PCBS

The Issue
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a type of synthetic chemicals that were manufactured for use in various industrial and commercial applications - including oil in electrical and hydraulic equipment, and plasticizers in paints, plastics and rubber products - because of their non-flammability, chemical stability, high boiling point and electrical insulation properties. PCBs are familiar to most people through their trade names (e.g., Aroclor).   Although their production in the US was banned by the 1979 Toxic Substances Control Act, PCBs may be present in products and materials produced before the ban and can be released into the environment from poorly maintained hazardous waste sites that contain PCBs; illegal or improper dumping of PCB wastes; leaks or releases from electrical transformers containing PCBs; and disposal of PCB-containing consumer products into municipal or other landfills not designed to handle hazardous waste.
Once in the environment, PCBs do not readily break down and therefore cycle for long periods of time between air, water, and soil.  PCBs can be transported far from where they were released so are now found all over the world.   PCBs have been demonstrated to cause cancer, as well as a variety of other adverse health effects on the immune system, reproductive system, nervous system, and endocrine system.

EPA Action
EPA's first assessment of PCB carcinogenicity was completed in 1987. In 1996, at the direction of Congress, EPA completed a reassessment of PCB carcinogenicity, titled "PCBs:  Cancer Dose-Response Assessment and Application to Environmental Mixtures" (1996). This assessment was reviewed by 15 experts on PCBs, including scientists from government, academia and industry.  The peer reviewers agreed with EPA's conclusion that PCBs are probable human carcinogens.

Related Links

• EPA’s PCB Web Site
• Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
• EPA’s Region 10’s Web site about PCBs in the Pacific Northwest
• IRIS Health Assessment for PCB and Aroclor

Best Resources

U.S. EPA. Pilot Survey of Levels of Polychlorinated Dibenzo-P-Dioxins (PCDDs), Polychlorinated Dibenzofurans (PCDFs), Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB) and Mercury in Rural Soils of the U.S. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-05/043F, 2007.

Winters, D., S. Anderson, M. Lorber, J. Ferrario, AND C. Byrne. Trends in Dioxin and PCB Concentrations in Meat Samples from Several Decades of the 20th Century. , Organohalogen Compounds 38:75-78, (1998).

Korrick, S. A. AND L. Altshul. High Breast Milk Levels of Polychlorinatede Biphenyls (PCBS) Among Four Women Living Adjacent to a PCB-Contaminated Waste Site. , ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES 106(8):513-518, (1998).

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