Word: pcbs
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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What does this mean for the average American? Today's family can no longer without a serious risk of long-term, chronic health threats. Scientists have already proven that children born of mothers exposed to industrial chemicals like PCBs have significant cognitive deficits. Clearly the Clean Water Act has failed. The question remains, what can be done about...
...hunting ban has done nothing to eliminate other human activities that also threaten the animals. Commercial fisheries deplete the whales' feeding grounds and disrupt their breeding areas and nurseries. Scientists suspect that PCBs, pesticides and other toxic chemicals leak into rivers and out to sea, weaken whales' immune systems and drive down their birthrates. Observes Scott Kraus, a marine biologist with the New England Aquarium: "The public gets hung up on whaling, but what's really worse is what we flush down the toilet...
ARMY. Normal operations at Army bases generate huge amounts of fuel spills, solvents and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Munitions and chemical weapons are manufactured and often tested at Army sites. The dimensions of the problem become clear at the 4 1/2-acre O Field at Aberdeen Proving Ground. At first glance, it looks like any other fenced-in, treeless site on this picturesque peninsula that juts into Chesapeake Bay. Yet for decades, O Field served as a dumping ground for vast amounts of toxic chemicals. Soil tests show concentrations of benzene and trichloroethylene (TCE) that are hundreds of times higher than...
...sharpest warnings have been issued about fish caught by recreational fishermen, which account for about 20% of the fish eaten in the U.S. Their catches in the Great Lakes can be so heavily contaminated with PCBs and other chemicals that the Medical Society of Genesee County, Mich., has taken the extraordinary step of warning that the stuff should not be eaten by "children or by men or women who ever plan to have children." All in all, says Jeffery Foran, an environmental-health expert at George Washington University, "if you're pregnant or nursing, you should probably avoid most kinds...
Fatty fish like salmon, bluefish and herring are vulnerable to another kind of contaminant: chlorinated compounds such as PCBs, dioxins and DDT, which once consumed linger in the body for years. The Consumers Union found detectable levels of PCBs, which have been linked to cancer and developmental disorders, in 43% of its salmon samples and 25% of examined swordfish. The PCBs were generally within the federal tolerance limit, but consumer groups have questioned whether that standard is adequate. Chlorinated compounds are lipophilic, or fat-loving; absorbed through the skin and gills, they concentrate in a fish's fatty tissue. "Very...