Word: pcbs
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...children at around 15 months (see box). But there are many other conceivable culprits. Researchers at the University of California at Davis have just launched a major epidemiological study that will test the tissues of both autistic and nonautistic children for residues of not only mercury but also PCBs, benzene and other heavy metals. The premise is that some children may be genetically more susceptible than others to damage by these agents, and so the study will also measure a number of other genetic variables, like how well these children metabolize cholesterol and other lipids...
...aircraft engines may be peaking. Even the political climate has changed. In Europe, regulators scotched GE's proposed $43 billion deal with Honeywell (last week they moved on to Microsoft). In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency is forcing GE to clean up the mess it made dumping PCBs into the Hudson River...
...political dream couple hit the rocks last week when the Environmental Protection Agency ordered GE to begin a much debated dredging of the Hudson River for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), probable carcinogens whose removal will cost GE stockholders $460 million. For 20 years, GE, which dumped the toxins in the river in the first place, had ferociously fought the removal plan, arguing--with the help of up to $60 million worth of ads and political contributions--that doing nothing was the best course. Environmentalists--starved for a flicker of green from the White House--took the order as a sign that...
...uneasy relationship with the Hudson since the 1940s, when it began dumping PCBs--a practice it continued until 1977, when the chemical was banned. Since then, the river has rebounded, with PCB levels in fish falling 90%. Still, any PCBs can be dangerous, and many people--including EPA chief and former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman and New York Governor George Pataki--have argued for dredging a 40-mile stretch of the river north of Albany and sending GE the bill...
...goes ahead--no sure thing, since the program will proceed in stages and can be shut down if it doesn't yield the desired results--will the river get better? Dredging even a small patch of riverbed can be a messy job, one that could merely stir up buried PCBs. Proponents argue that the remaining PCBs in the river have to go, and that when they do, the risk of cancer they carry will vanish with them. The EPA's research is on the side of the greens, but only when the dredging starts will the true verdict start...