Polychlorinated Biphenyls

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday ordered the Smithsonian Institution to begin repairs within 48 hours on high-voltage transformers that are leaking deadly PCBs in its museums. An EPA engineer found several transformers that were leaking the chemical. However, the agency said he "did not see any situation in which the public would come in contact with PCBs. The violations were in the storage area."

State wildlife officials plan to destroy nearly half a million farm-raised trout that became contaminated with PCBs, apparently from paint used at Montana's largest hatchery. The PCB-laden paint was applied more than 25 years ago to the walls of the fish tanks at the Big Springs Trout Hatchery in Lewistown, where the trout are raised to help stock lakes along the Missouri River.

State wildlife officials plan to destroy nearly half a million farm-raised trout that became contaminated with PCBs, apparently from paint used at Montana's largest hatchery. The PCB-laden paint was applied more than 25 years ago to the walls of the fish tanks at the Big Springs Trout Hatchery in Lewistown, where the trout are raised to help stock lakes along the Missouri River.

An Anaheim steel salvage firm is hauling about 250 pounds of new waste a week to a landfill in Arizona, but it has not begun to dispose of a mountain of PCB-contaminated shredded metal waste ordered removed by the city, the company's attorney said Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Anaheim City Council, which has expressed growing frustration over the lack of progress in disposing of the waste, postponed a hearing Tuesday on the fate of the company--Orange County Steel Salvage Inc.

An Anaheim steel salvage firm is hauling about 250 pounds of new waste a week to a landfill in Arizona, but it has not begun to dispose of a mountain of PCB-contaminated shredded metal waste ordered removed by the city, the company's attorney said Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Anaheim City Council, which has expressed growing frustration over the lack of progress in disposing of the waste, postponed a hearing Tuesday on the fate of the company--Orange County Steel Salvage Inc.

The owner of an Anaheim steel salvage firm said Wednesday that he has ordered independent tests to verify the state's finding of highly toxic PCBs in automobile shredder waste stockpiled at his yard. "I just think I should test them," said George Adams Jr., owner of Orange County Steel Salvage Inc. Adams said an Irvine engineering firm, Kennedy/Jenks/Chilton, has been hired to test portions of the same 10 samples taken by the state. He said results are expected in about two weeks.

Health officials have issued warnings against eating certain fish caught in 10 drinking water reservoirs in Marin, Santa Clara, Alameda and Contra Costa counties because of high levels of mercury and PCBs. Largemouth bass contained the highest mercury concentrations, and carp and channel catfish had the highest levels of PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, the advisories said.

Twelve people were hospitalized for observation Wednesday after they came in contact with carcinogenic PCB-bearing oil that leaked from a power transformer aboard a truck on Interstate 70, state police said. Westbound lanes of the highway in the southeastern counties of Licking and Muskingum were closed and traffic rerouted after the leak was discovered, authorities said. PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, were commonly used for transformer coolants until 1976, when they were linked to cancer.

A Northern California manufacturing firm pleaded guilty to importing and distributing electrical products containing a toxic substance linked to cancer, birth defects and fetal deaths. CSI Technologies Inc. of San Marcos was fined $30,000 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for distributing electrical capacitors which contained polychlorinated biphenyls, use of which is banned by the EPA, the agency announced.

CBS Corp. agreed to pay $31.4 million to resolve U.S. and state environmental claims for the cleanup of polluted sites in Indiana. The New York media company is a successor to Westinghouse Electric Corp., which operated an electrical capacitor production facility in Bloomington that put polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in local dumps and the sewer system, the government said.

The owner of an Anaheim steel salvage firm said Wednesday that he has ordered independent tests to verify the state's finding of highly toxic PCBs in automobile shredder waste stockpiled at his yard. "I just think I should test them," said George Adams Jr., owner of Orange County Steel Salvage Inc. Adams said an Irvine engineering firm, Kennedy/Jenks/Chilton, has been hired to test portions of the same 10 samples taken by the state. He said results are expected in about two weeks.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday ordered the Smithsonian Institution to begin repairs within 48 hours on high-voltage transformers that are leaking deadly PCBs in its museums. An EPA engineer found several transformers that were leaking the chemical. However, the agency said he "did not see any situation in which the public would come in contact with PCBs. The violations were in the storage area."