mortality
rates in the post reactor period could be interpreted as
showing a gradual decline as the distance from the reactor
increases." However, she said this correlation could not be
attributed to radiation.
Mrs. Tompkins said she suspected the data for Dresden
reflected the movement of people from the inner city to
suburbia. "The infant mortality rates also appear to be
reflecting the known higher mortality rates associated with
metropolitan areas and particularly with the nonwhite
population in these areas," she said.
Corn and other crop yields are significantly higher in fields
which have had doses of sewage sludge. Over a 3-year period,
average corn yields in bushels per acre increased from 66.3 to
137.0 in a test plot, with application of 74.9 tons of dry
matter.
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CENTER DIRECTOR APPOINTED
On August 6, 1971, EPA Administrator, William D.
Ruckelshaus, announced the appointment of
Dr. Andrew W. Breidenbach to a new EPA post. As the first
Director of the Environmental Protection Agency's
Cincinnati, Ohio, - based National Environmental Research
Center, Dr. Breidenbach will direct the efforts of nearly 1,200
EPA employees in 10 locations throughout the city; he will
also be responsible for the $28 million multi-disciplinary
environmental research laboratory to be built at the University
of Cincinnati by 1975, Under the program direction of
Dr. Stanley Greenfield, EPA's Assistant Administrator for
Research and Monitoring, Dr. Breidenbach will head up the
Cincinnati complex as chief of one of the three National
Environmental Research Centers which are being established
within EPA; the other two are located in Research Triangle
Park, North Carolina, and Corvallis, Oregon.
Dr. Breidenbach, who earned his Bachelor of Science
Degree from the University of Cincinnati and his doctoral
degree from the University of Florida, is a chemist with wide
experience in the environmental field.
While working at Cincinnati's Robert A. Taft Sanitary
Engineering Center from 1956 to 1960, he developed
short-term graduate level training courses in environmental
chemistry, and for two succeeding years, served as assistant
chief of the National Air Pollution Training Program. For his
work at Taft, he gained recognition as an authority on
pollution measurement.
Dr. Breidenbach addresses EPA's Cincinnati staff.
As a Federal water pollution control official from 1962 to
1967, Dr. Breidenbach was again recognized for his work.
Anthony J. Celebrezze, former Secretary of the Department of
Health, Education, and Welfare, publicly identified him as a
member of the team which determined the pesticide, Endrin,
to be the pollutant which caused a massive fish kill in the
Mississippi River.
Dr. Breidenbach is a prominent authority on many other
aspects of environmental contamination and has frequently
been called upon to assist State, local, and industrial leaders
with environmental problems.
He has authored numerous papers for such scientific
publications as Bio-Science, Science, and the Archives of
Environmental Health and has lectured widely at all levels of
government and at universities across the country. He is a
member of several scientific and environmental science
associations, including the American Chemical Society, a
working group of the President's Cabinet Committee on the
Environment, and the American Association for the
Advancement of Science.
In his most recent position as chief of national research and
development for EPA's Solid Waste Management Office, he
was responsible for identifying national needs in the area of
solid waste disposal and establishing research to meet these
needs.
TRITIUM SYMPOSIUM HELD
A Tritium Symposium, sponsored jointly by the
Environmental Protection Agency and the University of
Nevada, is being held in Las Vegas, Nevada, from August 30
through September 2. The conference has drawn the
participation of internationally noted environmentalists,
conservationists, and nuclear engineers from around the world,
and will be the first major world tritium symposium in almost
11 years.
As an isotope which is difficult to detect and measure and
which cannot be readily separated from non-radioactive forms
of hydrogen, tritium poses a special handling and disposal
problem. The Tritium Symposium, prompted by the increasing
artificial production of this radioactive element, will feature
many prominent scientists, who will discuss those problems
peculiar to the production and use of tritium. Among the
subjects scheduled to be examined are ". . .the behavior of
tritium in the environment and in living systems; ways of
detecting and measuring it; its biological effects; its uses in
industry, biology and medicine; and safety criteria and
protection standards." It is hoped that this exchange of
information will be able to clarify some of tritium's more
puzzling characteristics and help to develop means of efficient,
economical, and safe disposal of this radioactive element.
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RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Single copies of all EPA publications listed below are
distributed without charge to representatives of State and local
agencies. Address requests in writing to:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Public Affairs
Public Inquiries Branch
4th & M Streets, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460.
Requests for multiple copies will be considered on an
individual basis. Prices are given for publications available from
the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing
Office, Washington, D.C. 20402.
Investigating Fish Mortalities. Describes methods which would
assist state and local officials in most efficiently and accurately
determining the cause of fish kills. Includes a chart offish kill
characteristics and fish abnormalities which may help to
identify the most common causes of death. 21 p.
An Accounting System for Transfer Station Operations.
Discusses cost accounting as an essential part of the
information needed to establish an effective transfer station
for solid waste. One of a series of accounting booklets
concerned with the various aspects of solid waste handling and
disposal. 20 p. $ ,30
Construction of a Chemical-Microbial Pilot Plant for
Production of Single-Cell Protein from Cellulosic Wastes.
Describes the development and operation of the protein pilot
plant, while providing technical information concerning the
techniques used and the economic potential of the process.
126 p. $1.25
HEW FILM AVAILABLE
A new film, of interest to environmentalists, is available on a
free loan basis from:
National Medical Audiovisual
Center (Annex)
Station K
Atlanta, Georgia 30324.
The film, described below, explains the new approach to solid
waste management which emphasizes recovery, reuse and
recycling. It is ideal for the classroom, and for use by
community action groups and local officials.
" Recycling" — 21 minutes, 16-mm ' motion ^
sound, color, 1971. Order no. M-2118-X. Shows a
variety of efforts to recover and reuse more of our
discards. This approach has the dual benefit of
conserving resources while minimizing the expense and
difficulty of solid waste disposal. Illuslga/tes techniques
that are being demonstrated by the U.S^f nvirojghental
Protection Agency, under the Resource-R«coV9rJB&&t of
1970 (P.L. 91-512). C°>
This film has been cleared for use on televjsjpn
. .. . - .. . iae ' zrm;
Environmental Lead and Public Health. Discusses the'effects
of lead as related to the general health of the populace and
summarizes the Federal role in citizen protection. Specifically
mentions the problems associated with lead accumulations in
man, his diet, and the atmosphere. 29 p. $ .25
OPO 9)7.748
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