856 PCBs AND ASSOCIATED AROMATICS
Kuratsune et al. (1972) “Epidemiologic Study on Yusho,
a Poisoning Caused by Ingestion of Rice Oil Contaminated
with a Brand of PCB.”
Kuratsune (1972) “Results of Lab Examinations of
Patients with Yusho Symptoms”.
Enzyme induction in rats had been reported at levels as
low as oral doses of 0.03 mg/Kg/d [Litterest et al., 1972] and
porphyria had been observed in rats fed PCBs at levels rang-
ing from 6.8 mg/Kg/d to 37.6 mg/Kg/d [Kimbrough et al.,
1972].
The first report that adenofibrosis occurred in the
livers of rats fed Aroclor 1254 and 1260 was made in 1972
[Kimbrough et al., 1972].
Bioaccumulation in humans was shown in analyses of
4,000 adipose tissue samples from the US Dept. of Health
Education and Welfare Human Monitoring Survey which
estimated that 41–45% of the US population has PCB levels
greater than 1.0 ppm PCB, identifying food chain exposure
and occupational exposure as possible sources [Price and
Welch 1972].
February 4, 1972: Open letter from Monsanto, dated
February 4, 1972 states that customers must sign a ‘Special
Undertaking by Purchasers of PCBs’. The document con-
tained wording which put intending buyers on notice of
the environmental issues. This was a ‘hold harmless’
agreement.
February 8–9, 1972: Both the capacitor and transformer
sub-committees of ANSI committee C-107 on the use and
disposal of askarel and askarel-soaked materials met on
February 8–9, 1972. The committees discussed analytical
methods for PCBs and a series of questions and answers on
PCB concerns.
Monsanto discontinued direct sales of PCB products in
1972.
March 1972: OST released its report on PCB environ-
mental impact in March 1972. As well as serving as a review
of the scientific aspects of PCBs, the Task Force explicitly
reviewed a number of broad aspects of the PCB question.
Most important, perhaps, was the exploration of the ben-
efits or utility of PCBs and of the industrial and commercial
dependencies built up over the years. This explicit review of
benefits of PCBs was of vital important for decision-making
on PCBs. The National Bureau of Standards engaged in a
review and analysis of the benefits and even the “essential-
ity” of each of the several uses of PCBs. In this, the NBS
received advice from the National Industrial Pollution
Control Council especially for electrical uses of PCBs.
This review became the basis for the ultimate decision to
preserve electrical uses of PCBs (for which there were true
dependencies and no satisfactory substitutes) and to restrict
other uses. The Task Force Report reviewed all of the perti-
nent Federal regulatory laws for their applicability to PCBs.
The review pointed out that existing regulatory authorities
were capable of responding to specific incident of contami-
nation of foodstuffs once they were recognised. However,
it acknowledged that the Government’s legal strength was
generally “... inadequate to prevent more PCBs from enter-
ing the environment.”Despite the recommendation of the 1972 Inter-
departmental Task Force on PCBs [Interdepartmental
Task Force on PCBs. “Polychlorinated biphenyls and the
Environment”; NTIS (COM-72-10410) May 1972] that dis-
charges of PCBs be strictly controlled, EPA did not effect
a policy of stringently curtailing discharges of PCBs from
point sources until December 1975.
Comments by GE [GE 1972] on the notice of pro-
posed rule making in the Federal Register of March 8, 1972
included a report entitled ‘The Tole of PCBs in Electrical
Equipment’ dated February 4, 1972. The report addressed
the risks and alternatives to the use of askarels in transform-
ers. It was pointed out that the US experience over 40 years
had resulted in very few cases of nonchronic chloracne or
other temporary skin lesions or irritations. By the time that
this report was published, however, numerous studies had
been done on the Yusho incident and many researchers were
in the process of debating the causative agents in the poison-
ing episode.
An assessment of the risk of ownership of PCB equip-
ment included a consideration of the probability of leaks
from originally sealed equipment. Reference was made to
the fact that specific control measures had already been
instituted by manufacturers and that these would be supple-
mented by a committee of ANSI.
The distribution of membership in the ANSI committee
C-107 on “Use and Disposal of Askarel Used in Electrical
Equipment” included members from equipment manufac-
turers, US government bodies, manufacturing associations,
utility representatives, waste disposal companies and con-
sulting engineers. The membership of the ANSI committee
is shown in Table 3.
Monsanto advised that the company had adopted cer-
tain policies with respect to its further sale and delivery
of all PCB products used as dielectric fluids. In particular,
Monsanto had decided that it would deliver Aroclors only
to manufacturers of electrical equipment who had entered
into an agreement with Monsanto to indemnify and hold the
company harmless in the use of their products. The letter
had copies attached of the proposed agreement and a copy
of an article by Gustafson (1970) on PCBs found in the food
chain.
The ‘Special Undertaking by Purchasers of PCBs’ con-
tained wording which put intending buyers on notice of the
environmental issues viz. “ Buyer acknowledges that it is
aware and has been advised by Monsanto that PCB ’ s tend
to persist in the environment; that care is required in their
handling, possession, use and disposition; that tolerance
limits have been or are being established for PCB ’ s in vari-
ous food products. ”
May 1972: The Interdepartmental Task Force (ITF)
report on PCBs was issued publicly in May 1972 and was
accompanied by a statement of Governmental ‘thinking’ and
Governmental ‘action’. Perhaps the major conclusion reached
in the report, which became an objective in Government
decisions, was that of limited restriction of PCBs. This was
a direct outcome of the analysis performed by the National
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