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Guarding
Against
Chemical
Risks
While many chemicals are
essential to our lives and
make a major contribution to
our economy, the improper use
of some of these substances
has been a subject of interna-
tional concern.
As a result the United States
and seven other countries have
passed legislation in recent
years to help control the
introduction of new chemicals.
How various laws and
regulations to protect against
poisons are being administered
by the Environmental Protection
Agency and other Federal
agencies in this country is
reviewed in this issue of the
Journal, which focuses on
toxics.
In addition to a review of the
broad fabric of Federal regula-
tion, other articles include:
A report on the President's
request for a major new fund
to help correct hazardous waste
problems.
A new program to require
industries to provide pretreat-
ment of toxic wastes before
they reach municipal treatment
plants.
An EPA program to help
school systems check for harm-
ful asbestos in classrooms.
Steps being taken to protect
farm workers from the harmful
side effects of pesticides
sprayed on field crops.
An interview with a leading
EPA official on the safety of
our drinking water.
Use of biological controls to
help stop pests and a report
on pests which have developed
resistance to chemical sprays.
A report on the uses of
poisons through the ages.
A look at the worldwide
environmental problems that
result from depleting wood-
lands.
An interview with EPA's
Deputy Administrator Barbara
Blum about what the Chinese
are doing to control pollution
in their country. D
-------
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of
Public Awareness (A-107)
Washington DC 20460
Volume 5
Number 7
July/August 1979
&EPA JOURNAL
Douglas M. Costle, Administrator
Joan Martin Nicholson, Director, Office of Public Awareness
Charles D. Pierce, Editor
Truman Temple, Associate Editor
John Heritage, Chris Perham, Assistant Editors
Articles
EPA is charged by Congress to
protect the Nation's land, air and
water systems. Under a mandate
of national environmental taws
focused on air and water quali-
ty, solid waste management and
the control of toxic substances,
pesticides, noise and radiation,
the Agency strives to formulate
and implement actions which
lead to a compatible balance be-
tween human activities and the
ability "of natural systems to sup-
port and nurture life.
International
Cooperation in
Regulating Toxics 2
Administrator Costle offers to
share chemical control
information.
Legacy
of Poisons 4
An article by Chris Perham on
poisons through the ages.
Safer Pesticides 5
A new EPA program has been
set up to encourage use of
biological pest controls.
U.N. Warns of
'Super Pests' 7
Destructive insects have de-
veloped resistance to the chemi-
cals used against them.
What's Ahead in
Clean Water 8
An interview with Gordon G.
Robeck of EPA's Research
Program.
New Facility to Aid
Toxics Research 11
A report on a new EPA facility
built in Cincinnati to hetp with
research in the toxics area.
Controlling Toxics 12
A review by Truman Temple of
the fabric of Federal regulation
of chemicals in our lives.
Industrial
Pretreatment 17
An article by John Heritage on
a new program to require treat-
ment of toxic wastes.
President Seeks
New Fund 19
Proposed legislation would set
up a fund to help correct
hazardous waste problems.
Controlling Asbestos
in Schools 20
EPA has started a program to
help check for asbestos in
schools.
Protecting
Field Workers 22
A report on the effort to protect
farm workers from pesticide
poisons.
Shrinking Forests 24
Eric Eckholm on the environ-
mental threats posed by over-
cutting trees.
Mounting
Acid Rain
25
Dr. Norman R. Glass assesses
the growing impact of acid
precipitation.
Toxic Air 28
Joseph Padgett explains EPA's
program to deal with toxics in
the air.
Impressions of China
An interview with Deputy
Administrator Barbara Blum
about her visit to this country.
32
Departments
Update 30
Almanac 34
Around the Nation
People 38
36 News Briefs 39
Front Cover: A farm laborer picking
strawberries in a California field
holds a visiting child during a break.
(See P,22)
Opposite: Purity tests for bacteria
in dairy products are required by
food safety laws (See P.12)
Photo credits: Roger Malloch/
Magnurn, Ivan Massar/Black Star,
Four by Five, Bob Fitch/Black Star.
Steve Schapiro/Black Star, Greg
Gorman/Meta-4. Ellen Warner/
Black Star
Design Credits Robert Flanagan,
Donna Kazaniwsky and Ron Farrah
The EPA Journal is published
monthly, with combined issues
July-August and November-Decem-
ber, by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Use of funds for
printing this periodical has been
approved by the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget
Views expressed by authors do not
necessarily reflect EPA policy Con-
tributions and inquiries should be
addressed to the Editor (A-107).
Waterside Mall, 401 M St . S W.,
Washington, D C 20460. No per-
mission necessary to reproduce
contents except copyrighted photos
and other materials Subscription
SI 2.00 a year. SI .20 for single
copy, domestic, Sib 00 if mailed to
a foreign address No charge to
employees Send check or money
order to Superintendent of Docu-
ments. U S Government Printing
Office, Washington, DC 20402
Text printed on recycled paper
-------
Environmentally Speaking
International
Cooperation
in Regulating
Toxics
By Douglas M. Costle
EPA Administrator
In the last few years, eight countries in-
cluding the United States have passed
laws restricting the introduction of new
chemicals. Others are considering doing
so. Such legislation proves that many coun-
tries besides the United States recognize
the hazards as well as the benefits of the
revolution in synthetic chemicals that has
taken place since about 1945.
Yet the American legislation is the most
comprehensive, and consequently seems to
have caused the most concern among non-
U.S. observers. Moreover, despite our dem-
onstrated willingness to cooperate with
other chemical-manufacturing nations in
developing a variety of mutually acceptable
standards, some critics charge that the U.S.
has gone ahead on its own, establishing
procedures which essentially ignore the
advice of our major trading partners.
In effect, say the critics of the Toxic Sub-
stances Control Act, the U.S. appears to be
telling other chemical-manufacturing coun-
tries: "This is the way we are going to regu-
late—we can't wait for you to catch up."
They apparently believe that we are using
TSCA to shield the American chemical in-
dustry from international competition. They
believe that, without having had the hon-
esty to admit it, we have erected a new
trade barrier that does not depend on im-
port fees, but upon unreasonable and in-
flexible requirements.
There is no solid basis for such suspi-
cions. In fact, one's perspective of the bar-
rier changes depending upon which side of
the border one is looking from. Our own in-
dustry claims unfair treatment because our
proposed rules for premanufacture notifica-
tion do not require the reporting of new
chemicals contained in imported articles.
However, I can understand how the con-
cerns of some foreign nations could arise.
First, it is true that some of the provi-
sions of TSCA do not allow EPA very much
discretion. These are not necessarily fixed
for all time; but for the present, EPA has
absolutely no choice in following many of
TSCA's basic mandates.
For example, we are prohibited by law
from withholding health and safety studies
submitted to EPA under TSCA unless re-
vealing them will disclose process or for-
mulating information. This provision has
been the subject of vigorous criticism by
companies in other nations. In fact, how-
ever, it was one of the most controversial
issues during Congress' deliberations on
the Act and its resolution was key to final
passage. We strongly support this provi-
sion and intend to apply it equally to
domestic manufacturers and importers.
This, by the way, is another issue where
U.S. industry argues that they will suffer to
the benefit of their foreign competitors. The
health and disclosure requirement, they
say, will become a one-way flow of informa-
tion. In effect, they fear that the U.S. indus-
try will become the testing laboratory for
the world, at great expense to U.S. com-
petitiveness.
Behind this provision lies much public
skepticism about the integrity of American
government agencies in regulating private
industry. Again and again—with industries
ranging from railroads to nuclear power—
critics have charged that government and
industry have held back from the public
information that was used in decisions
affecting the public. Against this back-
ground, a host of private citizens—many of
them as expert in their field as any govern-
ment or industry specialist—have de-
manded access to data on which public offi-
cials made their decisions. Particularly in
the matter of chemicals, these citizens have
successfully argued that standards for safe-
ty and health have been set too leniently.
Working through the courts, they have man-
aged to force government agencies to
establish more stringent standards.
Reviewing the record, I believe that
many of these citizen actions have been
justified. Government today in America—
and increasingly throughout the world—
functions in an atmosphere of public doubt
and concern that requires the disclosure of
information.
!n TSCA, Congress has directed that we
balance the public's right to know against
proper protection of confidential business
information. Thus we recognize the force
of the argument for protecting a company's
proprietary interests, and we believe the
regulations we have put in place and pro-
posed will safeguard legitimate trade
secrets.
Another area in which we have little dis-
cretion—because we are following ordeis
from Congress—is the application and
timing of requirements under the premanu-
facture notification provision of TSCA.
First of all, under the law these require-
ments apply to imported substances as well
as those manufactured in the United States.
Second, when EPA receives a premanufac-
ture notice, it normally has 90 days to re-
view it before the substances can be manu-
factured or imported. While the period may
be extended 90 more days for good cause,
this presents a time constraint that do-
mestic manufacturers, importers, and EPA
must live with.
On the other side of the equation there
are a number of aspects of TSCA for which
EPA has been granted broad discretion by
the Congress. Some of these are obvious:
which chemicals will require testing or
other information under certain sections,
which chemicals must be regulated, what
form of control to require, what tests to
require for what effects, and so forth.
However, our test standards are not
etched in stone for one generation of
Americans to pass on to the next as cher-
ished national treasures. To the contrary,
the law requires EPA to review these stand-
ards annually for adequacy, and to revise
them as appropriate. It is through this
mechanism that EPA will be able to adjust
its testing standards to take into account
agreements reached as a result of the rec-
ommendations by the expert groups of the
Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development.
We have a number of incentives to de-
velop an internationally consistent ap-
proach to the regulation of toxics.
First, regulation works both ways. In 1978,
the United States exported a total of $13
billion worth of chemicals. We imported
about $6.6 billion. We expect that surplus
of exports to be about the same or even
better this year. In a Nation whose trade
deficit in 1 978 was $45 billion, any oppor-
tunity to earn $6 billion or more in trade is
clearly important. We do not want to jeop-
ardize this favorable balance by promulgat-
ing regulations that seem arbitrary to other
nations, just as we do not want them to do
this to us.
Second, we do not want to fence ourselves
off from non-U.S. chemicals because—in
doing so—we might deprive our own citi-
zens of a new product with enormous value
to health, convenience, or commerce. Much
as we might like, in the interest of the na-
tional ego, to believe that American scien-
tists are the best in the world, we recognize
that they have no monopoly on chemical
innovation, and we are anxious to secure
for our citizens the benefits of scientific
discovery no matter what the source.
Third, we recognize that other countries
will be developing useful data which will be
of value to us in assessing the risks of
chemical substances. With the scarcity of
testing facilities and personnel, it makes
sense to work toward exchange of data
rather than duplication of costly testing.
In short, we see no advantage—and
some d/sadvantage—in treating chemical
manufacturers from other nations more
rigorously than we treat our own com-
panies. Apparently, some non-U.S. manu-
facturers fear that American companies will
have an advantage in dealing with EPA, for
example, in pre-notice consultations for
new chemicals. Ten years ago, there might
indeed have been some advantage of a
Continued to page 40
EPAJOURNAL
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Legacy
of
Poisons
By Chris Perham
Poison. The word calls up an image of
skull and crossbones—symbolizing
death. This universally-recognized sign
of danger warns us to beware.
EPA and numerous other Federal
agencies have legislative mandates to
control poisons which are transmitted in
many ways: food, medicines, cosmetics,
kitchen utensils, and even playthings can
be agents of illness or death.
Poisons have been killing and sickening
people for centuries. In the Second Cen-
tury B.C., Nicander, the Greek poet and
physician, wrote about poisons and anti-
dotes in his poem Alexipharmica. Nicander
knew nothing of PCB's, PBB's, and other
deadly acronyms that dot our modern land-
scape. He did know, however, that some
substances harm while others heal.
I hen as now, poisons were hardly
scarce. Plants, animals, and minerals all
contain ample sources of deadly materials.
The Mesopotamians had a goddess of
potions and poisons in the Fourth Century
B.C. Ancient Egyptians knew the uses of
snake venoms and puffer fish poison.
Toxins, which are biological substances,
not synthetic or natural chemicals, appear
in water as far back as the Scriptures.
Some interpret Moses' parting of the Red
Sea as the first known reference to a "red
tide," the explosive growth of poisonous
algae that periodically menaces the food
chain and water supply in many parts of
the world. Even with modern scientific
analysis, no exact cause can be isolated
for this phenomenon, which results in
massive fish kills and occasional deaths
among people who eat the contaminated
seafood.
Deadly air pollution is not solely a
product of modern life either. Many of
the residents of Pompeii who died when
Vesuvius erupted were asphyxiated from
the fumes belched by the volcano before
the ash and lava covered their bodies.
Erupting volcanoes produce many gases
including fluorides, sulphurous fumes,
ammonia, and chlorine.
A bacterium called Clostridium botu-
linum causes botulism, a frequently lethal
disease due to one of the strongest toxins
known. Scientists estimate that a single
ounce could kill 60 million people.
Yet many substances are benign unless
ingested in very large amounts. An old
Hindu proverb says, "Even nectar is poison
if taken to excess."
Some toxics are elements that, in trace
amounts, are essential to human nutrition.
such as copper and zinc. Arsenic and fluo-
rine can be beneficial in minimal amounts.
The toxicity of many substances is influ-
enced by the presence of other elements or
compounds that affect the body's mecha-
nisms for absorption, excretion, and me-
tabolism.
The actions of poison on the body can
be immediate or long-range. Acute poison-
ing often is immediate and severe, as a
result of a substantial dose or exposure.
Chronic poisoning, as a result of lengthy or
repeated exposure to smaller amounts of
poison, is more subtle and harder to trace
to a causative factor. The symptoms may
resemble natural aging or mimic numerous
diseases. In some cases chronic effects
may show after long periods of exposure
with no intervening symptoms, or years
after exposures have stopped.
In addition to its role as a poison a sub-
stance may be a carcinogen, a teratogen, or
a mutagen. Chronic exposure to poisonous
substances can lead to cancer many years
after the exposures have stopped and other
signs of poisoning have disappeared. As
teratogens, poisons may act on the devel-
oping fetus, causing birth defects such as
malformed limbs. The mutagenic effects of
poisons may be the most lasting because
they damage the genetic material, causing
irreversible changes that can be passed on
to future reproductive generations. On the
other hand, carcinogenic and teratogenic
effects occur in the bodies of the exposed
person.
Benzene is an extremely high volume
industrial chemical, amounting to an annual
production of some 10 billion pounds.
Several toxic effects have been attributed
to this compound. Different epidemiolog-
ical studies implicate this chemical as
showing carcinogenic effects in humans
exposed to high levels of the chemical in
the workplace. It is curious that experi-
mental animal studies have failed to show
this effect. Benzene also appears to break
the chromosomes, but mutagenic effects
have not been noted.
A group of chemicals which have been
implicated as producing multiple adverse
effects are the metals. For instance, birth
defects have been induced by mercury,
lead, and cadmium. Both mercury and lead
are toxic to the nervous system. Cadmium
damages the kidney. There aredata indi-
cating carcinogenic effects of arsenic,
cadmium, beryllium, and lead. Like
benzene, the data on the carcinogenic
effects of arsenic are limited to observations
in humans, but excess cancers have been
reported following occupational and medi-
cal exposures as well as general environ-
mental exposures through the drinking
water. Various types of mutagenic effects
have also been reported for some of the
metals in certain test systems.
Exposure to ptant and animal poisons
has not increased greatly over the years.
There are still snake-bites and cases of
children eating hemlock (the poison used
to kill Socrates), but hardly in epidemic
numbers. However, changes in lifestyle and
working conditions bring an increasing
number of people in contact with poisons
that are derived from chemicals and min-
erals. These are also the substances most
likely to fall under government regulation.
Following are summaries ot some well-
known poisons.
Ammonia—This gas with its penetrating
odor is common in Nature as a constituent
of air, volcanic gases, and the deterioration
of animal matter. It was said to have been
first prepared at the Temple of Jupiter
Amon by Egyptian priests by heating the
horns and hooves of animals. During the
Middle Ages it was distilled from deer
antlers and for this reason has sometimes
been called 'spirits of hartshorn.' Pure
ammonia was prepared and described by
Joseph Priestley in 1 774. It is used in
cleaning, bleaching, to extract plant dyes,
and as a liquid refrigerant. Fumes can be
lethal in a few minutes time. The I'quid also
is dangerous if taken internally, depending
on the quantity.
Arsenic—The famous toxic used by the
spinsters in Arsenic and Old Lace was
known in some forms even to the ancient
Greeks. It was used as a complexion en-
hancer and as an ingredient in depilatory
preparations by Victorian ladies. Peasants
in the Alps believed that arsenic was good
for the health and acted as an aphrodisiac,
if taken in slowly increasing amounts.
Cesare Borgia had a specially-designed
signet ring that opened to reveal a com-
partment for carrying arsenic. Arsenic has
been used to treat syphillis and yaws. Small
amounts are used as growth stimulators
for pigs and poultry. Some is found natu-
Contmued to page 35
EPAJOURNAL
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Safer
Pesticides
The EPA is instituting a new
program to encourage the
development and use of an
innovative class of pesticides
called "biologicals"—which
include bacteria, viruses, and
JULY/AUGUST 1979
-------
naturally-occurring biochem-
icals such as insect sex lures.
These pest-control methods
are basically different from con-
ventional pesticide chemicals,
which are inherently toxic—one
reason EPA has adopted the
term "biorational" in describing
biological pest-control meth-
ods. They work on the target
pest by means other than poison-
ing and thus generally are nar-
rower in the range of life forms
they affect.
President Carter underscored
the importance of biorational
pest controls in his 1976 Envi-
ronmental Message to Con-
gress, which encouraged pest-
management techniques that
"emphasize the use of natural
biological controls like preda-
tors, pest-specific diseases,
pest-resistant varieties, and
hormones."
The Agency's rules for regis-
tering these products are ex-
pected to be geared to the spe-
cial nature of biorational pest-
control agents, and thus may
exempt them from some tests
required for registering conven-
tional chemical pest-control
compounds.
"Biorational agents can aug-
ment—in some cases supplant
—the use of toxic chemicals in
controlling target pests without
affecting beneficial insects,
wildlife, and humans. This
makes them extremely attrac-
tive from an environmental as
well as crop protection point of
view," said Steven Jellinek,
EPA Assistant Administrator for
Toxic Substances. He was ad-
dressing the opening of a new
California plant for the produc-
tion of a biologically-based
pesticide.
The Federal pesticide law
"clearly mandates EPA to take
a direct, active role in promot-
ing the development and use of
biologically integrated alterna-
tives for pest control," Jellinek
added.
Here are some examples of
biorational agents that already
have received EPA approval for
either regular or experimental
use:
• Phytophthora citropthora—a
mold being tested for use
against the milkweed vine, a
major plant pest in Florida
citrus groves.
• Housefly pheromone—a fe-
male sex attractant used to con-
fuse the male housefly and help
limit reproduction. Approved in
1974 for commercial use.
• Agrobacterium ra'diobacter—
a benign strain of bacteria that
takes over a plant, preventing
killer bacteria from getting a
toehold. EPA approved this bio-
logical agerxt earlier this year for
use against "crown gall," a dis-
ease that now destroys 10 per-
cent of nursery fruit trees on the
West Coast.
• Nuclear Polyhedrosis virus—
one strain helps kill the Gypsy
Moth, which can defoliate
whole forests. Approved in
1978.
• Cytokinin extract of seaweed
—by supplying an extra dose of
a natural plant growth regulator,
this chemical produces bigger
tomatoes. Approved in 1977.
• Bacillus thuringiensis—a bac-
terium that controls many fly
and moth larvae. Originally ap-
proved in 1962.
EPA experts emphasize that
while promising results have
been obtained, none of the bio-
rational agents represent a true
panacea for all pest-control
problems. They can help con-
trol pests, but in many cases
other methods—such as con-
ventional chemical pesticides
—also are necessary.
Unlike traditional pesticides,
biorational agents are not in-
nately poisonous, thereby
threatening other "non-target"
forms of life. They usually affect
only a single pest. Their weap-
ons range from diseases to
defensive tactics against crop
invaders.
While they have potential ad-
vantages, biorational agents
now comprise less than one
percent of the 35,000 pesticide
products sold in the United
States. Nine are registered by
EPA, and nine more are being
tested under experimental use
permits. (EPA has not regulated
anti-pest predators—such as
ladybugs used against aphids—
under the Federal pesticide law,
and plans to formally exempt
these from regulation in the
future.)
With a policy statement is-
sued in May for public com-
ment, EPA set forth a frame-
work for speeding approvals of
new biorational products—thus
helping to get them into users'
hands faster than otherwise
might have been the case. The
Agency will "take into account
the fundamentally different
modes of action of biologicals
and the consequent lower prob-
ability of adverse effects from
their use," the statement said.
In implementing the policy,
EPA is developing guidelines
that spell out testing require-
ments for registering bioration-
al pesticides. These should be
proposed by January, 1980.
Also, with EPA funds the
American Institute of Biological
Sciences is creating a panel to
recommend testing to weigh
possible human health hazards
of biorational pesticides. This
panel is expected to consist
mainly of experts from the med-
ical microbiology and proto-
zoology community. The rec-
ommendations are expected by
January, 1980, and will assist
the Agency in drafting human
safety testing guidelines for
biorational agents.
Critics have charged that
EPA has made it unnecessarily
difficult to register biorational
agents. The Agency, according
to these critics, applied the
same rules used for conven-
tional chemical pesticides, re-
quiring costly, and unneeded
tests by developers and produc-
ers of biorational products.
EPA's new approach repre-
sents a "radical departure from
the past," Jellinek said, "when
the Agency often required much
of the same testing and other
data for biorationals that it
required for conventional
chemicals."
"I am confident that the steps
we are taking now will resolve
this situation, and further stimu-
late private-sector interest in
developing more of these prod-
ucts," Jellinek said. "These bio-
rational products should be-
come a small but crucial ele-
ment in the Nation's pest-
control arsenal, and we are rec-
ognizing them as such." In his
California speech, Jellinek cited
three reasons why biorational
pesticides should be expanded:
• Increased emphasis on
the use of integrated pest man-
agement (IPM) strategies for
pest control;
• Growth in scientific evi-
dence pointing to possibly seri-
ous health and environmental
hazards caused by exposure to
some of the most widely used
toxic chemical pesticide
compounds.
• More and more signs that
many of the most damaging
pests—the cotton bollworm far
from alone—have become
steadily more resistant to con-
ventional chemical pesticides.
"Certainly there still will be
a great deal of room for innova-
tion in the development of ever
safer, more effective conven-
tional chemical pesticides,"
Jellinek noted.
Jellinek doesn't see the bio-
rationals as just bugs battling
bugs. "They can play a major
role in a systems approach that
employs a variety of pest-con-
trol methods ranging from
creatures to chemicals to
computers."
This system method—inte-
grated pest management—
includes both the use of natural
controls and synthetic chemi-
cals among the farmer's pest-
control tools. "IPM means more
emphasis on a variety of tech-
niques for pest control—not
eradication," Jellinek said.
Because the IPM approach
takes into account the total en-
vironment of a crop, there will
be more and more ways for a
narrow-spectrum, biorational
pesticide to fit in," Jellinek
said. "As pest control becomes
more and more scientific, this
new generation of pesticides
should be an indispensable tool
in helping to get the job
done." D
EPAJOURNAL
-------
U.N. Warns of
Super
Pests
Destructive pests are devel-
oping resistance to the
chemical weapons that ad-
vanced nations have been using
against them, the United Nations
Environment Program warned in
its State of the World Environ-
ment annual report.
Millions of farmers around
the world are discovering the
limitations of 'miracle' pesti-
cides against destructive in-
sects, according to the U.N.
Food and Agricultural Organiza-
tion. Although production has
been dramatically increased by
the use of pesticides, some 364
species of insects and mites
have developed resistance to
the chemical compounds.
Among the major crops
threatened by this development
are cotton and rice, two prin-
cipal cash and food crops in the
developing countries. Many
species of mosquitoes can now
survive DDT and Dieldrin. Asa
result, malaria is on the
upswing.
For the first time, the U.N.
has begun pressing for aban-
donment of total reliance on
chemical pesticides in favor of
integrated pest management
(IPM ), which makes use of both
biological and chemical ap-
proaches to the problem. IPM
includes such methods as ster-
ilizing male pest species and
releasing them to mate unpro-
ductively. It also makes use of
new strains of crops with built-
in pest resistance, introducing
other predators to keep down
the pest population, and envi-
ronmental management of the
habitat and breeding grounds of
pests to discourage their
reproduction.
The UNEP report was re-
leased to coincide with World
Environment Day June 5.
The report also highlighted
three other problems in the
global environment this year.
One is so-called snail fever dis-
ease or schistosomiasis, which
now infects 200 million people
around the world. The illness is
caused by a parasitic worm that
is transferred between humans
and a species of fresh-water
snail, mostly found in tropical
zones. Development of dams
and irrigation in recent years
ironically has spread the dis-
ease since this provides new
breeding grounds for the snails.
The report stressed that drain-
age of infected waterways,
combined with improved sanita-
tion and public health educa-
tion, offer hope for its eradica-
tion. Such measures in China,
where more than 10 million per-
sons were afflicted, have nearly
eliminated schistosomiasis
there.
Another problem is noise pol-
lution, which UNEP says "is
escalating so rapidly as to be-
come one of the major threats
to the quality of human life."
There are now an estimated
500 occupations which are
noisy enough to pose a danger
to hearing. Even under the max-
imum permissible noise level of
90 decibels for an eight-hour
working day, stipulated by the
United States government, one
fifth of the work force so ex-
posed will suffera disabling
loss of hearing, according to
the report. The permissible level
has been reduced to 80 decibels
in the Netherlands. Apart from
deafness, noise also can cause
temporary rises in blood pres-
sure and heart rate as well as
other disorders and symptoms
of stress such as irritability and
moodiness.
The report also warned that
the tourist may be a mobile
menace to the environment.
International tourist arrivals in-
creased from 140 million to
243 million in the decade end-
ingin 1977,andarestillonthe
upswing. Although this brings
economic benefits, especially to
developing countries, there is
also a backlash. The tourist's
presence—the way he dresses,
eats, drinks, spends, and con-
ducts himself—can create eco-
nomic and racial tensions and
touch off aspirations for a life-
style totally out of the reach of
those whose country he visits.
In addition, some of the
world's most beautiful and cul-
turally significant places are be-
ing disfigured by construction
of roads, hotels, and other de-
velopments. From damaged his-
torical sites in Greece and Brit-
ain to pollution of the Caribbean
and the South Pacific, the im-
pact of mass tourism is being
felt. The report argues that
striking a new balance is essen-
tial to prevent further environ-
mental harm and to preserve the
pleasures of tourism itself.
Copies of the report may be
obtained from the UNEP Liaison
Office, Room A-3630, 866
United Nations Plaza, New
York, N.Y. 10017. D
JULY/AUGUST 1979
-------
What's
Ahead in
Clean
Water
An interview with
Gordon G. Robeck,
Director of the
Drinking Water Re-
search Division,
Municipal Environ-
mental Research
Laboratory, Cincinnati.
What's your view of
using commercially bot-
tled water as a way of
avoiding organics or bac-
teria coming out of the
household spigot?
Weil, if you are not comfortable
with the water that you may get
in an isolated rural area or for
that matter in a city, it's a pri-
vate matter and you could prob-
ably buy water that you think
tastes better or perhaps looks
better, and I wouldn't blame
somebody for doing that.
But generally speaking, I
think it's a very expensive way
of getting that assurance. It
costs you close to a dollar to get
a gallon of water that way, but
it costs maybe forty cents to get
a thousand gallons of water
delivered from a central system.
In a home you're not likely to
use more than one hundred
gallons per person per day. The
cost of bottled water is very
high compared to what can be
done in a central system. We
have found some bottled waters
that do allow growth of bacteria
when not stored in a cold
container. When stored on a
shelf in grocery store or drug
store, the water could develop
growth. I don't think we have
any evidence that pathogens
have been found in those cir-
cumstances, but it's not a good
public health practice as we
see it.
Some TV ads have men-
tioned filter devices that
you put on the end of
faucets in your house-
hold, using carbon filters.
Are these effective in
cleaning up water?
Well, that's somewhat like the
bottled water issue. It's a pri-
vate matter and they also are
relatively expensive compared
to using carbon beds at a cen-
tral location for the whole city.
I can't deny that these devices
are using the same scientific
phenomena for control of car-
cinogens or the chlorine. You
have to start out by saying yes,
they do remove the same things
that you remove with carbon in
a big plant. But, many are very
small and thus limited in capac-
ity for any sensible length of
time, like several months. Some
of them may be exhausted with-
in a matter of a week, and when
you have to replace them there's
no way of regenerating them
practically. So you simply re-
place them, and you have to pay
for that. They cost anywhere
from $20 to S100 to put in, in
the first place, and it costs may-
be $ 10 or $ 1 5 to replace the
cartridge. There are ways of
doing it a little cheaper than
that and there are ways of doing
it more expensively. There's
quite a range of commercial
products available. Some have
silver in them and they have
been registered with EPA to
show that they will do what they
claim as far as being bacterio-
static material. The silver im-
pregnated in the carbon is to
keep organisms from multiply-
ing rapidly in the home filter
unit.
We feel one drawback is sim-
ply that they have limited ca-
pacity. If you make them real
large, the water goes through
slowly and takes out chlorine
and chloroform very well, but
then bacteria begin to grow,
particularly if they are in an
area beneath the sink where it's
warm.
The heavy growth may tend
to clog the device hydraulically
and second, we're not very
EPAJOURNAL
-------
comfortable with people con-
suming organisms with their
water, at that rate.
So generally speaking, we
tend to discourage the use of
these where there is a good cen-
tral system that is profession-
ally operated and there is a
good surveillance of the quaiity
of water.
Do some EPA officials
indicate they favor using
granulated activated car-
bon to remove organic
chemicals from drinking
water?
We recommended to the Ad-
ministrator the use of granu-
lated activated carbon in bed
form either replacing sand or
following sand filters in conven-
tional treatment plants now be-
cause it is able to remove a
broad spectrum of trace organ-
ics at the least cost compared to
any other alternatives.
But there are certain types of
waters that make it necessary to
examinethe options you have
for reducing organics. In certain
locations you may have one or
two specific pollutants, and
aeration may be the way to do
the job. In another place it may
be a warm climate like Miami's
where you have a lot of color
material in the water and thus
the biological activated carbon
created by adding ozone ahead
of the carbon beds may be a
sensible thing to do.
There is no one answer to all
problems. But, as a starter the
granulated activated carbon is
the best approach. Of course
you have to do pilot plant work
in each location to sort out
which is the most cost-effective
series of treatment processes.
You're doing pilot work
here in Cincinnati?
We're doing pilot work here on
the Ohio river water and in
many other places throughout
the United States where there
are problem areas.
What is EPA doing in
other locations?
We are doing different sized
pilot plant testing. There are
several where we are doing
small column work, such as
we're doing here in the Envir-
- onmental Research Center.
There are others in Jefferson
Parish, La.; Manchester, N.H.;
the Passaic Valley Water
Commission in New Jersey and
in the City of Cincinnati, where
we are doing large-scale pilot
pfant work, working with the en-
tire plant or with several million
gallons a day flow through cer-
tain standard module filters.
We have tried to have this work
going on where there are vari-
ous kinds of problems, so we
get a coordinated national
program that will help people
or utilities with similar prob-
lems in all those areas.
If you have a water source
that is really dirty with
all kinds of organics and
other stuff, do you use all
three of these methods in
treating the water?
Yes. An example of that is to
start with municipal sewage
and convert it into drinking
water. We're researching it and
that work has gone on for many
years in this center. It was orig-
inally called advanced waste
treatment, and we are now
working with the City of Denver
to see if we can use a series of
these treatments or processes
to make such water potable,
that is, drinkable.
Some critics claim that
EPA's proposals to remove
organics from drinking
water are not justified
because the risk to human
health hasn't been ade-
quately demonstrated.
Could you say how great
the risk is and whether
the benefits are justified?
In the preamble to the proposed
regulation for control of trace
organics the administration has
articulated the basis for the
proposal including the cost and
the benefits. In July, 1978, a
supplement was published in
the Federal Register to update
the information, particularly as
it relates to the health and the
risk assessment. We have es-
tablished that it's not easy to
quantify the health risk, and
therefore, we had to project the
possibility of cancer being
formed from ingesting water
with carcinogens in it. The in-
tent is to minimize those car-
cinogens within economic lim-
its that people will accept.
So it's a matter of knowing
which waters have carcinogens
and then attempting to treat the
water to reduce those as much
as possible without losing some
other benefit, such as the use
of chlorine which coinciden-
tally controls communicable
diseases but also forms the
carcinogen, chloroform. That
kind of a trade off has to be
watched carefully to implement
the control of chloroform
throughout the thousands of
systems that we have responsi-
bility for.
Could you comment on
the higher cancer rate of
the river cities like Cin-
cinnati, Louisville, and
New Orleans and the
significance of granular
activated carbon to
control the possible
carcinogenic problem?
There have been epidemiological
studies to see if there is a rela-
tionship between the pollution
load in the raw and finished
water and cancer rates in those
cities. There has been some
indication that where heavy
chlorination has taken place
over many decades, there is a
higher cancer rate among the
people using that water.
Beyond that, it is difficult to say
precisely what influence up-
stream organic pollution has
caused on the cancer rates. The
effect of changing the chlorina-
tion practice or not using it
until you have employed granu-
lated activated carbon to take
out what we call the mass
organics that chlorine reacts
with to form chloroform, is
difficult to say precisely. But
we feel that there is much to be
gained by controlling these na-
tive compounds (from dead
leaves and humus) so that sub-
sequent disinfection, be it
chlorine or ozone or chlorine
dioxide, will not have much ma-
terial to react with. This re-
duces what we call chlorinated
or halogenated by-products,
which we believe are partly re-
sponsible for this increase in
cancer rate. So the granulated
activated carbon filters are an
integral part of the strategy for
reducing the rate that may be
coming from water.
Does it strike you as ironic
that the use of chlorine to
eliminate so many dan-
gerous diseases in the
early part of the century,
typhoid and so on, is now
actually suspected of
causing other diseases?
Yes, it is not uncommon that
one solution to a problem cre-
ates another problem. It's awful
hard to anticipate all of these,
but we must realize that a ma-
jority of the 40,000 water utili-
ties use chlorine in relatively
modest amounts and on rela-
tively good water and do not
have many by-products as a
consequence of its use.
It is mainly in areas where
there is a heavy concentration
of natural organics or indus-
trial and municipal waste water
—where people have used
more and more chlorine to
overcome the tastes, odors, or
color in water—that by-prod-
ucts have been excessively
formed. Fortunately, that's in a
very limited number of places.
So that the net benefit of dis-
infecting with chlorine to
control communicable disease
over the last six or seven
decades has been tremendous.
I do think that we leaned too
heavily on chlorine by itself and
had not used enough physical
means of taking things out first,
including sand filters and gran-
ulated activated carbon filters.
That would have helped tre-
mendously. That's what the
Europeans attempt to do. They
make their water virtually like
good deep ground water before
they disinfect it—if they dis-
infect it at all.
How effectively was the
United States able to re-
duce the occurrence of
typhoid fever by chlori-
nating drinking water
earlier in the century?
The death rate from typhoid
was very high in 1 900 in this
country, around 35 per 100,000
persons. But by 1920 it had de-
clined to 8 per 100,000 and by
the 1930's the rate was below
1 per 1 00,000 in large cities.
And there were other water-
related illnesses that were
greatly reduced at the same
time. The whole story was one
JULY/AUGUST 1979
-------
EPA Tests
Home
Drinking
Water
Treatment
Units
Do home water treatment
devices do an effective
job of removing organic
chemicals from your
drinking water? Accord-
ing to initial tests done
under contract for EPA's
Office of Drinking Water,
the answer is: Sometimes.
Tests on seven home
drinking water treatment
units showed a wide var-
iation in their ability to
remove the unwanted
chemicals. Most of these
units were designed to re-
move taste and odor com-
ponents other than the
organic chemicals under
test, and therefore the
variations were not
surprising.
In general, the small
faucet-mounted and port-
able pour-through devices
were the least effective.
In fact, the non-bypass
faucet filter removed only
negligible quantities of
trihalomethanes (THM's)
and non-purgeable total
organic carbon (NPTOC),
and was therefore re-
moved from testing at the
mid-point of the program.
THM's are the synthetic
organic chemicals most
commonly found in drink-
ing water. NPTOC is a
general parameter or term
used in measuring
organics.
Most of the other filters
including one stationary
and two line bypass mod-
els were marginally effec-
tive, removing less than
50 percent of the THM's,
but one line bypass filter
removed over 90 percent
of the THM's.
The study, done under
contract for the Office of
Drinking Water by Gulf
South Research Institute
of New Orleans, found
thatTHM removar ranged
from 6 to 93 percent.
NPTOC removals ranged
from 2 to 41 percent. Re-
movals of the heavier
products of chlorine-or-
ganics reactions were var-
iable with increases in
some units; only one unit
showed a uniform pattern
of reduction, averaging
79 percent removal.
Measurements were
made for bacteria which
are normally present in
water and are not known
to be a hazard. Research-
ers found that higher bac-
teria counts were some-
times found in water that
had passed through the
filters, although the levels
were also lower in some
cases. The filters make
use of carbon in their
filters, and it has been
shown that bacteria can
grow rapidly on carbon
and other surfaces in the
absence of an active dis-
infectant. Three of the
units use silver to counter-
act bacteria, but this
seemed to have little
effect on total bacteria
levels, the study found.
Copies of a fact sheet
on the study may be ob-
tained from Frank Bell,
Project Officer, Criteria
and Standards Division,
(WH-550), Office of
Drinking Water, EPA,
Washington, D.C.
20460.D
of the great achievements in
public health in this country.
Incidentally, we have done
an analysis to show the eco-
nomic benefits of using sand
filters and chlorination in the
Ohio Valley early in this cen-
tury. The installation and oper-
ating costs were quickly paid
for within a few years by the
benefits realized from reduced
disease rates. That is another
way of expressing the value of
water treatment processes.
You mentioned the Euro-
peans. Are we up front in
discovering possible can-
cer effects from chlorina-
tion or were there already
studies afoot in Europe
coming to the same con-
clusion?
They have not done similar
studies in such depth on trace
organics, in relationship to dis-
ease. They have been doing
much more in relation to cardio-
vascular disease and the cause
possibly being related to inor-
ganics in the water, that is, the
hardness or the softness of the
water, particularly in England.
But they were able to find
chloroform in the waters of
Rotterdam about the same time
that our analysts were finding it
in some of the Cincin ,ati drink-
ing water. They dir1 ,iot pursue
the epidemiology or thetoxicol-
ogy of it as quickly as we did.
However, they did much more
work regarding the control and
treatment of the water to reduce
trace organics in general, par-
ticularly along the Rhine River
where the raw water was so bad
they had to do something about
it many, many years ago.
Will this granulated
activated carbon
treatment clean up un-
pleasant odors and remove
the chlorine taste now
found in many systems?
Generally speaking, yes, that's
what it's been used for all over
the world, including this coun-
try, since the late 30's. It's been
used in one form or another,
either powdered as a slurry, or
replacing the sand with granu-
lated activated carbon. It's a
means of reducing the taste and
odor-producing compounds.
The chlorine taste should be
minimized for two reasons.
First, you take the material out
that chlorine reacts with that
causes some of the taste, and
second, you don't have to add
so much chlorine in the last
step of your treatment process
for disinfection.
That's why some people like
to use home filters, to take the
odor and chlorine taste out of
the water, as well as to make it
look more sparkling. They take
some of the color bodies out.
What is it about granular
activated carbon that
performs this miracle?
What does the stuff do
that such a small quantity
of it can remove so many
impurities?
Well, it is manufactured by
applying heat to coal or lignite
in such a way as to create a
material with many small pores
and still not burn it entirely
into an ash.
So a grain of it contains
mostly air?
Mostly air, likea sponge.
It has so many surfaces
where dissolved organic ma-
terial can make contact that a
certain amount of the material
sticks to the carbon.
The organic material doesn't
chemically interact, it just
sticks to the carbon surface.
But you have only so much
surface, and after a while it
can't hold any more, just as a
sponge can't hold water beyond
a certain point. Then you have
to take the organics off by some
other means—in this case by
applying heat after you transfer
the granular activated carbon
to a furnace. Subsequently you
put the carbon back in the
filter and use it again.
And you can keep reusing
it?
Well, you have a tendency to
lose some carbon in the transfer
from one vessel to another,
plus, when you heat it, you have
to burn some of it off, so that
you lose a certain percentage
each cycle. Anywhere from 5 to
1 5 percent, depending on how
well you operate your furnace
and your transport system.
That's one of the key things we
are trying to research and show
people in this country that what
10
EPAJOURMAL
-------
we reported from the European
experience can be accom-
plished here, too.
There's been much doubt
and speculation about the valid-
ity of this economic factor. If
you had a lot of loss it could be
pretty expensive, so you want
to show that various kinds of
furnaces can be used to re-
activate this carbon and not
lose more than 5 or 1 0 percent.
So dirty old coal does
have a way of helping to
clean up the environment.
Yes, ultimately. It's not coal
when you put it in the filter.
It's not charcoal either. It's a
misnomer to say charcoal;
that's something you use in
Gordon G. Robeck
your backyard barbecue. This
is a carefully made product in
a furnace at high temperatures,
and it doesn't have a lot of
things in it that coal has
originally.
But it comes from coal?
It can come from coal, from
wood, from lignite or peat. It
could even come from corn-
cobs. But there is a big differ-
ence in the end product,
depending on what you start
with. So manufacturers avoid
using certain kinds of coal, if
it is to be used for drinking
water.
It's been used for years for
various foods and beverages.
There's a long history of tech-
nology on how to use the
material.
To purify beverages?
Yes, to purify sugar and whiskey
and other beverages. When the
food industry prepares water
for beverages, they use acti-
vated carbon because it helps
give a uniform quality to the
stock material that they put
into the product. D
New
Facility
to Aid
Toxics
Research
Toxic wastes have become
the object of coordinated
research efforts by the Environ-
mental Protection Agency in
Cincinnati.
Integrated laboratory re-
search, development, and evalu-
ation of existing and new pollu-
tion control technology will be
the primary function of EPA's
new multi-purpose Test and
Evaluation facility at the Mill
Creek sewage treatment plant
there.
The $2.6 million structure
was chiefly funded by EPA's In-
dustrial Environmental Re-
search Laboratory (IERL) and
Municipal Environmental Re-
search Laboratory (MERL), with
contributions from the Health
Effects Research Laboratory
(HERL) and the Newtown Fish
Toxicology Station.
"The new facility is especial-
ly suitable for the assessment of
the removability and treatability
of toxic and hazardous mate-
rials in municipal or industrial
wastewaters and sludges," said
Dr. David G. Stephan, senior
Office of Research and Develop-
ment official and Director of
!ERL
In addition to toxic and haz-
ardous waste research, the fa-
cility will support projects from
all the above laboratories plus
EPA's Environmental Monitor-
ing and Support Laboratory in
Cincinnati.
Through a cooperative agree-
ment with EPA, the City of Cin-
cinnati provided the land for the
center at no cost for 20 years.
The nearby sewage treatment
plant, under an agreement with
the city and the Hamilton Coun-
ty Board of Commissioners, will
provide much of the industrial
and municipal sludges and
wastewaters needed for the re-
search efforts. In addition, other
wastes may be transported or
synthesized for those projects
requiring materials not readily
available on site, according to
Dr. Stephan.
Designed with flexible serv-
ices support and a minimum of
fxed experimental equipment,
the new facility will give all five
labs the capability of working
hand-in-hand to assess new and
existing pollution control tech-
nology and the environmental
impact of those controls, with
regard to both health and
ecological effects.
The facility gives the Office
of Research and Development a
unique capability to support the
program and Regional Offices'
efforts to establish standards
and guidelines.
Stephan emphasized that the
facility will stimulate a close
working relationship among the
labs, so that a single project
may benefit each lab in a
different way.
For example, he said, both
MERLand IERL may conduct
research on identifying^oxic
chemicals in municipal and
industrial wastewaters. The
Newtown station could then use
the effluents from those projects
to assess the environmental im-
pact of fish toxicity, and the
HERL could use the same efflu-
ents to study mutagenicity, that
is, the capacity of a chemical
to cause mutants or changes in
hereditary material.
"The facility will encourage
interlaboratory cooperation and
permit an interaction among the
labs that has never happened
before," Stephan added.
The new facility will also
make possible basic and antici-
patory research in many areas,
including the following:
• The identification of toxic
chemicals in municipal and
industrial wastewaters and air
emissions, and the evaluation
of systems for removal of these
toxics.
• The evaluation of new treat-
ment approaches for municipal
and industrial wastewaters,
sludges, and air emissions.
• Evaluation of pollution control
methods for combined sewer
discharges.
• Development of improved
process control methods for
waste and wastewater treat-
ment processes.
• Assessment of environmental
impacts, such as fish toxicity, of
effluents from various waste-
water treatment processes.
• Production of municipal or in-
dustrial effluents and renovated
water for health effects re-
search, such as mutagenicity
studies.
• The evaluation of industrial
energy conservation methods
including uses of wastes as
fuels.
• Evaluation of thermal destruc-
tion of municipal and industrial
toxic and hazardous wastes.
• The field testing of pollutant
monitoring or sampling devices.
In addition to the research
and development aspect of the
new facility, EPA staff will be
able to get valuable experience
and training on the site.
"The Test and Evaluation site
will play an important role in
EPA's research efforts, now and
in the future, in Cincinnati," de-
clared Francis T. Mayo, MERL
Director.
No date has been set to dedi-
cate the new building, but Mayo
said ceremonies will probably
take place in thefall. D
EPAJOURNAL
1 1
-------
Controlling
Toxics
By Truman Temple
Exactly 100 years ago Peter Collier, the
chief chemist at the U.S. Department
of Agriculture's Division of Chemistry,
decided to do something about the ram-
pant adulteration of foods in the United
States. A hodgepodge of State laws pro-
vided scant protection. Collier saw the
need for Federal action and drafted a bill
to provide it.
During the next 25 years more than 100
bills were introduced in Congress to cope
with the situation. A handful of measures
were approved around the turn of the cen-
tury dealing with the problem in piecemeal
fashion, but the most significant action
came in 1906 with enactment of the Food
and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act.
These were the first important Federal
laws in this country dealing with "toxic
substances," for they sought to prevent the
distribution of consumer products that
contained, for one reason or another, some
very potent poisons. Prompted in part by
illness and death among U.S. troops who
had eaten contaminated meat during the
Spanish-American War, and later by a
series of articles and books on abuses in
the meat-packing and patent medicine in-
dustries, the laws enabled the government
to proceed in Federal courts against in-
jurious food preservatives. They halted
numerous abuses in patent-medicine traffic.
They prodded food processors into seeking
better sanitation and sterilization. But the
growth of many industries in the 20th cen-
tury involving chemicals made it clear that
other legislation would be needed and the
Federal Government's regulatory role
broadened. The Federal food, drug, and
cosmetic law was rewritten in 1938 and
subsequently amended several times. In
addition, many other laws dealing with
toxic materials of one kind or another were
enacted. Ultimately, five major Federal
agencies were created to administer some
1 5 different laws on the subject of toxic
materials.
By far the most active period for legis-
lation was the decade of the 1970's. Meas-
ures enacted by Congress during this
period have been prompted by widespread
public concern over environmental damage,
by the consumer protection movement, by
lawsuits, and by advances in medicine that
stressed the need for preventive steps to
shield the public from harmful chemicals,
rather than costly clean-up activity after
the damage has been done. Part of this
philosophy reflected a shift in emphasis
within the medical profession in dealing
with cancer. Many physicians and research
professionals felt that more emphasis
should be placed on keeping carcinogens
out of man's environment rather than on the
"cancer cure" approach. Buttressing this
view was the widely-circulated Surgeon
General's report that had linked cigarette
smoking with lung cancer, heart disease,
and other ailments.
The Environmental Protection Agency
has played a prominent role in adminis-
tering many of the new laws dealing with
various aspects of toxics since EPA's
creation in 1970. The most directly in-
volved of these laws, of course, are the
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and
the Resource Conservation and Recovery
Act, both enacted in 1976. Others also
dealing with toxics are the Clean Air Act,
the Clean Water Act, the Federal Insecti-
cide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act
(FIFRA) of 1972, and the Safe Drinking
Water Act of 1974. {Control of toxics under
the Clean Air Act is described elsewhere in
this issue.)
One of the first problems that con-
fronts someone grappling with this ar-
cane subject is: What is toxic? From a
medical point of view, just about everything
is if taken in large enough quantities. As the
16th century physician, Paracelsus, has put
it, "All things are poisonous, for there is
nothing without poisonous qualities. It is
only the dose which makes a thing poison."
It is because toxics can be so broadly de-
fined, and are so pervasive in our advanced
technology, that many agencies and laws
are involved in controlling them. However,
much of the focus in identifying and con-
trolling toxic substances today is on those
that may cause chronic and irreversible
health effects like cancer, birth defects, and
gene mutations.
(Radioactive materials, though they may
be highly toxic to humans, are handled
under separate laws for a number of
reasons. For purposes of definition, ex-
cess radiation is considered a physical
insult to the body, while toxic substances
are chemical insults. Also, a person may be
harmed by radioactive material simply by
proximity to it, whereas a toxic chemical
would have to be ingested, inhaled or
touched by a person to cause harm.)
EPA's task in regulating toxics is com-
plicated by the vast numbers of chemicals
that have come into the marketplace in the
past three decades. Steven D. Jellinek,
Assistant Administrator for Toxic Sub-
stances, has pointed out that TSCA em-
powers EPA to gather basic information on
roughly 40,000 commercial chemical sub-
stances being made or processed by some
11 5,000 establishments.
Briefly, the law provides EPA with au-
thority to do these things:
• Review new substances before they are
manufactured to identify and prevent un-
reasonable risks;
• Require reporting of any significant new
uses of existing chemicals and limit or
prohibit any uses that might pose unreason-
able risks;
• Require industry to test certain chemicals
and categories of chemicals for adverse
heajth and environmental effects;
• Control the distribution and disposal of
any that pose an unreasonable risk to hu-
man health and the environment.
As required by TSCA, EPA last June
released the Nation's first comprehensive
inventory of commercial chemicals manu-
factured or imported into the United States
during the past four years. The list will be
updated periodically. An idea of the rapid-
ity with which the whole chemical field is
changing and growing is indicated by the
number of chemicals on this initial list:
43,278 compounds manufactured or im-
ported by 7,420 organizations since
January, 1975.
Continued
12
EPAJOURNAL
-------
-------
Continued
The Resource Conservation and Recov-
ery Act deals with tgxics when they are in
the form of hazardous wastes being dis-
posed of by society. The 1976 law directs
EPA to identify hazardous wastes, taking
into account such factors as toxicity, per-
sistence, degradability, potential for ac-
cumulation in tissue, flammability and cor-
rosivity. Permits are required for facilities
treating, disposing, and storing such
wastes. EPA is developing comprehensive
regulations for hazardous waste manage-
ment including guidelines for the develop-
ment of State hazardous waste management
programs. The Act also authorizes EPA and
State officials to inspect facilities, copy
records, and obtain samples to enforce
requirements.
The Clean Water Act controls discharges
of toxic pollutants into waterways and lakes
by means of effluent standards. Under the
earlier 1972 Federal Water Pollution Con-
trol Act, EPA established strict limits on
the discharge of such toxic pollutants as
toxaphene, endrin, PCB's, and benzidene.
In addition, under the Clean Water Act, any
industry that discharges its wastes into a
municipal treatment plant must pre-treat its
effluent so that it does not interfere with the
plant's operation. (A more detailed article
on this subject appears on page 1 7 in this
issue.) EPA published a list of 65 toxic
pollutants last year and may add to the list,
as authorized by the law. Each toxic pol-
lutant listed is subject to effluent limita-
tions, using best available technology for
clean-up.
Finally, the Safe Drinking Water Act of
1974 provides for the protection of drink-
ing water supplies from intrusion by toxic
wastes through national drinking water
quality standards. The Act calls for studies
of contamination by cancer-causing chem-
icals, a task in which EPA's laboratories
play a major role.
Federal regulation of toxics, however, is
not wholly the responsibility of EPA. In
addition to the Food and Drug Administra-
tion, which administers the Federal Food,
Drug and Cosmetic Act, and the Fair Pack-
aging and Labeling Act, there are several
other agencies involved in toxics.
The Department of Labor's Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
has responsibility for setting permissible
levels of exposure for toxic substances in
the workplace. It enforces these levels
through workplace inspections and pro-
vides training and education concerning
dangers posed by toxics to workers. The
major law under which OSHA functions is
the Occupational Safety and Health Act
of 1970.
The Consumer Product Safety Commis-
sion is responsible for protecting the public
from unreasonable risks of injury from con-
sumer products, some of which may be
chemical. The Commission derives its au-
thority from the Consumer Product Safety
Act of 1 972, the Federal Hazardous Sub-
stance Act and the Poison Prevention Pack-
aging Act of 1970, and some other laws
less closely related to toxic substances.
Also, the Food Safety and Quality
Service, established by the Secretary of
Agriculture in 1977, oversees the quality of
meat, poultry, eggs, and egg products to
assure that they are safe to eat and properly
labeled.
Other Federal agences also have a
hand in the way toxic substances are man-
aged (see box). The Department of Trans-
portation, for example, administers the
Continued to page 19
LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITIES AFFECTING THE LIFE CYCLE OF A CHEMICAL
(SDWA)
(RCRA)
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS
(OSHA, FIFRA)
nan
nn
nn
annn
CONSUMER PRODUCTS
(CPSA,
FFDCA,
FFA,
FHSA,
FIFRA,
PPPA)
TSCA
TSCA
• KEY*
CAA = CLEAN AIR ACT HMTA
CPSA = CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY ACT OSHA
FFDCA = FED. FOOD, DRUG. & COSMETIC ACT PPPA
FFA = FLAMMABLE FABRICS ACT RCRA
FHSA - FED. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES ACT SDWA
FIFRA • FED. INSECTICIDE, FUNGICIDE, & RODEIMTICIDE ACT TSCA
FWPCA = FED. WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ACT
= HAZARDOUS MATERIALS TRANSPORTATION ACT
= OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY & HEALTH ACT
= POISON PREVENTION PACKAGING ACT
= RESOURCE CONSERVATION & RECOVERY ACT
= SAFE DRINKING WATER ACT
= TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL ACT
14
EPAJOURNAL
-------
TV Documentary on
Toxics Available for
Public Television
The Southern Education Communica-
tions Association, under a grant from
EPA's Office of Public Awareness,
has produced a one-hour television
documentary on toxic substances
titled "Serpent Fruits."
SECA is a public education net-
work of 100 stations in 1 6 southern
States. The film was linked to the
Public Broadcast System satellite in
June and thereby made available to
all public television stations in the
country for either simultaneous
broadcasting or taping for later use.
"Serpent Fruits" documents the
case histories of three individuals
whose lives have been dramatically
affected by chemicals. The first is a
woman who was stricken with cervi-
cal cancer and had to have a hysterec-
tomy at the age of 21 because her
mother had used a drug called DES to
prevent miscarriage during pregnancy.
The second describes the case of a
young woman who suffered miscar-
riages, each within two months of the
spraying of the herbicide 2,4,5-T near
her residence in the Oregon forests.
Over the years she had four miscar-
riages. After use of this herbicide
was suspended in that State she gave
birth to a normal son.
The third history concerns a former
employee in a plant that manufac-
tured polybrominated biphenyls
(PBB's) and who did not use a mask,
coveralls, or other protective meas-
ures. Two years ago he had to leave
work because he was too weak to
stand up. In describing his failing
hea Ith, he wry !y remarks that his body
contained so much PBB that if he
were a cow, he would be shot by the
State of Michigan.
The film also features discussions
by scientists and industry representa-
tives of the validity of applying
anima! test results to humans and the
difficulty of balancing risks against
benefits in society's attempts to regu-
late toxic substances.
The film was produced by the prize-
winning firm of Richter McBride Pro-
ductions, Inc. of New York. Writer-
producer was Robert McBride.
The television documentary was
accompanied by the distribution in
supermarket racks in June of a League
of Women Voters' pamphlet entitled
"A Toxic Substances Primer." A one-
half hour version of the documentary
is being made available as a 16 mm.
film to schools and community organ-
izations through Modern Talking
Picture Service, Inc., 2323 New Hyde
Park Road, New Hyde Park, N.Y.
11040.D
Federal Laws
Dealing with
Toxic Substances
Statute
Toxic Substances Control Act
Clean Air Act
Federal Water Pollution Control Act
Safe Drinking Water Act
Federal Insecticide. Fungicide, and
Rodenticide Act
Act of July 22, 1954
(codified as § 346(a) of the Food,
Drug and Cosmetic Act)
Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act
Marine Protection, Research and
Sanctuaries Act
Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act
Food additives amendment
Color additive amendments
New drug amendments
Ne w animal drug amendments
Medical device amendments
Wholesome Meat Act
Wholesome Poultry Products Act
Occupational Safety and Health Act
Federal Hazardous Substances Act
Consumer Product Safety Act
Poison Prevention Packaging Act
Lead Based Paint Poison Prevention
Act
Hazardous Materials Transportation
Act
Federal Railroad Safety Act
Ports and Waterways Safety Act
Dangerous Cargo Act
Responsible
agency
EPA
EPA
EPA
EPA
EPA
EPA
EPA
EPA
FDA
FDA
FDA
FDA
FDA
FDA
USDA
USDA
OSHA
CPSC
CPSC
CPSC
CPSC
DOT (Materials
Transportation
Bureau)
DOT (Federal
Railroad
Administration)
DOT (Coast
Guard)
Sources
covered
Requires premanufacture evaluation
of all new chemicals (other than
food, food additives, drugs, pesti-
cides, alcohol, tobacco); allows EPA
to regulate existing chemical haz-
ards not sufficiently controlled under
other laws.
Hazardous air pollutants
Toxic water pollutants
Drinking water contaminants
Pesticides
Tolerances for pesticide residues in
human food and animal feeds.
Hazardous wastes
Ocean dumping
Basic coverage of food, drugs, and
cosmetics
Food additives
Color additives
Drugs
Animal drugs and feed additives
Medical devices
Food, feed, and color additives and
pesticide residues in meat and
poultry
Workplace toxic chemicals
"Toxic" household products
(equivalent to consumer products)
Dangerous consumer products
Packaging of dangerous children's
products
Use of lead paint in federally
assisted housing
Transportation of toxic substances
generally
Railroad safety
Shipment of toxic materials by
water
JULY/AUGUST 1979
-------
& * v if
& « e.as a
r i f
.
-------
By John Heritage
Industrial Pretreatment
The EPA has launched a major effort
to curb the flow of toxic industrial
wastes which have sometimes destroyed
the effectiveness of municipal plants
treating sewage.
The Agency has announced a program
requiring the cleanup or "pretreatment" of
toxic chemicals discharged into the munic-
ipal plants from industries.
Treating the wastes before they leave
industry is already proving itself in the
Grand Rapids, Mich., area. Pretreatment
requirements have cut the amount of metals
entering the Grand River from the city
waste treatment plant by 92 percent. Cya-
nide levels in the river have dropped from
1 20 to 4 parts per billion, while dissolved
chromium levels have dropped from 340 to
1 5 parts per billion.
Before industry controls were adopted in
Grand Rapids, toxics frequently destroyed
bacteria vital in municipal waste cleanup.
Fish kills resulted. The industry wastes
sometimes interfered with sludge process-
ing. Toxic wastes were found in periodic
overflows of the city's sewer system.
Now, the Grand River is a recreational
resource, with trout and salmon. Pretreat-
ment is one of the major contributing fac-
tors, local officials say.
Many toxic industrial wastes are being
discharged into the Nation's municipal
sewage treatment systems routinely, day in
and day out. Here are some examples:
• Cyanide. It istoxic to all animal life,
inhibiting the metabolism of oxygen.
• Hexavalent chromium. It is corrosive, and
an irritant. Chronic effects occur in aquatic
life as low as .01 to .20 milligrams per
liter.
• Cadmium. It accumulates in fish, and in
humans in the kidneys. It is believed to be
a factor in such conditions as kidney dis-
ease, hypertension, and cancer.
• Lead. It accumulates throughout the food
chain, and causes brain damage in humans.
"Toxic industrial chemicals in sewer
systems can cause a number of potentially
serious health and environmental prob-
JULY/AUGUST 1979
lems," says Barbara Blum, EPA Deputy
Administrator. "Some can disrupt the oper-
ation of treatment plants on which taxpay-
ers are spending billions of dollars. Others
can pass through a municipal plant without
receiving adequate treatment. Once in our
waterways, many of those pollutants are
toxic to aquatic life, are longlasting, can
concentrate in the food chain, and are
known or suspected cancer-causing
agents."
"Toxic pollutants can also contaminate
the sludge (semi-solid residue) that results
from treating municipal wastewater," Blum
said. The need to reuse sludge, Blum
warned, is increasing, with mounting
volumes of the material.
About one third of the industry waste
discharged to municipal treatment plants
contains toxic materials, the Agency esti-
mates. Waste waters from the electroplat-
ing process alone contain more than 113
million pounds of heavy metals a year.
More than 6,500 electroplating plants in the
U.S. discharge to city waste treatment
facilities.
In the New York City harbor area, elec-
troplating contributes 62 percent of the
nickel, 43 percent of the chromium, 1 2 per-
cent of the copper, and 33 percent of the
cadmium discharged to several sewage
treatment plants.
Under EPA's corrective action, about
30,000 industrial plants will have to clean
up the toxic wastes they now discharge into
city sewer systems.
The recent EPA step sets the ground
rules for the cleanup. It prescribes the ways
in which actual pretreatment standards
will be enforced. The standards will cover
34 major industrial types, from leather
tanning to steam electric power plants, to
control discharges of 1 29 toxic industrial
pollutants.
The national toxics pretreatment stand-
ards are now being developed by EPA.
These standards contain numerical limits
on the quantities of specific pollutants
which can be discharged by a plant in an
industry category.
The Agency is expected to be proposing
the standards on an industry-by-industry
basis between now and 1981.Amongthe
,
-------
first industries planned to be covered are
textiles, and petroleum refining.
EPA already has interim pretreatment
standards for seven industries discharging
some of the most serious pollutants. Those
covered include timber products and
inorganic chemicals.
In the past it was widely assumed in the
water cleanup field that connecting a pipe
from the industry to the municipal waste
treatment plant would solve all the cleanup
problems. For biodegradable wastes it
usually worked. But for metals and com- •
pounds that do not easily break down, it
has not. Tiny concentrations of high-
powered substances are escaping treatment
and posing an often invisible threat to
health and the environment.
To meet the toxics cleanup standards,
manufacturing processes could be changed
to recycle wastes or use nonpolluting ma-
terials. Or economical ways might be found
to treat the waste when it is at a high con-
centration in the industrial plant.
For example, nickel and chrome are
sometimes recovered and reused in electro-
plating. Many wood preserving plants don't
discharge. Methods to handle their hard-to-
treat wastes include collection and recy-
cling of the leftovers. Also, uses may be
found by other firms for an industry's
pretreated wastes.
EPA is attempting to ease industries' pre-
treatment job by demonstrating new tech-
nology. The Agency and the National Asso-
ciation of Metal Finishers are testing a
treatment system designed to destroy
cyanide and remove metals from waste-
water without producing a sludge. The first
firm results of the test are expected to be
available soon. EPA's Industrial Environ-
mental Research Laboratory in Cincinnati is
doing the test.
If the demonstration works, the cleanup
system should be commercially available to
any electroplating shop, said George S.
Thompson, Jr., chief of the lab's Metals
and Inorganic Chemicals Branch. The aim,
Thompson continued, is a waste treatment
system that is economical, small, compact,
and easy to operate.
Successful pretreatment would bring a
big payoff. Fewer toxics in the municipal
plants would increase the potential for the
reclamation of wastewater and the reuse of
municipal sludge. A reduced load of toxics
and other pollutants incompatible with
secondary waste treatment would improve
the chances of smoothly operating city
plants. A serious health threat would be
eased, and protection strengthened for
aquatic life.
The pretreatment program will also bring
a price. It will increase EPA's industrial dis-
charge permit program by about 50 percent
with no additional resources. Technical
tasks will increase; costs will rise; staffing
needs will expand.
Under the program, local authorities will
enforce the toxics standards. Approximate-
Toxics Action
On another front, EPA is setting limits
on the toxics being discharged
directly to waterways. The limits will
apply to about 20,000 industries and
municipalities that discharge toxics
in their wastes.
The toxics rules will be made part
of the permits that regulate waste
discharges to waterways. The permits
are being re-issued because the exist-
ing ones are expiring. The permits are
part of the National Pollutant Dis-
charge Elimination System adminis-
tered by EPA and the States.
When most waste discharge per-
mits were issued five years ago, water
cleanup was focused on traditional
kinds of pollution such as solids sus-
pended in the water and excess
acidity.
Now EPA, Congress, and the public
are also concerned about the general-
ly more dangerous toxics, including
Kepone, arsenic, vinyl chloride, and
PCB's. As a result, toxics control is a
top priority in this second round of
waste discharge permits. D
ly 600 publicly-owned treatment works will
be required to develop pretreatment en-
forcement programs, including provisions
specifically aimed at protecting the quality
of sludge. The programs are required for all
municipal plants designed to handle more
than 5 million gallons of wastewater per
day.
EPA is now setting deadlines for the
establishment of the local programs. Time
limits are being set as a condition of permit
renewals for municipal waste treatment
systems. Such programs are typically being
required within two and one-half years. The
Agency is also reviewing pretreatment pro-
grams being submitted by the States.
EPA reviews are expected soon for the
existing pretreatment efforts of some mu-
nicipal waste treatment systems that got a
head start on toxics cleanup. EPA prepara-
tions for compliance investigations are also
expected, anticipating the pretreatment
standards that should be enforceable by
next year. (EPA will enforce the standards
until State and local programs are
approved.)
Providing backing for EPA's pretreat-
ment action and overall toxics strategy are
the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Re-
source Conservation and Recovery Act, and
the Toxic Substances Control Act. A court-
sanctioned agreement between EPA and
environmental groups brought the actual
toxics standard-setting effort.
Other EPA toxics strategies for water
quality include control of nonpoint sources
such as street runoff, and use of "best man-
agement practices" in plants to reduce pol-
lution. Such practices might include in-
stalling alarms to warn workers before
tanks spill over or sweeping floors to keep
waste dry and out of city treatment systems.
Emphasizing EPA's effort to act before the
fact, with such measures as pretreatment.
Administrator Douglas Costle said, "How
much more health-effective and cost-effec-
tive it would be if more emphasis were
placed on prevention—on keeping harmful
materials out of the air, water, and soil—
and out of our people." D
John Heritage is an A ssistant Editor of EPA
Journal.
18
EPA JOURNAL
-------
President
Seeks
New Fund
In response to the environ-
mental problem of hazardous
waste dump sites and oil spills.
President Carter has proposed
legislation to establish a multi-
million-dollar fund to help
clean them up.
At the same time the Presi-
dent asked for a supplemental
appropriation for Fiscal Year
1980 that would include $45
million^and add 70 jobs for EPA
to investigate and enforce
correction of hazardous waste
problems. The Department of
Justice also would receive $1.2
million and 30 positions'to
help it conduct investigations
and to initiate court actions
against illegal dumping or
spilffng of wastes.
EPA Administrator Douglas
M. Costle, in a White House
press briefing, said the bill ad-
dresses a legacy of neglect in
which many thousands of tons
of hazardous chemical wastes
have been improperly disposed
of.
"These sites, with their con-
tents of long-lasting chemicals.
now represent time capsules
releasing, over time, their toxic
contents into our surface waters,
our groundwaters, and seriously
degrading our landscapes, and
that most essential element of
our life support system—our
water supply," he declared.
"These past abuses represent
threats against which our people
expect action. This bill is de-
signed to provide that action."
The proposed legislation au-
thorizes $1.625 billion in fees
and appropriations over a four-
year period. This would include
$250 million the first year, $375
million the second year, and
$500 million in the third and
fourth.
A system of fees on oil re-
finers and chemical manufac-
turers would provide an esti-
mated 80 percent of the fund.
with the remainder coming
from Federal appropriations.
The proposed measure would
require government notification
of spills and the presence of
abandoned hazardous waste
sites. It also would provide
emergency authority for the
government to clean up and
mitigate spills and contain the
waste at disposal sites. The
legislation would permit the
government to recover costs of
cleanup from liable parties, and
provide compensation to vic-
tims of oil spills, such as fisher-
men, for property damage or
loss of income from damage to
marine life.
The key financing system for
the proposal would limit the
fees that companies would pay
to three cents a barrel for oil and
petroleum companies and up to
one-half cent per pound on the
raw materials used to make
petrochemicals spilled and
found at hazardous waste sites.
Up to $1 per pound would be
imposed on frequently spilled
non-petroleum-based hazardous
substances that also are found
at hazardous waste sites.
The Administrator, noting
that the legislation still has to
go through the usual Congres-
sional process, said that both
EPA and the Justice Department
were stepping up enforcement
activities in the meantime re-
garding hazardous disposal
sites, under existing !aw, and
this is why the supplemental
funds in the current fiscal year
were requested.
"Both industry and consum-
ers have financially benefited
from cheap and unsafe disposal
practices in the past," Costle
declared, "and therefore both
should share in paying for the
remedies we must now pursue.
However, the legislation con-
tains a number of safeguards
which ensure that the burden of
the fees will not be unreason-
able. Within four years, more-
over, the legislation will be
carefully analyzed to see if the
funding provisions are ade-
quate." At that time a report to
Congress, based on the analysis,
will include a recommendation
on the need for reauthorization.
Costle said a rash of recent
incidents resulting from im-
proper disposal of hazardous
wastes had made it clear that
action is needed to protect
public health and the environ-
ment. Citing the Love Canal
chemical waste disaster in
Niagara Falls, N.Y., where more
than 200 families had to be
evacuated, he emphasized that
present authority and resources
are a "confusing patchwork"
that limit the government's
ability to guard the public
against waste site hazards. D
Controlling Toxics
Continued from page 15
Hazardous Materials Transportation Act.
Last year DOT held hearings jointly with
EPA in a move to integrate some provisions
of the Act with the Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act.
The many laws and regulatory agencies
governing toxics have raised concern both
in industry and government over the com-
plexities of administration. In response to
this problem, a cooperative agreement two
years ago created the Interagency Regula-
tory Liaison Group (IRLGK which now pools
the knowledge and resources of five Fed-
eral agencies working to control hazardous
exposure to toxics throughout our society.
The group consists of EPA, OSHA, FDA,
the Consumer Product Safety Commission,
and the Food Safety and Quality Service.
The formation of this coordinating unit was
in direct response to a promise by President
Carter to eliminate costly waste and dupli-
cation in government.
Through the IRLG, the five agencies are
developing compatible testing guidelines
and a common approach to the problem of
assessing cancer risks posed by toxic sub-
stances. When possible, they are coordinat-
ing their research as well as their efforts to
keep the public informed about hazards to
health and safety.
An example was a report, "Hazardous
Substances," issued late last year describ-
ing actions four of the agencies are taking
to protect workers and the public from ill-
ness caused by unsafe manufacture and
handling of 24 chemical compounds.
"Our cooperative efforts," explained Dr.
Eula Bingham, Assistant Secretary of Labor
for OSHA, "mean that the government's
left hand now knows what the right is doing
about these compounds. Instead of dupli-
cating one another's work or perhaps even
laboring at cross purposes, we'll be sharing
information and research, issuing comple-
mentary standards, and conducting joint
economic studies to control the dangers
from radiation, heavy metals, and
pesticides."
Another example of interagency coordi-
nation was joint action by EPA, OSHA, and
FDA in 1977 to protect farmers, workers.
and the general public from possible
dangers of the pesticide dibromochloro-
propane (DBCP). The agencies set emer-
gency temporary standards to limit worker
exposure, proposed suspension of crop
applications and other uses, and monitored
food to make sure the public was not con-
suming unsafe amounts of the substance.
The IRLG carries out its coordination at
the Headquarters level in several ways. The
heads of the agencies and other senior
agency officials meet frequently, and a
special senior staff group oversees coordi-
nation efforts. Interagency work groups and
task forces deal with specific issues and
projects.
As Administrator Douglas Costle com-
mented on the IRLG's operations, "The
result has been an effective task force
which will develop testing standards and
guidelines, conduct epidemiological stud-
ies and risk assessment, and share informa-
tion. Our goal is to act as one entity in
addressing important life-threatening
issues." D
Truman Temple is A ssociate Editor of EPA
Journal.
JULY/AUGUST 1979
19
-------
CONTROLLIM
SCHOI
-
Crumbling ceiling materials could be releasing asbestos particles into the air.
II
CAUTION
ASBESTOS
DUST HAZARD
AVOID BREATHING DUST.
WEAR ASSIGNED PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT.
DO NOT REMAIN IN AREA UNLESS TOUR
WORK REQUIRES It
BREATHING ASBESTOS DUST MAY BE
HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH.
Sign warns of the dangers posed by
asbestos.
Federal and State governments are mov-
ing on several fronts to protect school
children and teachers across the Nation
from potential exposure to asbestos in
school buildings.
Spurred by medical findings in recent
years, the Environmental Protection
Agency has initiated a program to help
educators check their schools for asbestos-
containing materials and correct any haz-
ardous conditions which are found.
At the same time a number of members
of Congress have introduced legislation for
school inspections. A bill reported out of
the House Committee on Education and
Labor would provide funds for detecting
potential hazards and also loans to assist in
removal of asbestos materials from school
buildings. The Committee last May voted
to establish a three-year, $330 million pro-
gram to assist schools in the problem. The
total includes S30 million as grants to
school boards to detect asbestos-contain-
ing materials in buildings, and $300 million
for loans to seal, enclose, or remove the
materials.
The measures come at a time of increas-
ing awareness of the health problems asso-
ciated with asbestos. A National Cancer
Institute survey recently estimated that 1 8
percent of future cancer cases may be at-
tributed to exposure to asbestos. Although
the exposure levels found in schools are
lower than the past industrial exposures
primarily responsible for these grave sta-
tistics, there is ample evidence that even
these low exposures can induce diseases.
Medical research has uncovered a whole
series of illnesses associated with this ma-
terial among workers heavily exposed to
asbestos before the government began to
regulate it in the workplace in the late
1960's. According to Congressional testi-
mony last January by Dr. David Rail, Direc-
tor of the National Institutes of Environ-
mental Health Sciences, a non-smoking
worker regularly exposed to asbestos in
the pre-regulation period is five times more
likely to contract lung cancer than a non-
smoker who had not been exposed.
Smokers exposed to the material are 50 to
90 times more likely to incur the disease.
An estimated 20 to 25 percent of workers
exposed to asbestos before the government
regulation die of lung cancer, he said.
Dr. Rail also cited the hazards of other
asbestos-related diseases, such as asbesto-
sis, a lung illness; mesothelioma, a cancer
of the lining of the chest and abdominal
cavities; and gastro-intestinal cancer
among workers exposed to the material in
that period. Dr. Rail pointed out that the
degree of risk to pupils in schools around
the country is not now known. But research
has shown that even families of asbestos
workers show development of cancer at
higher rates than would be expected for
unexposed populations.
The fire-resistant qualities of asbestos
have been known for many centuries. The
ancient Romans, for example, used it in
lampwicks and cremation cloths. But its
modern industrial use in the United States
20
EPAJOURNAL
-------
J
ASBESTOS
3LS
dates from about 1 880, and production of
the product has been gradually increasing
since then.
Because of its ability to endure extreme-
ly high temperatures, asbestos in recent
times has been employed in a broad range
of materials including safety clothing, in-
sulation for wires and cables, rocket nose
cones, and most significantly in public
buildings. The amount of asbestos fibers
being utilized by the mid-1970's repre-
sented about seven pounds a year for every
person in America.
This material has been used in many
types of construction. Between the end of
World War II and 1972, asbestos-contain-
ing materials were sprayed on walls, ceil-
ings, structural components and pipes in
many public schools across the land. The
materials were used for insulation and fire-
proofing, and in some cases decoration.
EPA banned the continued use of sprayed
asbestos-containing materials in 1 973, ex-
cept for the decorative use, which was not
banned until 1978.
Dueto the increased concern about low
level exposure to asbestos and the realiza-
tion that several hundred thousand tons of
sprayed materials are now present in build-
ings, a number of investigations of asbestos
in schools have been undertaken. A study
of asbestos exposure in New Jersey
schools, where the material was used in
construction, found the substance in about
11 percent of the schools. In addition,
asbestos air levels were higher where
ceilings or other structures were damaged
or deteriorated. Other studies have shown
similar results in non-school buildings.
EPA's Office of Toxic Substances, in
conjunction with the Department of Health,
Education and Welfare and the Occupa-
tional Safety and Health Administration,
announced the start of a program to help
correct this problem on March 1 6, 1979.
EPA's program makes available to all State
and local officials, particularly school
districts, information on identifying
asbestos-containing materials, determining
whether hazardous conditions exist, and
taking corrective action where required.
This information is contained in Guidance
Packages mailed to schoo! officials through-
out the Nation.
"Identification and sampling of asbestos
materials is very simple and can be accom-
plished in a short period of time by anyone
following this step-by-step process," Ad-
ministrator Douglas M. Costle explained.
"It is important that all asbestos-con-
taining materials are identified by the
schools, exposure possibilities assessed,
and corrective action taken, to safeguard
children's health. We estimate that perhaps
as many as 10,000 of the Nation's 90,000
public schools contain asbestos materials.
But all of the schools have to be checked."
EPA is also providing extensive techni-
cal assistance to help schools identify and
correct exposure problems. Regional As-
bestos Coordinators and technical field
advisors in each EPA Region have been
trained and are prepared to assist school
officials on all aspects of asbestos identifi-
cation and correction.
Every EPA Regional Office has available
for loan a videotape highlighting the steps
needed to identify, evaluate, and correct an
asbestos exposure hazard. Regional Offices
also a re conduct ing training sessions for
interested State officials. In addition, EPA
provides assistance on the proper methods
for analyzing asbestos bulk samples and
the availability of laboratories to conduct
such analyses.
Finally, EPA's program includes a survey
form to be filled out by school officials. The
results of the survey will help the Agency
better understand the extent of exposure to
asbestos in schools, and the ability of State
and local officials to correct any problems
encountered.
From the beginning the Office of Toxic
Substances has encouraged the participa-
tion of the public, other Federal agencies.
industry, and environmental groups to
prepare the guidance manual and shape
the program.
EPA's program relies on State and local
response to the guidance it has provided.
States are participating by inspecting
schools and assisting their school districts
with needed corrective activities.
EPA will use the results of the survey
and any other data available to determine
whether regulations are necessary under
the Toxic Substances Control Act. The
Environmental Defense Fund filed suit on
May 1 9, 1 979, to require EPA to regulate,
following EPA's denial of an earlier petition
by EOF on this problem.
The legislation currently before Con-
gress would extend the Federal effort in two
ways. First, States would be required, if
they wish to participate in the loan pro-
gram, to submit formal plans to a Federal
Task Force on how they would conduct in-
spections and take remedial action. Sec-
ond, the legislation would provide grants
for asbestos detection and loans for hazard
elimination.
At hearings on the proposed legislation
Rep. Andrew Maguire of New Jersey de-
clared that "deteriorating asbestos ceilings
in thousands of our Nation's schools pose
a serious, long-term threat of creating
additional incidence of cancer among our
vast, exposed student population."
Pointing out that New Jersey has the
Nation's highest cancer rate, Rep. Maguire
described how he had worked with Dr. Rail
and Dr. Irving Selikoff, a nationally recog-
nized authority on the health effects of
asbestos, in seeking a solution two years
ago to asbestos in his State's schools. A
study found that safe, effective methods
were now available for abating these haz-
ards at reasonable cost, he noted.
"A recent National Cancer Institute sur-
vey estimated that at least 18 percent of
future cancer cases will be due to expo-
sures to asbestos," Rep. Maguire said. "I
do not believe that children in school, seven
hours a day, five days a week, should be-
come part of this grim statistic. Clearly
something must be done." D
JULY/AUGUST 1979
21
-------
Protecting
Field
Workers
Thousands of migrant and seasonal
farm laborers are now working in
fields sprayed with pesticides.
Some of the crops are strawberries, ap-
ples, cherries, peaches, lettuce, tomatoes,
artichokes, grapefruit, (emons, and oranges,
picked mostly by hand. Exactly when the
fields, orchards, and groves are sprayed
depends on the season and the pest
problem.
EPA is acting to protect these and other
farmworkers from accidental pesticide
poisonings. The Agency's efforts include
safety training and restrictions on the
use of potentially hazardous pesticides.
22
EPAJOURNAL
-------
In the most recent step, EPA joined with
the Department of Health, Education, and
Welfare (HEW) in a training program to
improve the skills of health personnel in
recognizing and treating pesticide poison-
ings among migrant and seasonal farm-
workers.
The EPA-HEW agreement calls for a one-
year program "to detect, confirm, manage,
prevent, and report on pesticide-related
health problems of farmworkers."
"The medical training involved in this
program should lead to better, faster treat-
ment for pesticide illnesses sometimes suf-
fered by the people who labor to bring
food to our tables," said EPA Deputy
Administrator Barbara Blum.
Under the agreement, EPA supports a
toll-free phone number for physicians and
nurses to get specialized advice in diagnos-
ing and treating suspected pesticide-
caused illnesses.
EPA also will have blood and urine sam-
ples analyzed for pesticide residues from
field workers believed to have poisoning
problems. (These services will be provided
by universities and State health depart-
ments working under cooperative agree-
ments with EPA's Epidemiologic Studies
Program.)
The Agency has held a series of training
sessions for doctors, nurses, and other
medical personnel working in rural clinics
funded by the HEW Health Services Ad-
ministration. To date, eight sessions have
been held, reaching 1 58 health profession-
als who serve migrant and seasonal farm-
workers.
EPA will also provide educational ma-
terials, including a manual on pesticide
poisonings and a slide/tape series to train
health professionals in the diagnosis and
treatment of pesticide illnesses.
To increase understanding about pesti-
cide poisonings, the agreement commits
EPA to investigate up to 500 suspect inci-
dents from reports from the health clinics.
EPA's responsibility includes laboratory
services support.
In another action, EPA's Office of Public
Awareness has prepared a slide show for
migrant farmworkers. The show teaches
workers how to protect themselves from
pesticide dangers and what to do in case of
pesticide poisoning. The program features
Efren Herrera, placekicker for the Seattle
Seahawks and radio sports broadcaster.
The urgency of the pesticide poison
problem is "underscored by the fact that
more than a third of all hospital-admitted
pesticide poisonings in America today are
occupationally related," says Steven
Jellinek, EPA Assistant Administrator for
Toxic Substances.
"We suspect that many more poisonings
go unreported—especially by farmers and
farmworkers, who fora variety of social and
economic reasons are among the least
likely to seek hospital or emergency room
treatment following a pesticide poisoning,"
Jellinek said. "And when they do, we fur-
ther suspect that a number of pesticide
poisonings may go undetected or unre-
ported because the illness is attributed to
some other cause."
Adding to the uncertainty is the fact that
except in California, there is no mandatory
requirement for pesticide poisonings to be
reported to State health departments or
other agencies. In California, physicians
are paid for reporting such accidents.
Migrant workers pause while picking beans.
Opposite: During grape harvest a woman
worker carries her share of the fruit from
the fields in Delano, Calif.
"We feel it's our responsibility to see
that information is more effectively col-
lected and the problem evaluated," says
Jellinek. A key part of the answer, Jellinek
believes, is to go where the workers are, in
clinics and in meetings, with such projects
as the EPA medical training project and
worker slide show.
"In part in response to the concern that
many individuals and organizations—in-
cluding the Migrant Legal Action Program
and the National Association of Farm-
worker Organizations—have expressed in
this area, EPA is supporting a number of
special investigations aimed at increasing
our ability to effectively deal with pesticide
hazards to migrant and other farmwork-
ers," Jellinek says.
EPA-supported projects that can help
deal with migrant worker pesticide dangers
include:
• The Pesticide Incident Monitoring Sys-
tem ( PIM 's). The system collects and re-
ports pesticide incidents from worker
poisonings to fish kills. About 28,000 inci-
dents have been tallied over 1 2 years.
As part of the monitoring program EPA
scientists answer inquiries, including those
from concerned citizens. It was such a
letter that was instrumental in EPA's
suspension of most uses of the herbicides
2,4,5-Tand Silvex.
• A national study of farmworkers exposed
to pesticides. With EPA sponsorship, Colo-
rado State University is designing the scien-
tific protocol for this project. A pilot study
is expected to be the next step.
• A sampling of 7,000 hospitals to find
occupationally-related poisonings. About
1 2 percent of 3,000 cases thus far are
farmworkers.
• A system to report pesticide poisonings
treated in hospital emergency rooms, spon-
sored by EPA with the Consumer Product
Safety Commission's National Electronic
Injury Surveillance System.
• A study in the field of migrant worker
pesticide exposure. Two scientist brothers
—Clarence and Emil Owens—have made
an on-the-spot study of southeastern U.S.
migrant workers exposed to pesticides. The
aim was to count and classify adverse
health effects, including poisonings. EPA
cosponsored the investigation with the
National Academy of Sciences. Results are
now being analyzed.
• The Epidemiologic Studies Program,
analyzing the causes and effects of pesti-
cide-related disease in 12 areas of the
country, sponsored by EPA's Health Effects
Branch in the Office of Pesticide Programs.
"No one wants to see people made sick
by pesticides," Jellinek says. "In the
future, EPA is going to do even more to try
and prevent this from happening." For
example, he explains, the Agency is con-
ducting a "major review" of its pesticide
use enforcement standards, which were
set back in 1973. "As the problems of
pesticide exposure are better understood,
I think EPA and others will be in a much
stronger position to prevent needless
human suffering," Jellinek says. Q
JULY/AUGUST 1979
-------
Shrinking
Forests
Threaten
Us All
By Erik Eckholm
In the South American jungle, a settler
burns a clearing and plants his first crop.
In the Himalayan hills, a woman hacks
away at living trees to get firewood for
cooking dinner. In Central Africa, loggers
clear a patch of valuable trees and are fol-
lowed by land-hungry farmers.
Stick by stick, tree by tree, the world's
forest wealth is dissipating. Now covering
about one-fifth of the Earth's land surface,
forests are shrinking by an area the size of
Cuba each year—that is, by more than 50
acres for every minute of every day. The
main causes of deforestation are the spread
of agriculture, the gathering of firewood,
and irresponsible logging.
Although the forest losses are concen-
trated in Africa, Asia, and Latin America,
people everywhere will be affected. Thou-
sands of unique, irreplaceable plant and
animal species will vanish along with the
lush forests of the humid tropics. Mean-
while, the real prices of forest products—
and hence of new housing, furniture, paper,
and countless other wood-based goods—
are already rising worldwide, boosting in-
flation rates.
The most severe effects, of course, will
be felt by those who live in, around, and
downstream from the denuded lands.
Efforts to meet the basic social needs of
the billion people living in extreme poverty
are being undercut by deforestation.
As Indian forester R. Chakravarti writes:
"It is often said that the three basic needs
are food, clothing, and shelter. But one
cannot think of food and shefter without
wood." One-third of humanity relies en-
tirely on firewood for cooking fuel. As for-
ests recede, wood becomes more expensive
and harder to locate; families in parts of
West Africa have been reduced to one
rather than two hot meals a day. In some
regions of India, families must devote two
days' labor a week to the search for fire-
wood.
Forests also affect food prospects
through their ecological roles. As the Hima-
layan hills are stripped bare, the incidence
of disastrous floods downstream in India is
rising because monsoon rains rush furi-
ously off deforested slopes. Soil washed off
denuded hills is rapidly filling in valuable
reservoirs as well. Along the edges of the
African Sahara, tree cutting has contributed
to the transformation of pastures and fields
into desert.
As firewood becomes scarce, people be-
gin using cow dung for fuel rather than for
fertilizer, depriving croplands of sorely
needed nutrients. Thus can shrinking for-
ests be translated into shrinking food
supplies.
In long denuded and more arid regions,
the hardships imposed by a dearth of trees
have long been fe!t. Now the combination
of destructive logging practices and the ill-
planned spread of cultivation is even pull-
ing many seemingly timber-rich countries
of the humid tropics toward forest-related
economic and ecological crises. In late
1977, while pressing for the adoption of a
new forestry policy, the Deputy Premier of
Peninsular Malaysia shocked his com-
patriots by projecting that the region's
once-lush forests would be severely de-
pleted in just 12 years. He predicted that
by 1990 the rate of timber production
would not be adequate to meet domestic,
let alone foreign, demand. Stringent new
logging controls are being imposed in
Thailand following the National Forestry
Department's estimate that the country's
forests are shrinking by 250,000 hectares a
year, and that they will be virtually gone in
25 years if present logging and farming
practices continue. (Thailand has a special
problem with poachers of valuable tropical
hardwoods; each year 30 to 40 forest
guards are killed in gun battles.)
Efforts to meet both rural and urban
housing needs are undermined by timber
scarcity. Even in the U.S., with its com-
parative forest wealth, soaring timber
prices are helping to drive house prices
beyond the reach of the middle class. But
in Pakistani cities, a simple board costs
twice as much as in the United States,
though the income of the average American
is 46 times that of the average Pakistani.
Development planners' ignorance about
the importance of forests has been reflected
in the paucity of programs to replant de-
nuded landscapes. Quite recently, how-
ever, interest in forestry has surged among
national leaders and development agen-
cies. For example, the World Bank plans to
multiply its support for such activities as
village woodlots and environmental re-
habilitation, while the U.S. Congress has
directed the Agency for International De-
velopment to give new attention to forestry.
The major need, many thoughtful forest-
ers are beginning to see, is for the mobiliza-
tion of rural people to plant trees to meet
their own elementary needs and to protect
the lands off which they live. Reforestation
carried out by deprived people themselves
can augment global forest resources as it
directly benefits those in greatest need.
The difficulties are legion, but experience
has proved that community-based forestry
can succeed. China's widely admired for-
estry accomplishments have been matched
in the Seventies in South Korea, where ex-
tensive planting by village associations has
solved an acute firewood problem. One
Indian state, Gujarat, is now defying the
common wisdom about India's develop-
ment constraints by implementing a suc-
cessful village woodlot program.
By any account, a stupendous number of
trees must be planted over the next two
decades if massive economic and environ-
mental disruptions are to be avoided. John
Spears of the World Bank calculates that at
least 50 million acres of plantations must
Be established by the century's end in
Africa, Asia, and Latin America just to meet
projected firewood needs. Yet, at current
rates, only five million acres, one-tenth of
the requirement, will be planted by then.
Even as tree planting programs are
pushed, the deeper roots of deforestation
must be eradicated. Uncontrolled defor-
estation is usually a symptom of a society's
inability to get a grip on other fundamental
development problems: agricultural stag-
nation, grossly unequal land tenure, rising
unemployment, rapid population growth,
and the incapacity to regulate private enter-
prise to protect the public interest. Clearly,
the forest problem cannot be solved by
foresters alone.
Woodland depletion by firewood gather-
ers can be greatly mitigated by tree plant-
ing, but broader attention to rural energy
needs, appropriate alternative energy
sources, and national energy priorities is
also necessary if more hospitable rural envi-
ronments are to be rebuilt. The conserva-
tion of forest products—by the poor
through the adoption of efficient wood
stoves, by the rich through increases in
paper recycling and reductions in wasteful
wood uses—is another part of a long-term
solution to the forest problem that requires
a broad social commitment. Underlying all
the sources of deforestation to varying
degrees is, of course, human population
growth; more people demand more fire-
wood and farmland in some countries, and
more veneer furniture and unspoiled wil-
derness in others. The sooner population
growth slows, the brighter the prospects
will be for preserving forests ample enough
to meet both environmental and economic
requirements. A vast amount of tree plant-
ing is essential over the coming quarter-
century, but its benefits will be undercut if
the deeper roots of deforestation are not
eradicated too. Q
Erik Eckholm is author of "Losing Ground:
Environmental Stress and World Food
Prospects" (W. W.Norton, 1976) and
"The Picture of Health: Environmental
Sources of Diseases" ( W. W. Norton,
1977). The above article is excerpted from
WorldWatch Paper 26, "Planting for the
Future: Forestry for Human Needs."
24
EPAJOURNAL
-------
Mounting
Acid Rain
By Dr. Norrnan R. Glass
The United States is increasingly turning
to the use of coal as the raw material
required to meet its burgeoning energy de-
mands. The foremost reasons for this move
are:
• We have vast reserves of coal in the
Western and North Central States, which
we aretoldwill last for centuries.
• Early in the 1970's we were cut off in
part from world supplies of crude oil and
the same phenomenon is occurring again
with increasing prices for crude oil.
• The Three Mile Island incident has cre-
ated a certain uneasiness about the use of
nuclear power.
Because of the growing use of coal,
there will be an increase in atmospheric
emissions of some or all of the precursors
of acid precipitation. This will occur even if
the best available controf technology is
used on both new and old sources of air
pollution. This likelihood exists since we
will have to convert a number of existing
power plants and other users of natural gas
and fuel oil to coal. Because of the use of
tall'stacks in alleviating local air pollution
problems, we will become increasingly
confronted with the difficulties of acidic
precipitation far from initial sources of the
air pollution.
Although acid rain is largely an Eastern
United States problem, there is increasing
evidence that parts of the West and South-
west may also be impacted, at least locally.
However, soils in the West are generally
alkaline and tend to neutralize whatever
acidity falls in the form of precipitation as
soon as it reaches the soil.
"Pure" rainfall is naturally slightly
acidic because of the presence of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere. The carbon di-
oxide dissolves in water to produce weak
carbonic acid. This natural acid in rainfall
is buffered and is partly responsible for the
long, slow weathering of soil and rocks.
However, stronger sulfuric acid and nitric
acids generated primarily by vast quantities
of combustion gases from the burning of
Acid rain poses a threat to vegetation, and water qua/ity^
fossil fuels have been entering our atmos-
pheric environment in increasing amounts
in recent decades. Sulfur dioxide from
smelters and coal and oil fired power
plants, and nitrogen oxides from vehicles
and industrial sources are chemically con-
verted in the atmosphere and returned to
the earth dissolved in rainfall. These are
carried by wind, rain, and snow and are
being deposited in such quantities that the
neutralizing capacity of some water and
soils is being overwhelmed. This causes
them to become increasingly acidic.
A commonly used measure of acidity is
called pH. A value of pH 1 is very acidic
(e.g., battery acid), pH 7 is neutral (e.g.,
distilled water), andpH 13 isvery alkaline
(e.g., lye). To chemists, pH (which ranges
from 0 to 1 4) is a measure of the concen-
tration of hydrogen ions and indicates
acidity or alkalinity of a solution. The lower
the pH value, the more hydrogen ions in
solution and the stronger the acid. How-
ever, a change in one pH unit (e.g., from
pH 2 or from pH 8 to 9) reflects a 10-fold
change in acidity or alkalinity. The reason
is that pH is on a logarithmic scale rather
than a numerical scale. Precipitation is
considered to be acidic if it is below pH
5.6, the normal equilibrium value of carbon
dioxide in water. The recorded extremes of
precipitationvaryfrompH2.1 to about 8.
Available data indicate that rain in a
large region of North America is highly
acidic when compared with the expected
pH value of 5.65 for pure rain water in
equilibrium with carbon dioxide. The
change in pH of precipitation between the
mid-1950'sand the mid-1970's in the
Northeastern United States and Atlantic
Canada has been dramatic. Also, acid pre-
cipitation has spread measurably south-
JULY/AUGUST 1979
25
-------
ward and westward in the United States.
More recent information indicates that in
the South and West portions of the United
States pH values between 3 and 4 are ob-
served during individual storms. In the
Western United States it is now clear that
urban areas are experiencing acid rain, but
the chemical composition of the precipita-
tion indicates that automobiles rather than
stationary sources such as power plants are
the probable major cause.
Although the historical record prior to
1 955 on changes in acidity of precipitation
is very sparse, data indicate that by the mid-
1 950's precipitation in the Eastern United
States was already acidic, and that the
acidity of rain and snow in that region in-
creased significantly sometime between
1930and 1950.
A growing body of evidence suggests
that acid rain may be responsible for sub-
stantial adverse effects on the public wel-
fare. Such effects might include the acidifi-
cation of lakes and rivers with resultant
damage to fish and other components of
aquatic ecosystems, acidification and de-
mineralization of soils, possible reduction
in crop and forest productivity, and deteri-
oration of man-made materials. These
effects can be cumulative or may result
from peak acidity episodes.
A drop in the pH of precipitation has
been observed for many years in Scan-
dinavia. A monitoring network there
showed that since the mid-1 950's precipita-
tion in northwestern Europe had increased
in acidity and that this acidity was currently
widespread geographically. The hydrogen
ion concentration of precipitation in some
parts of Scandinavia has increased more
than 200-fold during the past two decades.
Data from New York State and other
parts of New England indicate that approxi-
mately 60 to 70 percent of the acidity is
due to sulphuric acid and 30 to 40 percent
of the acidity is due to nitric acid. These
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strong acids are thought to stem primarily
from gaseous man-made pollutants such as
sulphur oxides and nitrogen oxides pro-
duced primarily, although not exclusively,
from the combustion of fossil fuels. The
relative proportion of nitric acid derivatives
and sulphuric acid derivatives may be an
adequate indication of the nature of the
source from which the acid rain was de-
rived—a high proportion of oxides of nitro-
gen or of nitric acid derivatives would indi-
cate automobile or mobile sources whereas
a high proportion of sulphuric acid deriva-
tives would indicate stationary sources
such as power plants, smelters, and heavy
industry.
The most severely impacted areas ap-
pear to be mountain ecosystems because,
along with related factors, they receive
greater amounts of precipitation (and thus
more total acid).
Falling first on the forest canopy, acid
rain leaches nutrients such as calcium and
potassium from the plant tissues, causes
lesions and deformities in the foliage, and
erodes the waxy coating which helps pro-
tect the foliage against disease and water
stress. There is some evidence that leaf
metabolism is altered. The moisture con-
tinues to the ground where it hastens the
leaching of nutrients such as calcium, mag-
nesium, potassium, and sodium from the
litter and underlying soil.
Acid conditions inhibit decomposing
bacteria so that abnormal litter accumula-
tions and disruptions of nutrient cycling
may occur. Nitrogen fixation by certain
bacteria is also inhibited. Metafs such as
aluminum, manganese, iron, mercury, cad-
mium, and lead are mobilized in toxic
quantities and made available for root ab-
sorption. Thus, the foliage is assaulted
from above while the roots are starved
and poisoned in the soil.
Laboratory studies have shown signifi-
cant reductions in the productivity of plants
grown under simulated acid rain condi-
tions. This gives cause for concern about
the future health and productivity of tim-
ber, maple sugar, fruit, and vegetable crops
in the Northeast.
High mountain and upstream lakes with
poorly buffered watersheds are rapidly and
severely affected. The purest lakes are most
vulnerable because the acids quickly con-
sume their very limited buffering capacity
and the pH decreases.
Below pH 5.6 the reproductive capacity
of adult fish and the survival ability of eggs
and young fish declines and eventually
fails. Below pH 5 the survival of even large
fish becomes precarious. Since all aquatic
organisms are affected, the fish must also
contend with reduced food variety.
In contrast to reproductive extinction
over a period of years, a sudden acid-laden
snow melt may kill thousands of fish in a
single day by acid shock or aluminum
poisoning. C. L. Schofield of Cornell Uni-
versity reports that over 1 00 lakes in the
Adirondacks are now devoid of fish due to
increased acidity.
In severely acidified lakes, inhibited
bacterial decomposition may cause natural
organic litter to accumulate on the bottom,
reducing the nutrient cycling and sediment
exchange critical to productivity. Peat moss
(Sphagnum) often invades the lake, ex-
tract ing nutrients and producing organic
acids which further reduce the pH. Toxic
metals from the sediments or watershed
may be dissolved into the water.
Not only soils, forests, and lakes are
affected by acid precipitation, but man-
made materials also are susceptible. Dam-
age to automotive and building exterior
paint and severe corrosion of marble and
cement structures has been attributed to
acid precipitation. Human consumption of
water drawn from acidified sources may be
dangerous, due to toxic metals dissolved
from the pipes.
With the anticipated increased national
reliance on coal-generated energy. Federal,
State, and private agencies are beginning to
intensify efforts to understand and cope
with the complex interrelated problems of
air pollution and acid precipitation.
The best estimates are that approxi-
mately S6 million dollars a re being spent
by the Federal Government in Fiscal 1979
on specifically designated acid precipitation
research. This amount does not include the
research which may be performed that can
potentially be related to this subject. [ "i
Dr. Glass is Director of the Terrestrial
Systems Division at EPA 's Corvallis Envi-
ronmental Research Laboratory and is in
charge of the Agency's program on environ-
mental effects of acid precipitation.
imes
vinegar
1
0 234
— -Y~-—
acid rain
increasing
acidity
"pure" baking
rain soda ammonia
1 1
" • • - .".•'.•'•
5/1 6 7 8 9101
V5.6
12 13 14
increasing
alkalinity
pH SCALE
JULY/AUGUST 1979
27
-------
Using sensitive new techniques in air
sampling and analysis, studies around
the country have revealed the presence of
hundreds of airborne chemicals contributed
by human activities such as the organic
chemical industry, mining, smelting, refin-
ing, manufacturing, combustion, and waste
disposal. Assessment of these chemicals
indicates that many are toxic and may pre-
sent risks to public health. Of particular
concern are potential carcinogens, muta-
gens, and teratogens, substances for which
"safe" levels of exposure may not exist.
In view of the mounting numbers of sus-
pect agents and the threat of latent effects
such as cancer, additional steps must be
taken to protect public health. To this end,
EPA's Office of Air Quality Planning and
Standards has evolved a major program to
accelerate the identification and control
of toxic air pollutants.
The special concern over carcinogenic
air pollutants has been heightened by an
increasing awareness of the importance of
environmental factors in the initiation or
promotion of cancer. Unfortunately, the
relative significance of air pollution in
causing cancer is not well known. Air pol-
lution is only one of a number of important
factors, such as smoking, diet, sunlight,
and occupational exposures, which cause
or contribute to the incidence of cancer.
Due to the magnitude of the cancer prob-
lem in the U.S., however, even if only a
small percentage is related to air pollution,
many people are affected. Since cancer
caused by exposures to small amounts of
airborne carcinogens may not appear for as
long as 10 to 40 years, efforts to control
these substances must include the consid-
eration of future effects as yet undetected.
Recently, new techniques have been
developed which provide a direct indica-
tion of the toxicity of atmospheric compo-
nents. These "bioassay" techniques are
being used to determine toxicity of indus-
trial emissions as well as ambient air
samples. Preliminary results from such
studies add to the general concern over
carcinogenic and other toxic chemicals.
Certain components of ambient particulate
matter sampled from a number of sites
around the country, for example, have been
found to be mutagenic in bacterial tests.
In addition to the direct effects of
toxic air pollutants, a number of indirect
adverse consequences can result from
atmospheric transformation and removal
of air pollutants to other media such
as water or solid waste. For example, a
number of chlorinated organics are trans-
formed by photochemical reactions into the
poisonous gas phosgene. Other chlorine-
containing organics may deplete the strato-
spheric ozone shield, enhancing the pene-
tration to the Earth's surface of harmful
wavelengths of ultraviolet radiation and
posing an increased risk of skin cancer.
Sulfuric acid, when washed out of the
atmosphere by rainfall, may mobilize toxic
elements in aquatic systems.
EPA's program to deal with the toxic
air pollution problem includes the follow-
ing elements:
Identification and Prescreening
Potential air toxics are identified by getting
information from technical literature,
studies by public agencies and private re-
search groups and other reliable scientific
sources. After identification, substances
are prescreened to determine toxicity and
potential for public exposure through
ambient air emissions. Preliminary infor-
mation on intentional and inadvertent pro-
duction, volatility, and other properties, as
well as ambient air data and previous scien-
tific assessments is collected. Based on
this prescreening, a decision is made on
whether a full assessment is required.
An example of this process is the
setting of priorities for 632 organic chemi-
cals identified in an initial study begun in
1976. Information on production volume,
volatility, estimated emissions, and toxicity
was collected for prescreening. Highest
priority was given to possible carcinogens,
mutagens, and teratogens and to com-
pounds likely to be present in the ambient
air. As a result of prescreening, more than
40 of these compounds are currently
under assessment. Two have been regu-
lated or listed under the Clean Air Act as
hazardous air pollutants. They are vinyf
chloride and benzene. Eight are now
considered potential candidates for regula-
tion as airborne carcinogens.
Assessment
The purpose of assessment is to acquire in-
formation to support a decision for action
by regulatory or other measures, and with
input from other appropriate offices, to
reach decisions on each chemical selected
28
EPAJOURNAL
-------
through identification and screening. De-
tailed information on sources, production,
emissions, ambient air levels, population
exposures, transformations in the environ-
ment, health risks, and other EPA and Fed-
eral agency activities is collected and eval-
uated. Highest priority is given to air
pollutants presenting a significant risk of
cancer to large numbers of people. In the
case of carcinogens, the probability of car-
cinogenicity and a quantitative measure of
risk, where possible, is estimated by EPA's
Carcinogen Assessment Group. The results
of the complete assessment are used to
help decide whether to examine regulatory
options, collect additional information, rec-
ommend further testing, or elect not to
regulate the substance.
As might be expected, a lack of neces-
sary data puts a number of chemicals on
"hold." Of particular concern is the need
for monitoring capability to provide accu-
rate estimates of population exposures. In
this regard, several ongoing monitoring
programs for toxic pollutants have been re-
vitalized and new ones are being initiated.
These include:
• A nationwide monitoring program to
measure benzo(a)pyrene (a known human
carcinogen) in 44 urban areas throughout
the country. This monitoring program has
been in operation for over 1 5 years and has
been used to show trends in benzofa )pyrene
air quality levels.
• A nationwide monitoring program for 11
trace metals designed to show trends in
trace metal air pollution.
• A screening study of organic vapors
around selected large volume chemical
plants in Louisiana, New York, and New
Jersey.
• An ambient sampling program to deter-
mine perchloroethylene (a dry cleaning
solvent and suspect carcinogen) concen-
trations in New York City, Detroit, and
Houston.
• An ambient sampling program to deter-
mine mercury concentrations in Wood-
bridge, NJ.
• A three-year grant program for the at-
mospheric measurement of toxic organic
chemicals, including the use of a mobile
sampling laboratory.
• A three-year grant program to study at-
mospheric carcinogens and toxics through-
out New Jersey.
Regulation
Direct regulation of toxic air pollutants is
primarily through the use of the section of
the Clean Air Act requiring national
JULY/AUGUST 1979
emission standards for hazardous air pollu-
tants. Under this authority, emission stand-
ards have been developed for mercury,
asbestos, beryllium, and vinyi chloride.
Benzene has been listed as hazardous and
regulations are under development.
The hazardous pollutant authority is the
primary focus of the airborne carcinogen
policy which is now under development
within the Agency. The policy will outline
the procedures which will be used by EPA
in the identification of airborne carcinogens
and in the determination of the appropriate
levels of control. Among the issues the
policy addresses are: the evaluation of car-
cinogenicity based on limited data or in the
absence of human health data, the useful-
ness for regulatory purposes of techniques
for the quantitative assessment of cancer
risks, the consideration of factors other
than health in the determination of control
levels, and the importance of proper siting
of new sources of regulated substances.
In addition to providing a regulatory
basis for airborne carcinogens, this section
of the Act will continue to be used to regu-
late non-carcinogenic hazardous air pollu-
tants. In certain situations, effective control
of toxic air pollution may also be obtained
through performance standards developed
for new stationary sources.
General Controls
While the programs just described specifi-
cally address toxic air pollutants on a case-
by-case basis, a significant measure of con-
trol has also been achieved indirectly
through attainment programs for the pri-
mary air quality goals established in 1 971.
Known as national ambient air quality
standards, five pollutants or pollutant
classes were originally regulated in this
way (photochemical oxidants, paniculate
matter, sulfur oxides, carbon monoxide,
and nitrogen oxides). An additional pollu-
tant was added to this list in 1978 with the
promulgation of the lead standard.
Photochemical Oxidants (Ozone)
The major control strategy for meeting the
ozone air quality standard, viola ted in much
of the Nation, is the control of volatile or-
ganic chemical emissions which partici-
pate in photochemical reactions to form
ozone in the lower atmosphere. An im-
portant part of this strategy is the Con-
gressionally-required reduction of hydro-
carbons from auto emissions. Stationary
sources of volatile organics are controlled
under State Implementation Plans, which
are designed to demonstrate progress
toward meeting the standard.
Regulation of Emissions from the
Synthetic Organic Chemical
Industry
The Office of Air Quality Planning and
Standards is developing standards for con-
trol of volatile organic emissions from the
synthetic organic chemical industry. This
program is based on the need to limit
emissions of volatile organics to control
ozone but explicitly recognizes the benefits
of improved control for potentially toxic
air pollutants emitted from this industry.
Primary emphasis is placed on process and
equipment specifications rather than on
emission limitations. Because of the high
growth and obsolescence rates of organic
chemical manufacture, new source con-
trols can be particularly effective in
reducing overall emissions.
Particulates and Sulfur Oxides
From the 1960's to the present, a number
of control measures have been instituted to
reduce ambient concentrations of sources
of particulate matter and sulfur dioxide.
Results of emissions sampling and air mon-
itoring indicate that these measures have
reduced the ambient levels of a number of
toxic air pollutants such as vanadium, man-
ganese, and nickel. An EPA sulfur dioxide
control measure {desulfurization of fuel oil)
also has apparently resulted in decreased
vanadium concentrations. Implementation
of sulfur dioxide control strategies has also
slowed the increase in national emissions
of this chemical which occurred during the
1960's. The reduction in the inefficient
combustion of coal in small scale uses,
partially affected because of particulate and
sulfur dioxide regulations, combined with
automotive controls, has resulted in a sig-
nificant decrease in air exposure to car-
cinogenic polycyclic organic matter.
Despite the gains that have been made,
it would be an overstatement to conclude
that current programs for the control of
toxic air pollutants will, in short order,
remedy the problems of toxic air pollution.
There has been progress, both in the char-
acterization of the substances which pollute
the air we breathe and in control of many
which have been demonstrated to ad-
versely affect health.
To advance our understanding of the
environment we need to continue to de-
velop monitoring capabilities which aid in
the identification of air pollutants and the
assessment of control strategies. To prop-
erly evaluate air pollution's impact on pub-
lic health and welfare we must have im-
proved techniques for estimating health
risks and the benefits of reducing them.
Finally, and most importantly, we must
encourage and support initiatives by State
and local air pollution agencies and by in-
dustry to control toxic air pollutants without
Federal regulation. With more effective
and efficient toxic air pollutant control, we
should all breathe a little easier. D
Joseph Padgett is Director, Strategies and
A ir Standards Division, EPA 's Office of A ir
Quality Planning find Standards.
29
-------
Update
A review of recent major
EPA activities and devel-
opments in the pollution
control program areas.
AGENCYWIDE
Cleanup Pact
with U.S. Steel
In what the EPA calls "the
biggest environmental
control agreement in steel
industry history," U.S.
Steel, the Nation's largest
producer, has agreed to
bring nine of the com-
pany's western Pennsylva-
nia plants into compliance
with air and water pollu-
tion regulations between
now and the end of 1982.
The agreement was
reached between U.S.
Steel and the EPA, the
U.S. Dept. of Justice, the
Commonwealth of Penn-
sylvania, and Allegheny
County, Pa. This pact
modifies a 1976 consent
decree which covered
U.S. Steel's coke produc-
ing facilities at its Clair-
ton Works.
The pact covers approx-
imately $400 million of
air and water pollution
control projects, including
a number of control proj-
ects already under con-
struction. The $400 mil-
lion of expenditures is in
addition to more than
S200 million which U.S.
Steel has already spent or
committed to air and
water quality projects in
the Pittsburgh area, ac-
cording to the company.
"We are very pleased
to have reached this
agreement," EPA Admin-
istrator Douglas Costle
said. "It is good for the
environment, the com-
pany, the communities
and the jobs of thousands
of people in western
Pennsylvania."
The agreement still
must be approved by the
U.S. District Court for the
Western District of Penn-
sylvania, in Pittsburgh.
Pollution Agreement
Signed
EPA Administrator Doug-
las M. Costle recently an-
nounced that the Agency
and the Crucible Steel
Company have signed an
agreement to bring the
firm's Midland, Pa., plant
into compliance with air
and water pollution con-
trol regulations.
The plant, located
northwest of Pittsburgh,
has agreed to install pollu-
tion control equipment
and to adopt interim pollu-
tion-control measures,
while simultaneously
changing its steel-making
process from its present
heavily-polluting blast
furnace and coke oven
operation to the use of
electric arc furnaces.
The modernization and
cleanup agreement, esti-
mated to cost Crucible
$50 million in capital ex-
penses, will mean compli-
ance by the Midland plant
with all present clean air
and water standards be-
tween now and 1982.
"This agreement is an-
other significant example
of our efforts to achieve
pollution control and pro-
tect public health, while
enhancing the economic
stability of the entire steel
industry," Costle said.
The project will result
in an approximately 75
percent reduction in sulfur
dioxide and particulate
emissions from the Mid-
land, Pa., facility.
The agreement still
must be approved by the
U.S. District Court for the
Western District of Penn-
sylvania.
AIR
Final
Monitoring Rules
The EPA recently issued
final rules designed to im-
prove national air quality
monitoring. The actual
monitoring of atmospheric
air pollution is generally
the responsibility of State
and local air pollution
control agencies.
"State and local gov-
ernments, with EPA guid-
ance, have made signi-
ficant and continuing
progress in pollution mon-
itoring since the very be-
ginnings of EPA's air
program," said EPA Ad-
ministrator Douglas M.
Costle. "I am confident
that past data has been
sufficiently reliable to
form the basis for sound
decision-making."
"These new rules will
even further reduce the
potential for errors, and
ensure sound data for
cost-effective pollution
control strategies," Costle
continued. "In addition to
providing high quality
data at the national level,
the new system will give
State and local agencies
more flexibility in con-
ducting special purpose
monitoring of local air
pollution problems."
ENFORCEMENT
Unleaded Gas
Increase
The EPA and the Depart-
ment of Energy recently
announced several ac-
tions they are taking to
increase the production
of unleaded gasolineto
ensure that sufficient sup-
plies are available for use
in post-1974 automobiles.
These actions are neces-
sary to ensure that short-
ages of unleaded gasoline
do not result in use of
leaded gasoline in cars
requiring unleaded, which
would result in poisoning
of auto emissions controls.
The actions by EPA and
DOE are designed to in-
crease the refiner's flex-
ibility to meet market
demand for unleaded gas-
oline by encouraging a
shift of production from
leaded to unleaded gaso-
line. They will also avoid
a reduction in overall gas-
oline availability which
would have resulted from
the scheduled reduction
of lead in gasoline after
October 1.
Meanwhile, EPA Ad-
ministrator Douglas M.
Costle has suspended en-
forcement of the current
ban on the '"MMT" gaso-
line additive until October
1, 1979, in order to in-
crease supplies of un-
leaded gas this summer,
thus minimizing the prob-
lem of pollution-control
catalysts on automobiles
being damaged with
leaded gas.
"This temporary action
during the summer driv-
ing months will allow
slightly more hydrocarbon
emissions," Costle said.
"But the alternatives
could be massive fuel
switching which would
wipe out years of cleanup
progress and millions of
dollars in air pollution
control equipment."
The Clean Air Act
banned the use of MMT
(methylcyclopentadienyl
manganese tricarbonyl)
as a fuel additive in Sep-
tember 1978. EPA refused
to waive the ban as re-
quested by the Ethyl Cor-
poration because tests
showed MMT increased
the amount of hydrocar-
bon air pollution emitted
by cars. MMT is made by
the Ethyl Corporation of
Ferndale, Mich.
By suspending enforce-
ment EPA is granting a re-
quest by Tenneco, Inc.
that MMT be permitted at
least during the summer
driving period.
Oil Dependence
Cut
The EPA has recently ap-
proved a change in regula-
tions which allows a vital
New England power plant
to convert from foreign oil
to domestically-produced
coal for its electricity
generation, reducing that
region's dependence on
imported oil by as much
as 17 percent.
The Brayton Point plant
in Somerset, Mass., is the
first major power plant in
New England, and the
largest in the Nation, to
voluntarily convert from
oil to coal. The coal-con-
version will be phased-in
from 1982-84.
"Our approval of the
conversion of the Brayton
Point facility to coal is an
important step in helping
the Nation reach its goal
of energy independence,
said EPA Administrator
Douglas M. Costle. "EPA
continues to encourage
development of increas-
ingly effective pollution
controls for power plants,
so as to promote use of
coal and the protection of
the environment."
"Based on extensive
analysis, the Massachu-
setts Department of En-
vironmental Quality En-
gineering and EPA are
confident that the burning
of coal at Brayton Point
will not violate atmos-
pheric air quality stand-
ards protecting public
health," Costle said.
Auto Recall
The EPA recently an-
nounced that another
class of 1979 Chevettes
failed Federal air pollu-
tion standards during as-
sembly line testing and
told the General Motors
Corporation the vehicle
could not be produced un-
less the problem was
fixed. The Agency is or-
dering GM to recall about
67,000 of these cars al-
ready shipped to dealers,
bringing the total number
of Chevettes recalled
since April to 107,000.
GM informed EPA that
it has made modifications
to the automobile's ex-
haust recirculation system
and distributors to meet
the standards and avoid
a production shutdown.
The Chevette failure
was discovered while EPA
was conducting an assem-
bly line emission check.
In April, EPA ordered
emission control changes
on models with an auto-
30
EPA JOURNAL
-------
malic transmission and
"high output" 1.6 liter
engine and recalled over
40,000 cars. The May
order affects Chevette
models with the same
transmission but with a
standard 1.6 liter engine,
In both cases the cars
were exceeding the car-
bon monoxide limit.
The recent order does
not affect cars produced
for sale in California, be-
cause GM's California
cars use a different emis-
sion control system to
meet that State's stricter
pollution standards.
PESTICIDES
Pesticide Approved
The EPA recently decided
that the pesticide OBPA,
which is used in a wide
variety of plastic con-
sumer products to protect
them from fungal and bac-
terial damage, does not
pose a threat to human
health or the environment
if used in accordance with
label instructions.
This decision means
that OBPA has been re-
stored to its former place
on EPA's list of currently
registered pesticides.
OBPA is an organic ar-
senic compound known
technically as 10,10'-
oxybisphenoxarsine.
In 1976 EPA placed
OBPA on its list of sus-
pect pesticides that might
be hazardous to health.
EPA's review of animal
and other studies on
OBPA, however, indi-
cated that it is not.
Fire Ant Controls
The EPA has taken a num-
ber of steps to provide
new insecticides for the
battle to control destruc-
tive fire ants in the south-
ern U.S.
EPA recently broad-
ened the use of a veteran
insecticide, "Diazinon,"
to allow homeowners to
pour it on the ants in their
earth mounds.
In addition, EPA has
approved controlled field
trials with two experimen-
tal insecticides to deter-
mine if they can eventu-
ally be registered as safe,
effective tools for con-
trolling the ants.
"Our goal—and the
goal of State officials and
other concerned persons
—is pesticides or other
control methods that will
minimize the health and
economic hardships cre-
ated by the ants without
causing unreasonable
human or environmental
damage," said EPA Dep-
uty Administrator Barbara
Blum.
At press time, EPA was
reconsidering whether it
should allow Mississippi
to make emergency use of
another insecticide, called
"Ferriamicide," against
the ants.
Earlier this year, EPA
gave the State permission
to do so, but later opened
the decision to further
study because of Cana-
dian research indicating
that a breakdown product
may be highly toxic.
Ferriamicide contains
the insecticide "Mirex," a
former fire ant poison that
EPAand Mississippi
agreed to stop using after
June 30, 1978, for fear of
harm to humans and the
environment.
RADIATION
Increased Cancer Risk
EPA Administrator Doug-
las M. Costle recently an-
nounced findings which
indicate that people in
some homes built on Flor-
ida phosphate lands face
an increased risk of can-
cer from radioactive
radon gas.
In a letter to Robert
Graham, Governor of Flor-
ida, Costle recommended
that corrective action
should be taken to reduce
indoor exposure to radon
and that future homes
should be designed to
prevent excess radon ac-
cumulation. Costle cau-
tioned that, " all of the
risks we have identified
are based on lifetime ex-
posures. Thus, the situa-
tion in Florida does not
represent an imminent
health hazard. However, it
does warrant early atten-
tion and action."
Radon gas is a by-prod-
uct of radium which is
naturally present through-
out the United States.
Radium in the soil decays
forming radioactive radon
gas. Higher concentra-
tions of radium appear in
phosphate lands scattered
throughout the central and
northern portions of
Florida.
Radon can penetrate
concrete slab foundations
or footings, a type of con-
struction commonly used
in the Florida area, and
collect inside the houses.
TOXICS
Chemical Inventory
Issued
The EPA has published
the country's first compre-
hensive inventory of
chemicals produced in
the U.S. or imported here.
This initial listing of
chemical names, pub-
lished June 1,1979,has
43,278 compounds. They
include acids, alkalies,
organic chemicals, plas-
tics, and pigments pro-
duced or imported since
January 1, 1975. Atotal
of 7,420 chemical pro-
ducers and importers re-
ported for the inventory.
The inventory, required
by the Toxic Substances
Control Act, is not a com-
pilation of suspect or dan-
gerous chemicals but sim-
ply a listing of compounds
manufactured or imported
during the past four years.
The Agency will update
this listing periodically.
The inventory has an-
other important purpose.
Thirty days after its pub-
lication, firms wanting to
produce or import chemi-
cals not listed must notify
EPA of this fact in ad-
vance and submit avail-
able studies on the health
and environmental effects
of these new materials.
This 'premanufacture
notification' provision is
the backbone of a program
to ensure that chemicals
are screened for human
health and environmental
effects before they're put
on the market.
Conference on
Technology
The EPA is planning a
conference on "Waste-
water Treatment Tech-
nologies for the Control of
Toxic/Hazardous Pollu-
tants." Sponsors will be
the Industrial Environ-
mental Research Labora-
tory in Research Triangle
Park, N.C., with the co-
operation of the Municipal
Environmental Research
Laboratory and the Robert
S. Kerr Environmental Re-
search Laboratory. The
conference is scheduled
for March 26-28, 1980, at
the Stouffer's Cincinnati
Towers in Cincinnati,
Ohio.
Those interested in par-
ticipating should submit a
300-word abstract by Oct.
1, 1979, to Kenneth A.
Dostal, lERL-Ci, EPA,
Cincinnati, Ohio 45268.
Additional information or
questions can be directed
to Dostal by mail or phone
(513/684-4227).
WATER
Water Permit
Program Revised
In a continuing effort to
simplify regulatory pro-
grams, the EPA has re-
vised its water pollution
control permit program,
which limits wastewater
discharges from 55,000
industries and city sew-
age plants.
The new regulations
streamline permit appeal
procedures, increase the
public's opportunity to
participate in the permit
issuing process, and pro-
mote uniformity in assess-
ing non-compliance pen-
alties across the country.
"The new regulations
will make our water pollu-
tion control permit pro-
gram a more effective tool
in achieving the goals of
the Clean Water Act,"
said EPA Administrator
Dougias M. Costle.
Ocean Discharge
Rules
New rules from the EPA
may save money in sew-
age plant construction and
operation for certain
coastal cities and towns,
provided some tough en-
vironmental conditions
are met.
The rules provide an
opportunity for certain
municipalities which dis-
charge their treated waste-
water into marine waters
to apply for a "modifica-
tion" of existing require-
ments that "secondary
treatment" be provided to
their wastewater. Con-
gress provided for such
modifications in Section
301 (h) of the Clean Water
Act of 1977.
The new rules will not
increase the number of
communities that now dis-
charge treated sewage
into ocean waters. But
some coastal communi-
ties have claimed that the
treated wastewater from
their plants is rapidly dis-
persed in ocean waters,
making present secondary
treatment requirements
more stringent than nec-
essary to protect the
ocean environment; Con-
gress then mandated this
opportunity to get a modi-
fication in treatment
requirements. D
Correction:
The depth measurements
in meters listed for the
Great Lakes in the June
EPA Journal inadvertently
were listed as "feet." The
correct measurements in
feet are Lake Superior:
1,333 feet; Lake Michi-
gan, 923 feet; Lake On-
tario, 802 feet; Lake Erie,
210 feet; and Lake Huron,
750 feet.
JULY/AUGUST 1979
31
-------
Impressions
of China
An interview with Deputy
Administrator Barbara Blum.
The United States and China
recognize that one of the mosi
productive areas to improve
relations is in the area of
science and technology.
During the January visit of Vice
Premier Deng Xiaoping, a
formal science and technology
agreement was signed between
the two countries. The recent
mission of EPA Deputy A dmin-
istrator Barbara Blum to China.
at the invitation of Dr. Jennie
Liu of the Chinese Academy of
Science's Institute of Environ-
mental Chemistry, marked the
first step toward exploring pos-
sibilities for environmental co-
operation between China and
the U.S. Blum was accompained
by Dr. Stephen Gage, EPA
Assistant Administrator for
Research and Development,
and Mr. William Drayton. EPA
Assistant Administrator for
Planning and Management.
What struck you as being
China's greatest environ-
mental problem?
The air pollution. We took a
portable monitor that has re-
cently been developed to take
instant readings for fine partic-
ulates. We took readings in
major Chinese cities such as
Peking, Shanghai, Wuhan, and
Canton. We got particulate
readings from a low of 60 to a
high of 650. This compares to
the standard for total particu-
lates of 75 in the United States.
Isn't it rather startling that in
view of the limited number of
cars and vehicles in China
they still apparently have a
significant problem with air
pollution?
Most of it comes from industrial
sources. In China, there is quite
a bit of heavy industry—steel
mills, petrochemical plants, and
so on. They also have small
manufacturing companies which
have no environmental controls.
!n addition, they burn coal for
cooking and for heat in the
winter, so that adds significant-
ly to the problem. We would be
walking along a street, stop to
take a reading on our monitor,
and find out that when we
passed a charcoal fire the moni-
tor would jump up 1 50 to 200
micrograms.
Do the Chinese seem con-
cerned about their pollution
problem?
They're very aware of the prob-
lem—and seem eager to do
something about it within the
limit of their financial resources.
But they have a population close
to one billion people, so their
primary concern, understand-
ably, is food.
The Chinese environmental
community, of course, has
pollution control as its domi-
nant interest. Generally, how-
ever, capital investment by the
Chinese is going mostly into
plant expansion. There will be
some pollution control—but it
appears that at the present time
it may be minimal. I must add
that the Chinese are further
advanced in curbing water pol-
lution than air pollution. They're
concerned about keeping fish
alive, but the concern about
people, for example, eating fish
caught near an electroplating
plant seems to be of less imme-
diate importance. They realize
a health hazard may exist, but
their priorities are different
from ours. Again, their primary
focus is on feeding people.
Once that problem is resolved,
then it seems they'll devote
more and more attention to the
quality of the food people eat,
the air they breathe, and so on.
It's more a matter of first things
first.
Didn't the limited number of
cars in the cities help curb
air pollution well below levels
in New York or Chicago?
I'm certain it does. All Chinese
automobiles, including taxi
cabs, are owned by the govern-
ment. It seems like you see only
one car for every 2,000 or more
people on foot or bicycles.
Did you meet with any of
China's top leadership?
On our second day in Peking,
Bill, Steve and I were having
lunch with Ambassador and
Mrs. Woodcock in the U.S.
Embassy when a call came in-
viting us to meet with Fang Yi,
Vice Premier and Chairman of
the PRC Scientific and Tech-
nological Commission. The
Vice Premier asked, quite
unexpectedly, to see the three
of us in the Great Hall of the
People. We met shortly there-
after, talking at some length
about pollution problems China
faces. He is very concerned. He
indicated interest in developing
a U.S.-China bilaterial environ-
mental agreement, saying he
believes that pollution is one of
the major problems confronting
rapidly industrializing countries
such as China. He also indi-
cated willingness to direct a
substantial portion of the coun-
try's capital investment into
pollution control equipment.
Does China have any national
standards for air pollution or
water pollution that you are
aware of at this time?
This is a very difficult question
to answer. The standards they
have appear to be province-by-
province and municipality-by-
municipality. For instance, in
Shanghai the Chinese talked
about tall stacks to control air
pollution. In another city, offi-
cials said they did not believe
in tall stacks, questioning
whether they do any good.
Obviously, there is consider-
able local autonomy in attack-
ing these problems. Work to-
ward national environmental
protection laws is underway,
although it was explained that
the laws were in draft form and
not ready to be discussed in
any detail.
Do they have any organization
comparable to EPA on a
national level?
They have the Environmental
Protection Office, which reports
to the State Council. This orga-
nization has about 60 people in
Peking at the present time,
supplemented by, depending on
the size of the region, from 6 to
30 people in each of the prov-
inces, tn addition, most munici-
palities also have environmental
protection offices. Each major
factory also has an environ-
mental protection officer, who
reports to the factory manager.
Does China have the equiva-
lent of environmental impact
statements?
No. They were very interested
in our National Environmental
Policy Act, asking many, many
questions about it. But at pres-
ent, this isn't their approach.
The Chinese, however, are pre-
paring to do a major hydro-
biological impact study prior
to moving the Yangtze river a
thousand kilometers north for
irrigation and transportation
purposes. The project—some-
thing they said Chairman Mao
wanted before his death—is a
major undertaking. The hydro-
biologists a re extremely worried
about the possible changes in
salinity of the water if the river
is moved. They also have some
very realistic concerns about
32
EPAJOURNAL
-------
Bikers in Peking.
the impact of the venture on the
entire ecosystem. The Chinese,
in fact, have set up a special
commission on the movement
of the Yangtze, due, I'm certain.
to the magnitude of the project
and the many issues involved.
What methods do the Chinese
government officials use to
enforce anti-pollution meas-
ures? Did you find evidence
that there are any enforcement
efforts at all?
They talked a lot about closing
plants, and said that they have
the ability to do so. But my
impression is that they do it
in a very limited way. They do
use a system of incentives
which allows a plant, for ex-
ample, to retain some money
from the sale of recycled mate-
rials instead of turning it over
to the commission that governs
that particular industry. I was
also told that in certain instan-
ces names of polluting com-
panies are published in news-
papers and that salaries of plant
managers can be cut if meas-
ures to reduce pollution are not
taken.
Would you say that
China is a relatively clean
country? What was your
overall impression?
China is a very neat country.
There is no litter on the streets.
Because labor is plentiful,
people frequently clean the
streets. The Chinese have made
quite a few gains in controlling
water pollution. However,
particularly in many industrial-
ized areas, the level of air pol-
lution is high.
How about disposable
bottles? Old you see any of
those over there?
I didn't seeanything disposable,
except for paper napkins and
small cardboard boxes.
Did the Chinese indicate in
what areas they would co-
operate with the United States
and the EPA?
Yes. They are interested in
several different areas, and we
.will be taking those under con-
sideration in the weeks to come.
One area in which the Chinese
are ahead of us is the area of
biological pest control—inte-
grated pest management.
They're doing some very im-
pressive work. They raise pred-
ator insects and have an ex-
tremely sophisticated system
that we'd like to study closely.
EPA has a contract on integrated
pest management now with the
University of Arkansas, and one
of the first things we'll ask them
to do is to examine the work the
Chinese are doing. The Chinese,
on the other hand, are primarily
interested in cooperating with
us on the health impacts of air
and water pollutants, identifica-
tion of toxic substances, the
methodology of environmental
assessment, and monitoring
techniques.
Did you get the impression
that some of their high-rank-
ing officials might like to
make a return visit to this
country?
I invited the Director and the
Deputy Director of the Environ-
mental Protection Office to
visit the United States. They
were very positive about the
invitation, although I can't say
how soon such a trip could be
scheduled.
I was wondering if you saw
any examples of research
efforts other than the biolog-
ical controls you mentioned
earlier?
Yes. We saw some very ad-
vanced equipment—equipment
that's as good as any we have
in our labs in the U.S. Interest-
ingly, the portable paniculate
monitor we took to China is the
first of its kind in our country,
yet we found a young man at
the Chinese Institute of Chem-
istry who, based upon reading a
journal article by the U.S. manu-
facturer, developed his own
version. It looked rather crude,
but seemed to work as well as
the U.S. product.
In what ways would you say
that the mission over there
was most worthwhile and use-
ful to the Agency?
Clearly, in the area of biological
pest control, they can be of
great helpto the U.S. I'm hoping
that we can be helpful too, since
we all have a stake in protecting
the global environment. Any-
thing that helps them will help
us and vice versa. I believe, too,
that there is tremendous value
in getting acquainted with en-
vironmental leaders in China.
This lays the groundwork for
other important areas of co-
operation that are certain to
develop over time.
Do you have any other
impressions?
Generally, the Chinese aren't
able to educate people as
quickly as they would like
because they lack sufficient
university facilities. For in-
stance, last year there were
between 250,000 and 300,000
students entering college in a
country with a population of
nearly one billion. Then, too,
there is as much a problem if
not more with occupational
health and safety as there is
with environmental matters. So
more and more people are going
to have to be educated, and
priorities must be set. None of
it can be accomplished over-
night.
We met two people in their
fifties who teach at a university
of engineering. They were going
back to graduate school, one at
Oxford and one at the Univer-
sity of California at Berkeley.
It struck me as unusual that they
were sending older teachers
back to school to obtain still
more training, considering the
enormous investment involved
and the time left before they re-
tire. We were to!d that there was
no one younger with suitable
educational background who
could take advantage of Oxford
and Berkeley.
I assume that there was a
substantial number of people
using bicycles in the Chinese
cities?
Yes. The streets were filled
with hundreds of bicycles,
hundreds of pedestrians and
very few cars
How does that system seem to
work?
Fine. The Chinese also seem to
have a rather sophisticated
rapid transit system—buses
and electric trolley cars. People
who ride bicycles seem to live
fairly close to work. The streets
are crowded with bicycles. They
even have parking lots for bi-
cycles instead of automobiles.
I must say it's much nicer—in
part, because parking facilities
don't take up so much room.
Homes and corridors of office
buildings are often filled with
bikes.
I suspect the Chinese may
have a lower incidence of heart
disease than in the U.S. because
of all the exercise. And, of
course, there are no gasoline
lines. D
JULY/AUGUST 1979
-------
Environmental Almanac: July/August 1979
A Glimpse of the Natural World We Help Protect
A SUMMER POND
By the end of July, the frog
chorus at a country pond
in rural Virginia has subsided
to only an occasional call
breaking the hush of long
summer evenings.
The green frog, sometimes
called "the pond banjo player,"
still occasionally shatters the
cairn with a mating summons
sounding as if someone had
just strummed a guitar.
The tiny cricket frogs chal-
lenge each other with their
rattling tunes resembling
Spanish castanet players trying
to outdo each other.
An occasional gutteral
"jug-o-rum" call announces
that the bullfrog is still in
residence.
But these sounds have little
of the passionate intensity that
marked the early mating
season, and no tunes are
heard from the "peeper" frogs
whose deafening chorus wel-
comes in each new spring.
Meanwhile, swallows swoop
over the water lily-bedecked
pond in pursuit of insects.
Occasionally the wings of these
swift fliers graze the water and
dimple the surface.
As dusk deepens, fireflies
begin to light up in the towering
trees surrounding the pond.
A fox barks from a nearby hill
and a whippoorwill begins its
haunting and insistent song.
A water snake weaves its
sensuous way silently across
the water hunting for a frog or
other suitable meal. An owl
perched in a nearby white oak
watches intently ready to make
its attack on the snake.
Although the pond appears
peaceful, most of its inhabi-
tants must hunt and be hunted.
The sometimes savage struggle
to survive continues in this as
in other habitats. Even the
goldenrod and asters vie with
each other for a place in the sun.
!n the distance the rumble
of thunder sounds and a rain-
storm can be heard advancing
through the forest. Soon a
downpour is sweeping the
pond, providing badly needed
water for the autumn drought
period when the flow from the
springs feeding the pond begins
to slacken.
The wet season of late fall
will help replenish the pond
but meanwhile all sources of
water are needed.
During the life cycle of a
pond the main threats to its
inhabitants are drought and
pollution.
In the absence of these
hazards the pond is a relatively
independent entity in which life
can go on with little contact
with the outside world.
The sumac and Virginia
creeper at the pond edges are
already beginning to show a
few crimson leaves, a harbinger
of autumn. With the arrival of
fall the pond will turn quiet. The
frogs will hibernate after burying
themselves in the mud. When
the last of the asters and
goldenrod are gone, the bees
will quit coming, their season's
work completed.
By November there will be
patches of ice on the pond.
The cold will deepen. Harsh
winds will rattle the leaves on
the big-toothed aspen. Then
snow will mantle the ice cover.
The whispering pines keep
alive the hope of another
green time in the endless cycle
of the seasons. If the pond has
been protected from the blight
of pollution, when spring
returns the peepers will stir
from their muddy slumbers and
their sweet singing will once
again be heard over the land.
—C.D.P.
34
EPAJOURNAL
-------
A Legacy of Poisons
Continued from page 4
rally in food, especially seafood. A compo-
nent of varibus ores, arsenic is rarely found
as a free element in the environment.
Arsenic is used in many industries. It was
an important component of the first com-
monly used pesticide, Paris green. Acute
arsenic poisoning affects the heart, kid-
neys, stomach, and intestines.
Benzene—This building block of the
modern plastics industry was discovered
in London household lighting systems that
used gas made from decomposing whale
oil. In 1825 Michael Faraday isolated the
substance from the oily deposits left by the
whale oil gas. Before World War II it was
called benzol, and was obtained largely
from coal. Most of the benzene produced
in the U.S. today comes from petroleum.
It is a starting material for many plastic
products, nylon components, and syn-
thetic detergents. The liquid is flammable,
and acute exposure to it can cause head-
aches, diarrhea, and burning in the eyes,
nose, and mouth.
Beryllium—Some call this substance an
atomic age poison. Its main uses are in the
nuclear energy industry, as solid fuel for
rockets, and in heat shields for spacecraft.
Beryllium is alloyed with other metals for
strength and hardness. It was discovered
in 1798 by a French chemist and success-
fully isolated in 1828. Overexposureto
beryllium can cause pulmonary disease.
Cadmium—A heavy metal of increasing
usefulness in the industrial world, this sub-
stance is rare in Nature. Cadmium occurs
in infinitesimal quantities, less than one
part per million throughout the Earth's
crust, but is produced as a byproduct of
zinc extraction and is found in some lead
ores. The substance was discovered in
1817. It is used in alloys with low melting
points and as a protective plating on other
metal. It is also used in nuclear reactors
and as a component in insecticides. The
main source of cadmium exposure to the
general population is from foods. It also
reaches people through tobacco in ciga-
rettes, a factor which may double the body
burden of cadmium received by other
routes. The National Academy of Sciences
reports that a study of toxicants found
levels of 0.013 milligrams of cadmium in
the lunches of sixth-grade children in 300
U.S. schools. In Japan cases of cadmium
poisoning have led to what is called "itai-
itai", literally "ouch-ouch" disease, be-
cause of the pain inflicted. Cadmium
affects the kidneys and lungs.
Lead—This heavy metal has been used in
industry for so long that some scientists
believe baseline data for naturally-occur-
ring levels can't be obtained. All compounds
of lead are poisonous. The Egyptians and
Babylonians used lead. Nicander, the
Greek poet, said this about lead poisoning,
"The mouth it inflames and makes cold
from within. The gums dry and wrinkled
are parch'd like the skin, The rough tongue
feels harsher, the neck muscles grip. He
soon cannot swallow, foam runs from his
lip ..." The Romans used lead water pipes
as well as cups and plates. Some research-
ers blame the fall of Rome on bizarre be-
havior they attribute to lead poisoning.
More recently brain damage and learning
disabilities in inner-city children have been
attributed to high lead levels. In the past,
lead intake came mainly from waterpipes,
insecticides, food containers, and lead-
based paints that flaked into the air. Sci-
entists now say that contamination from
these sources has been reduced and that
new problem sources are cigarettes, cos-
metics, and auto exhausts from burning
leaded gasoline. Air pollution can leave
deposits on vegetation but according to
the National Academy of Sciences little of
what is absorbed in food is retained by
humans. Inhalation of air and dust and
absorption by or through the skin may be
more significant routes of contamination.
One symptom of chronic lead poisoning is
a bluish line on the gums above the teeth.
Overdoses cause anemia, brain and nerve
disorders, and paralysis of the extremities.
Mercury—Sometimes called quicksilver,
mercury has no known essential function
in living organisms and is not found free in
Nature. It has been used for centuries,
however, by the Chinese and Hindus, and
was found in Egyptian tombs dating to
1500 B.C. Mercury is extracted from cin-
nabar. Its name comes from 'mercurius.'
Mercury is used in barometers, thermom-
eters, control instruments, and in the manu-
facture of batteries and fungicides. In the
past mercury sometimes entered the food
chain through seeds that were treated to
prevent fungus growth. National Academy
of Sciences' reports note that small amounts
have been found in fruits, vegetables, dairy
products, cereals, and meats. Higher levels
occur in fish. Ingestion of contaminated fish
caused a well-known incident of mercury
poisoning at Minamata, Japan. In 1953
cats in that fishing village began to act
strangely. They staggered, went mad, and
died. Later in the year people living in the
village.showed similar symptoms and over
the next eight years some 43 people died
and 68 were disabled by mercury poison-
ing. The mercury came from industrial
effluents that poured into the bay and con-
taminated the fish. Scientists sampling mud
from the bay found that it held 2,100 parts
per million of inorganic mercury. Acute
poisoning from mercury causes diarrhea,
depression, and tremors. It was once com-
mon among goldsmiths, mirror-makers,
and hatters. The expression "mad as a
hatter" is thought to come from the effects
of breathing fumes from the mercury used
to cure furs.
Since the Industrial Revolution an
increasing number of poisons are used in,
produced by, or left over from the daily
business of modern life. The substances
permeate the air, land, and water and can
be unknowingly absorbed by persons en-
tirely unaware of their existence.
A miniscule amount of any given sub-
stance in drinking water, for example, may
seem like a petty concern. Who drinks that
much water? But suppose the contaminant
also adheres to cooking and eating utensils,
is breathed in household dust, finds its way
into food, collects on the skin day after
day, is stored in body tissues, and is not
excreted from the body? In this manner
unsuspecting people can accumulate sur-
prising amounts of unwanted substances.
If the people involved also work at jobs
where they are exposed to dangerous
chemicals or live in an area where other
risks exist from air and water pollution, the
synergistic effects of several substances
may have harmful effects.
Physicians who specialize in the study
of poisons note that many factors affect the
impact of a given amount of poison on
people. Age, heat, genetic factors and per-
sonal habits like consumption of alcohol,
smoking, and eating habits can affect a
person's vulnerability to poisons. The dan-
gers of many poisons to smokers are much
greater than to non-smokers. A poison can
have a greater effect on someone who has
an empty stomach than one who has just
eaten. Alcohol can concentrate the toxic
effects of various solvents. Some inherited
conditions alter greatly a person's re-
sponse to chemicals. Persons with different
genetic factors respond differently to their
environment: some persons may be ade-
quately medicated by a given dose of a
drug; others may fail to respond to the
agent because of too rapid metabolism or
removal from the body; still others become
toxic because of build-up of the chemical
within the body. As for age influencing
response to chemicals, numerous examples
exist where the very young or very old re-
spond differently from those of inter-
mediate age.
As we ponder the problems posed by
toxics and our choices for future action,
we might keep in mind a quote from Alice
in Wonderland: "She had never forgotten
that, if you drink much from a bottle
marked "poison," it is almost certain to
disagree with you, sooner or later." D
Chris Per ham is an Assistant Editor of EPA
Journal.
JULY/AUGUST 1979
35
-------
Around the Nation
rules governing the han-
dling of PCB's because of
the high environmental
risks associated with their
improper use.
Asbestos Regulations
Violated
EPA has issued enforce-
ment orders to three com-
panies involved in the
demolition of the Fitzger-
ald Gasket Company
building in Torrington,
Conn., because of viola-
tions of regulations gov-
erning the handling of
asbestos.
The companies cited
are H&S Torrington Asso-
ciates of Needham,
Mass., owner of the
building and site; Healy
Corporation also of
Needham, the general
contractor; and Manafort
Brothers, Inc. of Plain-
ville. Conn., the demoli-
tion subcontractor.
EPA regulations require
that asbestos-containing
materials such as pipe and
duct insulation be kept
wet during renovation
projects, be stored and
transported in air-tight
containers, and ulti-
mately be disposed of
at approved asbestos
waste disposal sites.
The orders require the
three companies to sub-
mit written notices to
EPA prior to beginning
any future renovation or
demolition projects in-
volving asbestos, and
specifically require each
company to comply with
the EPA asbestos han-
dling procedures. A viola-
tion would subject the
companies and their
officers to civil or crimi-
nal penalties of up to
$25,000 oer day or one
year in prison.
PCB Fines Issued
Region 2 recently col-
lected a total of $61,000
in civil penalties from six
companies for violations
of regulations governing
the storage, disposal, and
marking of polychlori-
nated biphenyls (PCB's).
In two earlier settle-
ments, a General Electric
facility in Waterford,-
N.Y., paid $25,000 in
penalties for burning
PCB's four days without
authorization. SCA Chem-
ical Waste Services, Inc.,
in the Town of Porter, also
in New York, paid $15,-
000 for improperly stor-
ing PCB wastes in an
unauthorized area on their
property.
Region 2 has initiated
a second action against
General Electric facilities
in New York State for vio-
lations of PCB regulations
and in an eight count com-
plaint is proposing a total
penalty of $31.900. Two
EPA inspections of the
company's Ft. Edwards
and Hudson Falls facil-
ities in late January re-
vealed allegedly improper
storage of PCB's. At press
time, no settlement had
been reached.
Four other companies
have recently agreed to
pay penalties for viola-
tions of the PCB rules.
They are: New Jersey's
Public Service Electric
and Gas; the Internationa.
Dismantling and Machin-
ery Company of Edison,
N.J.; the Newco Chemical
Waste Systems, Inc., of
Niagara Falls, N.Y.; and
the Atlantic Electric Com-
pany in Atlantic City, NJ.
No evidence of harm to
human hea Ith or the en-
vironment was found in
any of the violations.
However, EPA requires
strict compliance with the
Pollution Cleanup
Agreement
Region 3 and the City of
Philadelphia recently
signed an agreement end-
ing over three years of
intense negotiations and
law suits concerning oper-
ation of the city's sewage
treatment plants and the
dumping of sludge into
the Atlantic Ocean.
The agreement was
also signed by the States
of Pennsylvania and
Maryland, the Delaware
River Basin Commission,
and the Sierra Club.
Philadelphia agreed to
spend over $692 million
to upgrade its three sew-
age treatment plants over
the next four years, there-
by reducing the level of
pollution discharged into
the Delaware River. The
city also reaffirmed its
commitment to stop the
ocean dumping of sludge
by December 31, 1980.
EPA will provide the
city more than $519 mil-
lion of the project's cost
in Federal grant funds,
administered through the
State of Pennsylvania.
This will reduce the city's
share of the costs to 25
percent or $173 million.
!t is anticipated that the
construction and related
activities resulting from
this agreement will pro-
vide over 18,000 new
jobs in the Philadelphia
area.
The major provisions
of the agreement include
the upgrading of the three
city-operated sewage
treatment plants; the
agreement by the city to
stop all ocean dumping
of sludge by December
31, 1980; and the estab-
lishment of "The Phila-
delphia Environmental
Trust Fund" with an
initial deposit of $2,165,
000. The fund will be
used by the city to under-
take environmentally
beneficial projects not
currently required by law.
PCB Disposal Site
EPA Administrator Doug-
las Costle has denied
North Carolina's petition
requesting that EPA mod-
ify its regulations to per-
mit alternative methods
of disposal of PCB-con-
taminated soil and debris.
The State had proposed
an in-place activated char-
coal treatment for some
200 miles of roadsides
where PCB's were
dumped last August.
Costle told Governor
James Hunt that EPA was
concerned about the
State's ability to ensure
the integrity of road shoul-
ders. PCB's, he said, will
be released into the envi-
rontment via projects to
widen roadways, con-
struction of new drive-
ways, routine maintenance
of roads, and possible nat-
ural erosion of shoulders.
At the same time, Re-
gional Administrator John
White announced the ap-
proval of a PCB disposal
site in Warren County,
near Afton, N.C. The site
may be developed by the
State to dispose of the
PCB-contaminated soil
from the road shoulders.
The approval given by
White was for the concep-
tual design only. Final
plans and specifications
also must be approved by
EPA before construction
begins.
Sulfur Standards
Proposed
EPA recently proposed to
change the permissible
emission standards for
sulfur dioxide at two
Cleveland area coal-burn-
ing plants, based on new
air quality data submitted
by the Cleveland Electric
Illuminating Co. The new
revision would permit the
company's two lakefront
plants, located at East
Lake and Avon Lake, to
continue burning local
high-sulfur coal. It would
also help protect an
estimated 70 percent of
coal mining jobs and 63
percent of Ohio's coal
production.
In its petition to EPA,
the company contended
that sulfur dioxide stand-
ards developed by using
EPA's urban modeling
techniques are too
stringent, given the lake-
front location of the two
power plants. The pro-
posed revision states that
the utility must expand
its air pollution monitor-
ing system to assure that
standards are not vio-
lated. Special factors in
this case limit the im-
pact of the proposed revi-
sion to the two plants and
do not suggest wide-
spread revisions of Ohio
sulfur dioxide standards,
said Regional Administra-
tor John McGuire.
36
EPAJOURNAL
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Vertac Cleanup
Begins
Arkansas Governor Bill
Clinton and Region 6 have
agreed on a two-phase
plan to contain and clean
up leaking dioxin at the
Jacksonville, Ark. plant
of Vertac, Inc. The com-
pany has started imple-
mentation of some
aspects of the plan. The
company will eliminate
all surface water dis-
charges from the facility
and secure all materials
stored there to prevent
further contamination. In
the second phase, the
company will store or dis-
pose all significantly con-
taminated materials on
the site to protect the pub-
lic and the environment.
The plan also includes
steps to protect workers at
the plant while the clean-
up proceeds. The plant
was used to produce the
herbicide 2,4,5-T.
Contaminated Road
Oil Removed
Browning-Ferris Indus-
tries has removed and dis-
posed in a landfill contam-
inated soil from roadways
in RLilly's Village subdivi-
sion near Corrigan, Tex.
The company was or-
dered to remove the road
surface by the Texas De-
partment of Water Re-
sources after EPA tests
showed oil from Brown-
ing-Ferris, used for dust
control, contained high
levels of the toxic chemi-
cal nitrobenzene.
The company was also
ordered to remove soil
from roads in four other
subdivisions similarly
treated.
World Environment
Day
To celebrate the anniver-
sary of World Environ-
ment Day in Kansas City
elementary school
children from the Kansas
City School District
created posters on the
theme, "What Will the
World Be Like When I
Grow Up." Teachers also
received education pack-
ages in connection with
World Environment Day.
Region 7 received ap-
proximately 350 posters
ranging from pleas to
clean up the world before
it blows up to designs for
cities of the future. Forty-
five posters were dis-
played at City Center
Square in downtown Kan-
sas City to give the adult
community an opportu-
nity to view how children
see the future and how
they feel pollution will
affect their world
tomorrow.
People also celebrated
World Environment Day
along the Missouri River.
Canoes, rubber rafts and
houseboats floated the 17
miles between Hermann
and New Haven, Mo. The
trip was organized by en-
vironmentalists and fea-
tured short talks on the
river, wildlife, and history
of the region.
Air Plan Revised
Region 8 recently for-
warded for the Adminis-
trator's signature a Fed-
eral Register action which
would approve recent re-
visions to the Wyoming
State Air Quality Imple-
mentation Plan.
These revisions were
developed by the State to
comply with the require-
ments of the Clean Air Act
for nonattainment areas.
Although every State
must comply with the non-
attainment requirements,
the Wyoming action is
among the first to be
sent to the Administrator.
Indian Interns
Since February, 1979,
Region 8 has been partici-
pating in a Federal intern-
ship program sponsored
by the American Indian
Law Center, Inc., of Albu-
querque, N. Mex. Through
funding by the Depart-
ment of Labor, the Law
Center brings together in-
terested Indian individ-
uals for possible perma-
nent job placement within
tribal governments.
Participants attend a
six-week academic pro-
gram at the University of
New Mexico School of
Law. This serves as the
core around which their
para-legal experiences
are built. Participants
then undertake intern-
ships at the tribal and
Federal levels for six
weeks and four weeks
respectively.
While at Region 8 in-
terns have spent time
working within the vari-
ous divisions, have made
field trips to inspect waste-
water facilities, and have
reviewed EIS documents
and the Northern Chey-
enne Redesignation Anal-
ysis. The Indian interns
have included: Sandy
Grey Owl (Crow Creek
Sioux), Manuel F. Pino
(Acama Pueblo), Charles
Poor Thunder (Standing
Rock Sioux), Buck Bettle-
youn (Oglala Sioux), and
Robert Tahe (Hopi).
EPA program staff re-
port that the internship
experience has been mu-
tually beneficial in allow-
ing EPA personnel to gain
better insight into the en-
vironmental and social
issues affecting Indian
reservations.
Hazardous Waste
Dumps Assessed
Region 9 has taken steps
to assess the extent to
which hazardous waste
dumps pose an imminent
health hazard. Four sites,
some active, some aban-
doned, have been investi-
gated by EPA and the
States, and will receive
priority attention by EPA
and Congress. Action was
initiated shortly after Dep-
uty Administrator Barbara
Blum and Michael Egan,
Associate Attorney for the
Department of Justice,
announced in April that
efforts to control hazard-
ous waste would be
stepped up. EPA technical
and enforcement staff
were charged with devel-
oping a work plan, sched-
uling case development,
and working very closely
with State agencies.
Potentially hazardous
active and inactive chemi-
cal dumps in Region 9 are
located in Phoenix, Ariz.,
Riverside and Lathrop,
Cafif., and Saipan in the
Northern Mariana Islands.
Control Settlement
Reached
Region 10 has reached a
settlement with the Bun-
ker Hill Company of
Kellogg, Idaho, in their
prolonged dispute over
the control of sulfur diox-
ide from the company's
lead and zinc smelter
operations in Kellogg.
The company has agreed
to capture slightly more
than 84 percent of the
approximately 207,000
tons of sulfur dioxide
gases produced by the
smelter complex each
year. Since the State of
Idaho requires 96 percent
control of sulfur dioxide
emissions to meet am-
bient air quality stand-
ards. Bunker Hill may
achieve the remaining 12
percent control by disper-
sion techniques in periods
of favorable weather
conditions.
The agreement settles
a suit brought in 1975 by
Bunker Hill in the U.S.
Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals. At the time the
suit was filed, EPA regula-
tions required 82 percent
capture, while Bunker Hill
insisted that 68 percent
capture was reasonable.
Terms of the agreement
are to be embodied in a
Nonferrous Smelter Order.
Late Compliance
Fine Paid
The Boise Cascade Cor-
poration paid $66,000 to
the U.S. Treasury because
it was 11 months late in
meeting the July, 1977,
deadline for complying
with required wastewater
effluent limitations at its
Steilacoom, Wash., pulp
mill. The settlement
brought to an end litiga-
tion by the U.S. Depart-
ment of Justice against
Boise Cascade, d
JULY/AUGUST 1979
37
-------
People
Marvin B. Durning
He has resigned as EPA
Assistant Administrator for
Enforcement, effective Sep-
tember 1. Durning came to the
Agency in October, 1977, from
a Seattle, Wash., taw firm
which specializes in business,
corporate and environmental
law. He has also served with
other law firms in Seattle, and
in Washington, D.C. In 1965
Durning was named "National
Conservationist of the Year"
by the National Wildlife
Federation. He graduated from
Dartmouth College in 1949,
received his Masters degree at
Oxford University in 1952 as a
Rhodes Scholar and his law
degree at Yale Law School in
1959. Administrator Douglas
M . Costle and Deputy Adminis-
trator Barbara Blum said, "His
personal involvement in seek-
ing compliance with environ-
mental laws by the steel and
utility industries has produced
ciean-up agreements that will
stand as a hallmark of this
Nation's commitment to envir-
onmental protection."
Helping in the campaign against
air pollution and traffic prob-
lems in Cincinnati are these
EPA employees riding a special
Metro bus, the Mt. Washington-
Clifton Express, which runs
between the Environmental
Research Center and other loca-
tions in the city. EPA employees
Donald Oberacker and Mary Lee
Burbage developed the project,
and Ernest Minor, Public Af-
fairs, and Kathy Schneider,
University of Cincinnati, helped
them present it to the City
Council for approval.
J. F. Greene
She has been selected as one
of the Agency's Administrative
Law Judges'. In this position she
will hear evidence on environ-
mental matters and make rec-
ommendations to the Admin-
istrator. Judge Greene comes to
EPA from the Department of
Labor, where she had been an
Administrative Law Judge since
1975, hearing and deciding
cases arising under a wide va-
riety of statutes administered
by the Department, including
those relating to workmen's
compensation and fair labor
standards. She served in the
same capacity with the Social
Security Administration in
Roanoke, Va. From 1970 to
1 975 she was a trial attorney
with the Federal Trade Commis-
sion, where she earlier served
as an assistant to Commissioner
Mary Gardiner Jones "and
worked as an attorney from
1963 to 1969. Judge Greene
received her bachelor's degree
in 1959 from Ohio Wesleyan
University. She did postgradu-
ate work at American University
and earned her law degree from
the University of Chicago in
1962.
John Rhett
He has been nominated by
President Carter to become the
senior Federal official oversee-
ing the construction of the new
Alaska natural gas pipeline.
Rhett has been EPA's Deputy
Assistant Administrator for
Water Programs since 1973. He
ran the Agency's sewage plant
construction program, the
largest public works and en-
vironmental quality program in
the country. In his new position
Rhett will supervise the enforce-
ment of all permits and other
authorizations issued by any
Federal agency relating to con-
struction of the 4,748-mile gas
pipeline, which is scheduled to
be completed in 1984. In addi-
tion to his other duties, Rhett
will coordinate activities with
the Canadian government.
"Jack Rhett has been one of our
most vital assets, and I wish
him well in his challenging new
assignment," said Administra-
tor Costle. "His excellent work
here at EPA, as well as his ex-
tensive previous experience,
makes him eminently qualified
to tackle the big job ahead."
Dr. Thomas A. Murphy
He has been named Director of
EPA's Corvallis Environmental
Research Laboratory. Dr.
Murphy has most recently
served as Deputy Assistant
Administrator for Air, Land, and
Water Use in the Office of
Research and Development, a
position he has held since
1975. He has been with EPA
and its predecessor agencies
since he joined the Federal
Water Pollution Control Agency
in 1967 as a biologist. In 1969
he was made Chief of Oil and
Hazardous Materials Research.
He became Special Assistant to
the Assistant Commissioner for
Research and Development in
1971, and then headed EPA's
Program Development Branch
in what was then the Office of
Research and Monitoring. From
1973 to 1975 he served as
Director, Nonpoint Pollution
Control Division in the Office of
Research and Development. Dr.
Murphy received his bachelor's
degree in 1959 from Knox Col-
lege and his master's and doc-
torate degrees in 1964 from
Yale University, fn announcing
the appointment, Dr, Stephen J.
Gage, Assistant Administrator
for R & D, said, "He has been
exceptionally effective in mak-
ing his research program re-
sponsive to the needs of the
Agency and environmental
improvement while maintaining
a high quality of research."
38
EPAJOURNAL
-------
News Briefs
New Enforcement
Plan Set Up
New Drinking
Water Decision
Vehicle Inspection
Saves Gasoline
Resource Recovery
EPA has designated the clean-up of hazardous waste
dumpsites threatening public health as the "highest
Agency priority" and established an agency-wide Hazardous
Waste Enforcement and Emergency Response System to respond
to hazardous waste emergencies. Deputy Administrator
Barbara Blum said, "we are now aware of 151 sites across
the country which may contain potentially dangerous quan-
tities of hazardous wastes. We will continue to evaluate
the extent of the hazards at these sites and force respon-
sible parties to alleviate any immediate threat to the
public."
In the first decision of its kind anywhere in the country,
a Federal court has ordered a drinking water supplier in
Oregon to correct water quality conditions. These prob-
lems were blamed for an outbreak of gastrointestinal dis-
orders among more than 170 persons last summer in the
small coastal town of Neskowin, Oregon. The order in the
U.S. District Court in Portland was the first application
of provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 that
allows the Environmental Protection Agency to go to court
to correct situations where drinking water standards or
other requirements of the law are being violated. The
case against this privately-owned water system rested on
EPA's allegations of numerous violations of the Safe
Drinking Water Act and a continuing serious threat to
human health.
The effectiveness of vehicle inspection and maintenance in
reducing two major urban air pollutants--hydrocarbons and
carbon monoxide--has been substantiated in an EPA study
conducted in Portland, Oregon. Results from other studies
also show that such periodic checks on cars on the road
can result in a 3-4 percent increase in fuel economy.
"Inspection and maintenance is critical to success in
cleaning up America's air," Deputy Administrator Barbara
Blum said. "In the Oregon program, which I studied first-
hand in a special trip to Portland, average hydrocarbon
and carbon monoxide exhaust emissions were reduced as much
as 47 and 54 percent respectively in vehicles which, after
failing inspection tests, underwent remedial repairs."
A two-day seminar will be held in the Palmer House in
Chicago Sept. 11-12 on resource recovery programs. These
programs convert trash and garbage into energy and recover
valuable materials such as metals, glass, and paper.
JULY/AUGUST 1979
39
-------
Regulating Toxics
Continued from page 2
purely geographic kind. Today, however,
commercial airline schedules and super-
sonic speeds make Washington nearly as
accessible to manufacturers from Frank-
furt, Geneva, or Rome as it is to manufac-
turers from Los Angeles. Tokyo and Can-
berra, we admit, are a bit farther from our
headquarters, but the critical element in our
dealings with all manufacturers will be
effective implementation of the law—not
distance, or nationality.
Our commitment to working with nations
in developing rules we can all support is
further demonstrated by the time and re-
sources EPA has invested—and continues
to invest—in the OECD and other interna-
tional organizations. If we do not have a
genuine interest in international coopera-
tion on toxic substances control, these
activities would be a farce, and as a Nation
with many ingenious people, we could fig-
ure out far less expensive ways to conduct
a farce. Our willingness to cooperate has
even extended to sharing drafts of our pro-
posed regulations with other countries—
something others generally have not done
with us, I might add.
In sum, we share with other nations a
deep interest in developing consistency in
the regulation of toxic chemicals. It simply
does not serve the interests of the United
States to maintain one set of rules for its
own manufacturers, and another set for im-
porters. Nor does it serve our interests to
erect artificial trade-barriers.
However, though we are interested in
pursuing consistency, that is not the pri-
mary objective of TSCA. Its goal is to pro-
tect our citizens and environment from
unreasonable chemical risks.
If our proposals appear rigorous and too
demanding, it stems not from a desire to
interfere with international trade; nor from
some misplaced sense of American self-
righteousness. It stems, rather, from an un-
usually painful American experience with
the damaging—and, on occasion, dis-
astrous—effect on health and our economy
of weak or non-existent toxic regulation.
At present, one State is struggling with
the clean-up of a site from which toxic
chemicals—stored in the ground for more
than 20 years—have suddenly erupted.
Well over 200 families have had to be evac-
uated, and their homes purchased by the
State. Such remedial measures are too late
to help children suffering from birth de-
fects. The projected expense so far is over
$23 million, from a site that would have
cost us about $2 million to control years
ago.
Another State has had to close a major
river to fishing because of chemical con-
tamination from a carelessly managed fac-
tory. A number of workers from that factory
have suffered severe nerve damage from
exposure to the chemicals; perhaps they
can be cured, perhaps not.
Another State is trying to figure out how
to dispose of thousands of drums of poten-
tially hazardous chemicals improperly
stored by a private businessman. Health
effects of these leaking drums are not yet
clear, but the financial effects are: govern-
ment will have to pay for containing that
site, because the businessman died last
year.
In one location after another, we are dis-
covering—in a sudden rash of incidents—
case after case in which the chemical revo-
lution that has so benefited Americans is
now imposing some surprising, and too
often tragic, costs upon us.
From these experiences, we have de-
rived an ugly but worthwhile lesson: if one
must make a mistake in protecting public
health, either through an excess of caution
or an excess of risk, one should make that
mistake in the direction of caution. Both
courses entail costs, but we prefer the price
of caution.
We are doing our level best to make
TSCA a prudent, workable piece of legisla-
tion that safeguards public health without
cutting American citizens off from the bene-
fits offered by new chemicals either from
home or abroad. In doing so, we remain
open to a full partnership with other coun-
tries. We want their cooperation, and we
want their competition. Both are necessary
to give their citizens and ours the chemical
controls they deserve. Q
Opposite: Protective gear helps ensure the
well-being of industrial workers. (See P. 12]
Back cover: Industry and government re-
searchers work to make new products
safer. (See P. 2)
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