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PCB exposure
increases risk of behavioral disturbances
Sagiv and associates at the Harvard School
of Public Health have published a seminal paper supporting a
connection between low level prenatal exposure to PCBs and other
organochlorines and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) like behavior in childhood. These results are published
in the American Journal of Epidemiology (Prenatal Organochlorine
Exposure and Behaviors Associated with Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder in School-Aged Children, 2010; 171; pp.
593-601)
It is noted that PCB is able to readily
cross the placenta, and as such poses a risk to the developing
fetus. The evaluation consisted of prospectively studying a
group of 607 children ages 7-11 years born in 1993-1998 to
mothers residing near a PCB contaminated harbor in New Bedford,
Massachusetts. The assessment of PCB exposure was made by
measuring umbilical cord levels of the sum of 4 prevalent PCB
cogeners and then determining performance using the Conners’
Rating Scale for Teachers (CRS-T) as a marker for behavioral
performance The umbilical cord blood was collected at birth,
stored and then analyzed subsequently at the Harvard School of
Public Health Organic Chemistry Laboratory. The mother infant
pairs were eligible if the mother was more than 18 years of age,
lived in the towns of New Bedford, Acushnet, Fairhaven or
Dartmouth during the duration of the pregnancy and spoke either
English or Portuguese. In Southeastern Massachusetts Portuguese
is the most common language spoken after English due to regional
patterns of immigration.
ADHD is the most common childhood
neurobehavioral disorder, which is felt to impact on as many as
5-10% of the pediatric population. Because the cause of ADHD is
not well understood, being able to substantiate that it may be
due to an environmental neurotoxin is a major step forward in
public health prevention.
In this analysis, there was a strong
correlation between prenatal PCB exposure and increases in both
inattention and impulsive behavior.
This is a compelling argument for further
PCB removal. Currently, a major emphasis has been placed in the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the removal of PCBs from toxic
sites as well as school buildings.
More
New Canadian PCB
regulations to be enforced beginning 12/31/2009
Bio Degradation
News Articles
The other PCBs -
Times Union - July 11, 2010
Last year had New York celebrating the 400th
anniversaries of Samuel de Champlain's exploration of the lake
that bears his name and Henry Hudson's voyage along the river
that bears his. The occasions were able to play down the fact
that the connection between those great waterways has seen
decidedly better times.
More
UMass races to
complete PCB cleanup - Berkshire
Eagle - July 9, 2010
AMHERST, Mass. (AP) -- The University of
Massachusetts at Amherst is scrambling to complete the removal
of contaminants from the school's largest student housing area
in time for the start of fall classes. PCBs, or polychlorinated
biphenyls, were discovered in the concrete and caulking of the
concourse at the Southwest Residential Area during renovations
in the spring.
More
PCB cleanup
extension sought - State agency wants Champlain Canal channel
dredged Times Union -
July 5, 2010
ALBANY -- Sometime after PCB dredges hit the Hudson River again
next spring, officials at the state Canal Corp. hope to be part
of the cleanup. But for now, most of the PCB-silted Champlain
Canal navigation channel in the river between Fort Edward and
Troy is outside the 2002 federal plan with General Electric Co.,
something Canal Corp. Executive Director Carmella Mantello tells
anyone willing to listen.
More
Appeals Court
Rejects GE Challenge to Superfund Law -
Wall Street Journal - June 30, 2010
A federal appeals court Tuesday rejected
General Electric Co.'s constitutional challenge to part of the
federal Superfund law that gives the Environmental Protection
Agency the power to order companies to clean up sites
contaminated with hazardous waste. The U.S. Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia Circuit ruled unanimously that the
Superfund law didn't violate GE's constitutional due-process
rights. GE, which has been subject to several cleanup orders,
had argued that the law violated companies' constitutional
rights because they have no meaningful opportunity to contest
the EPA's cleanup orders before they are issued. GE also argued
that companies' have little choice but to comply with a cleanup
order because the potential financial costs of noncompliance are
very high.
More
Don’t Eat Fish from
the Portland Harbor - The
Portlander - May 24, 2010
A new assessment shows that while eating
certain types of fish from the Portland Harbor area continues to
be a serious health threat, the recreational use of the
Willamette River does not pose a health risk. Oregon Public
Health released a health assessment today that reviews data from
hundreds of environmental samples collected from water, fish,
soil and river bottom sediment in the Portland Harbor Superfund
Site study area. These data were used to assess the health risks
for people who use the harbor area recreationally. Under federal
law, the Environmental Health Assessment Program (EHAP) is
required to assess and report on health risks associated with
superfund sites.
More
Experts still
trying to figure out the toxic footprint at Parker Street Waste
Site - South Coast Today - May 23,
2010
The problem with cleaning up the Parker
Street Waste Site is that no one really knows where its exact
boundaries are located. Old aerial photos show evidence of where
much of the Parker Street dump was once located — between the
1930s and 1960s — but the boundaries are irregular and may have
moved over time as dumping ebbed and flowed. Even though the
largest parts of the present 104-acre Parker Street site have
already been tested, and some of it remediated, significant
testing, and possibly remediation, remains to be done. Testing
of the perimeter areas begun at the end of April is being
conducted according to the Environmental Protection Agency's
"Sampling and Analysis Plan." The plan was developed over the
past year with the cooperation of the city of New Bedford, the
state Department of Environmental Protection, and a scientist
(licensed site professional) who represents the local activist
group CLEAN (Citizens Leading Environmental Action Network).
More
Great Lakes Legacy
Act Ottawa River Cleanup Has Begun
- EPA - May 20, 2010
The Ottawa River Group and the state of Ohio
have begun dredging 240,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment
from a 5.5-mile section of the Ottawa River in Toledo, Ohio. The
first phase of the project – removing 10,000 cubic yards of
sediment from Sibley Creek – was completed in April. The $49
million cost of the total project will be split between EPA,
using Great Lakes Legacy Act funds, and the Ottawa River Group.
More
Toxic Legacy: A
long process from approval and construction to remediation
- Southcoasttoday.com - May 16, 2010
On Feb. 12, 2001, the New Bedford School
Committee voted to build the new Keith Middle School on the
Andre McCoy Soccer Field, setting off a now nine-year long
construction and environmental remediation process. During that
time, the estimated cost — 90 percent of which will be paid by
the state of Massachusetts — increased from $42 million to a
one-time estimate as high as $103.6 million (more recently, the
city estimates the costs could end up in the low
ninety-millions, exclusive of a planned $4.5 million field house
at the site.)
More
Toxic timebomb!
State sues chem company for PCBs under Red Hook Park -
Courier-Life Publications - May 12, 2010
'Unacceptable' PCBs under Red Hook Park -
State authorities have discovered “unacceptable” levels of
cancer-causing chemicals near Red Hook Park — and the villain is
the same company recently fingered by the feds for fouling the
Gowanus Canal. The levels of PCBs in the groundwater under the
park near Court and Bay streets are a whopping 110 times higher
than environmental agencies consider safe, according to a
lawsuit against Connecticut-based Chemtura Corp., which operated
a chemical plant at the dirty end of Court Street for four
decades.
More
Danger seen in PCB
canal pollution - Free Press - May
10, 2010
A Wayne State University professor says
sludge samples taken from canals in St. Clair Shores show
dangerous levels of PCB pollution. He was to present his
findings about the Lange and Revere waterways Tuesday to the
Macomb County Health Department. Ed Van Hees, assistant
professor of geology, said his samples taken in February, late
March and early April found PCB levels ranging from 126 parts
per million (ppm), to 700 ppm. That's well below the 825,000 ppm
the Environmental Protection Agency found in November, but well
above the danger range. Federal guidelines consider findings of
50 ppm to designate an area a hazardous-waste site.
PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are industrial compounds
banned in the 1970s after they were found to cause cancer.
More
Brooklyn Park Poses
Health Risk as Chemtura Fights PCB Cleanup -
Business Week - May 7, 2010
The grassy fields of a park in the
gentrifying Red Hook section of Brooklyn are contaminated with
PCBs at a level 110 times what New York environmental agencies
consider safe, according to court records filed in a lawsuit
against bankrupt Chemtura Corp. Linked to liver cancer,
low birth-weight and loss of motor skills, PCBs pose a threat to
park visitors and nearby residents, said Judith Schreiber, chief
scientist in the state attorney general’s environmental bureau.
State and city health and environmental agencies declined to
comment or said they aren’t aware of the risks at the 58-acre
park, a popular spot for soccer games and family picnics.
Chemtura has resisted demands by the state environmental bureau
that it clean up contamination from a leak at its plant, which
abuts the park.
More
GE, EPA debate over PCBs roils waters
- Timesunion.com
- May 7, 2010
Some black humor born of frustration summed
up the mood at the end of three days of hearings Thursday on the
future of PCB dredging of the Hudson River. A seven-member panel
of environmental engineers had spent hours listening to
officials from General Electric Co. and the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency present vastly different conclusions on
lessons learned from the first year of dredging around Fort
Edward, and suggestions for how the project should change before
it resumes in 2011. GE believes so many PCBs were stirred up and
moved downriver that future dredging ought to be scaled back,
and PCBs left behind in the river covered over. EPA counters
that GE is using one-sided data of questionable reliability,
that PCB levels released by dredging were never dangerous and
future dredging can be improved to reduce PCBs escaping into the
river.
More
USA: EPA and GE
have different pictures of how Hudson River Dredging Should
Proceed - Dredging Today
Courier-Life Publications - May 6, 2010
“I don’t see a reason to limit the project
to five years,” said panel Chairman Paul Fuglevand, a private
engineer from Washington State. “Making it longer might provide
a benefit in the long term.” Several other panelists echoed the
opinion, saying the original schedule agreed to in a 2002
cleanup pact by General Electric Co. and the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency could force such a work pace that it would be
practically impossible to avoid spreading too many stirred-up
PCBs downriver. Panelist Richard Fox, a private engineer from
Wisconsin, agreed that there was no need to stick to the
five-year blueprint. Panelists also said that findings last year
that PCBs were more prevalent than expected show that more river
bottom tests need to be done before dredging resumes so work can
be better targeted. The seven-member panel, which concludes its
hearings today at the Queensbury Hotel, appeared unanimous the
project could not continue as designed.
More
Scientists study
results of NY's Hudson dredging -
Business Week - May 4, 2010
A panel of scientists evaluating Hudson
River dredging on Tuesday heard clashing ideas from General
Electric Co. and federal regulators on the best way to continue
the massive cleanup. The panel is studying results of last
year's test dredging at PCB "hot spots" on the river about 40
miles north of Albany. The panel will make recommendations this
summer for the second phase of the dredging, a project that the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants to start next year.
More
APNewsBreak: GE
says Hudson dredging cost $561M -
Associated Press - April 30, 2010
ALBANY, N.Y. — General Electric Co.
estimated the first phase of its PCB dredging project on the
Hudson River cost $561 million, providing first-time cost
details of the massive cleanup. The company provided the
planning and performance cost estimate to a panel of experts
reviewing the project in response to a request from the panel.
The information obtained by The Associated Press on Friday
includes money spent in the years leading up to last year's PCB
dredging. Fairfield, Conn.-based GE reported that the largest
chunk of money, $228 million, was spent on dredging,
transporting and disposing sediment. Another $130 million was
spent to buy equipment and build facilities, including a
sprawling plant to treat the contaminated riverbed mud near the
dredge site 40 miles north of Albany.
More
Ag Company To Pay
$5 Million for PCB Cleanup Near Lewistown Tools -
KFBB - April 26, 2010
A St. Louis company has agreed to pay $5
million to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks to settle a dispute
over PCB contamination near Lewistown. This, after a jury trial
had been underway in Fergus County court. Now, FWP as well as
the Monsanto Company are reacting to this multi-million dollar
settlement.
More
GOED Tackles Recent
Omega 3 Issues - Nutrition
World - April 1, 2010
A lawsuit filed in California claims that 10
types of fish oil supplements tested recently contain
polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), a toxic industrial compound, and
that manufacturers and sellers need to warn consumers under the
state’s Proposition 65 law. Following news of the lawsuit,
industry groups attempted to reassure the public, defending the
safety of fish oil products in general. According to Nutrition
Business Journal, U.S. consumer sales of fish and animal oil
dietary supplements totaled $739 million, representing 18%
growth in 2008.
More
Feds must justify
Allied landfill-cleanup settlement: Kalamazoo River Watershed
Council calling for public meeting, more funding -
Kalamazoo News
- April 8, 2010
Kalamazoo River advocates want federal officials to come to
Kalamazoo and explain how they determined $53.7 million was
enough to clean up the Allied landfill. The Kalamazoo River
Watershed Council says more funding is needed to rid the 80-acre
landfill of material contaminated with polychlorinated
biphenyls, or PCBs.
More
EPA's Phase 1 Evaluation Report - Hudson River Drudging
EPA
On March 8, 2010, EPA and General Electric
Company (GE) released the final version of their respective
Phase 1 Evaluation Reports for the Hudson River dredging
project. EPA will accept public comment on the reports until
April 22, 2010 submit a comment. These reports replace draft
versions of the reports exchanged in mid-January, pursuant to
the Consent Decree under which GE performed Phase 1 of the
dredging. GE's Phase 1 Evaluation Report is available at
www.hudsondredging.com.
More Info
Study Measures
Levels of PCBs Flowing from Indiana Canal to Air and Water
Science Daily, Feb. 24, 2010
A University of Iowa study supports an
earlier UI report that found polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in
sediments lining the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal (IHSC) in
East Chicago, Ind. The study also presents data showing that the
sediments are a significant source of PCBs found in surrounding
air and in Lake Michigan.
More
USA: Get it done efficiently, but do it
in 5 years (Hudson River) -
Dredging Today, Feb. 19, 2010
Officials from the Environmental Protection Agency and General
Electric Co. — the company paying for the cleanup — went through
a litany of problems faced in the first year of the project,
which wrapped up in December. While they differed on both the
statistics of dredging PCBs and the corrective measures,
presentations concluded that the cleanup will be finished in
five years.
More
State says GE's PCB cleanup 'off to a
good start' - LoHud.com, Feb. 18,
2010
The first year of General Electric's cleanup
of PCBs in the Hudson River got a thumbs-up Wednesday from state
environmental regulators, albeit with a couple of caveats.
GE, EPA note higher PCB levels in
Hudson dredging
1/21/2010
The use of the Hudson River estuary has not
proven to be an effective repository for the decomposition of
polychlorinated biphenyls. Although manufacture of these
products was terminated more than 30 years ago the breakdown of
these synthetic compounds continues to be elusive.
This is not a condition where the
manufacturer can rub the dust under the carpet. The biological
consequences and implications for our society have gone on for
decades. What is all the more tragic is that cost effective
solutions for the removal of PCB compounds are available, simple
to administer and can proceed quickly if the resolve is there.
For many PCB discharges we remain confident that purification
procedures using activated alumina remains the most cost
effective solution.
Gary Witman, MD
January 21, 2010
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Hudson River dredging
released almost 25 times more PCBs into the water than expected,
General Electric said Thursday in calling for changes in
performance standards before the massive Superfund cleanup
resumes.
GE and the federal Environmental Protection
Agency each released draft evaluations Thursday of last year's
dredging of PCB "hot spots" north of Albany. The dredging was a
test run for the far larger Phase 2 of the cleanup, which
regulators want to start in 2011. The second phase of dredging
would represent about 90 percent of the cleanup and could take
five years.
More
PCB lawsuit
dismissal unlikely to hurt Fox River cleanup efforts
- The Green Bay Gazette - 12/28/2009
Fragile Labrador
ecosystem overcomes a toxic past -
The Globe and Mail - December 21, 2009
After cleanup in late 1990s, PCB levels in
Arctic wildlife in the Saglek Bay area dropped dramatically
More
Dredging reaches a
decisive moment - Poststar.com
12/12/2009
Dredging on the Hudson River will take a
break in 2010. But the effort to study the effectiveness of the
complicated cleanup could prove to be as contentious and complex
as the $780 million project itself. After years of delays,
lawsuit and protests, the project to remove PCB-tainted sediment
began with much fanfare on May 15.
More
Despite cleanup,
PCBs on rise - FreePress
12/9/2009
Effectiveness of Hudson River dredging called into question
- The Saratogian - 11/13/2009
Hudson Dredging
Season Nears End - The Record -
10/4/2009
Dredging of PCBs from the Hudson River is
beginning to wrap up for the season. When Lock 7 closes in early
November, barges filled with sediment will no longer be able to
travel to the dewatering facility along the Champlain Canal. Approximately 240,000 cubic yards of
sediment have been removed from the river since dredging began
in May. Most of the sediment was removed from several areas in
the eastern and northwestern channels of Rogers Island and two
areas in the eastern channel of Griffin Island.
More
GE and EPA Wrapping
Up Phase 1 of PCB Removal - Eco
Politics Daily - New York League of Conservation Voters -
10/14/2009
The dredging of the upper Hudson River,
phase one of which began in May, is wrapping up this month, and
while the federal Superfund project proved complex and costly,
regulators agree the results are mainly positive. The dredged PCB waste is condensed into a
filter cake, which is then shipped to Texas for permanent
disposal. Phase two, which is slated to begin in 2011, could
push the total project price tag to upwards of $700 million, and
whether the General Electric Company will pay for that leg of
the cleanup is yet unknown.
More
PCB risk feared at
older N.E. schools -
Boston Globe - 9/6/2009
The New England office of the Environmental
Protection Agency has acknowledged the magnitude of the PCB
problem in building construction from the period between 1930
and the late 1970s. Window, brick and masonry caulking
deteriorates and then can fall to the ground, dust windowsills
and infiltrate ventilation systems. While the recommended
guidelines of exposure should not exceed 50 parts per billion,
in some buildings the pcb level in caulking exceeds 200,000
parts per billion. Considerations include removal of all
caulking and to encapsulate PCB contaminated masonry.
More
G.E. Resumes Hudson Dredging, With Limits by E.P.A. -
New York Times - 8/11/2009 -
Hudson River Dredging
Project Portal (GE)
Diaz to Seek Tests of Schools’ Caulking for PCBs –Bronz
Daily News -6/23/2009
Answers About Dredging in the Hudson, Part 3 –The
New York Times -6/19/2009
More
PCBs removed from New Harbour dumpsite –The
Compass -6/16/2009
District raises concerns about school site –the
Almanac -6/16/2009
Get Savvy about fish oil you’re swallowing –News-Sentinel
-6/22/2009
‘Fear-mongering’
and swimming in the Hudson River –Glens
Falls Post -5/28/2009
Cleanup work at Spokane site includes building demolition –Department
of Ecology News Release -6/5/2009
Pushing to be Free in School from PCBs –City
Limits Weekly -6/22/2009
Answers About Dredging in the Hudson –New York Times
-6/17/2009
New Urgency in the Need for PCB Removal
Based on Important New Biological Information Regarding how
these compounds impact on the human brain and behavior -
June, 2009
How PCBs May Hurt the Brain (New Studies Shed Light on
Exposure to Environmental Toxin and Development of Brain Cells)
- MedicineNet - April 13, 2009
Dredging of Pollutants Begins in Hudson -
New York Times - 5/15/2009
Fox River Cleanup PowerPoint Presentation
Costs for PCB cleanup skyrocket, keep rising -
GreenBay
PressGazette.com - April 5, 2009
A New Kind of PCB - The World in Green
Plans to remove east-end PCBs outlined -
London Free Press - 2/20/2009
DESTRUCTION AND DECONTAMINATION TECHNOLOGIES FROM PCBs AND OTHER POPs WASTES
UNDER THE BASEL CONVENTION A Training Manual for Hazardous Waste
Project Managers - Secretariat of
the Basel Convention
Destruction and Removal of PCBs in Waste
Transformer Oil by a Chemical Dechlorination Process -
Dept. of Applied Chemistry, Andong
National University
SECTION TABLE OF CONTENTS - DIVISION 02 - EXISTING CONDITIONS
SECTION 02 61 23 - REMOVAL AND DISPOSAL OF PCB CONTAMINATED
SOILS - United Facilities Guide
Specifications
Polychlorinated Biphenyls; Manufacturing
(Import) Exemption - EPA Federal
Registry Entry
Management of Polychlorinated Biphenyls
[PCBs] Policy - Chemical Control
Centre, University of Windsor
MLGW to Pay $1.2 Million Fine for PCB
Violations -
Occupational
Health & Safety - 11/11/2008
Understanding the new federal
(Canadian) requirements for PCB
destruction HazMat Management -
Winter 2009
Ontario's environment ministry
guarantees no risk during PCB removal
- London
Topic.ca -5/10/2008
The PCB Waste
Export Regulations, 1996 (PCBWER) allow
Canadian owners of PCB waste to export
such wastes to the United States for
treatment and destruction (excluding
landfilling) when these wastes are in
concentrations equal to or greater than
50 parts per million.
The Regulations
require that advance notice of proposed
export shipments be given to Environment
Canada. If the PCB waste shipment
complies with the Regulations for the
protection of human health and the
environment, and authorities in any
countries or provinces through which the
waste will transit do not object to the
shipment, a permit is sent from
Environment Canada to the applicant
authorizing the shipment to proceed.
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