PCB's: Threat or No Threat?

Chapter 24 of the book The Hudson River Estuary, begins with a startling statistic: "From the latter 1940's until 1977, the General Electric Corporation discharged an estimated 200,000 to 1.3 million pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the Hudson River..." (349). This is a staggering number, but the effects of these PCBs were not known until decades later. Are these chemicals harmful to people? Have these chemicals had an adverse effect on the human and animal development along the Hudson? Levinton first addresses these questions by stating two main points: 1) PCB levels of fish in the Hudson are well above those levels that are believed to harm humans and 2) That PCBs have caused harm along the Hudson based on the extremely high concentrations in certain areas (352). Levinton then goes on to describe the possible effects that PCBs have on humans which are not limited to developmental and learning disorders, impairing human immune systems, and low birth rates. Although the GE plant does not currently PCBs into the Hudson, the levels of concentration that have accumulated over the years have been harmful to the human and animal life that have been exposed to the river. In fact, PCBs that have been ingested by fish can directly affect the health of those humans who eat the contaminated fish. This is one of the main connections that Levinton makes between the high levels of PCBs and the exposure and effects on humans. Levinton points out, however, that determining the levels of PCB exposure that are harmful to people can be very difficult, and that these risks need to be judged by probabilities. He talks about the probability that someone will be affected by PCBs, based on the number of fish that person eats. The FDA set an acceptable level of PCB-exposed fish two decades ago, but this number has changed due to the increase in the number of fish people eat worldwide (352).

I think that Levinton makes some interesting points in his chapter about the effects of the GE dumping of PCBsPCBs have on humans, but his main point is that the high levels of PCBs along the Hudson have and could continue to cause harm to humans who are exposed to the Hudson. According to Levinton, "the large quantity of PCBs residing in the sediments of the Upper Hudson River are not permanently sequestered, but rather are currently leaking back into the water, comprising the largest single source of PCBs to the river. Even though New York and GE have cleaned up their acts, the effects of the dumping are and will be continued to be felt by the animal and human lives that come into contact with the Hudson. PCBs are harmful to humans, but stopping the dumping of PCBs is no longer the only solution to the problem. New York must come up with a way that protects its citizens from the leaking PCBs in the sediments of the Hudson, because prolonged contamination could result in harmful effects for generations to come. Levinton even suggests that a plan to tackle the PCBs in the sediments of the Hudson is the answer to prolonged contamination, and although this would be costly, the cost of human lives is greater. People will feel the negative effects of PCB exposure as long as the existence of PCBs in the sediment of the Hudson continues. The problem of PCB contamination has not been solved, and the effects of GE's dumping can still be felt almost 30 years after it stopped.

I am not confident that we now have systems in place that would prevent this from happening with some new product. I think that the fact that we did not understand the effects of PCBs on humans and wildlife along the Hudson proves that we will not know about another potentially dangerous product begins to emerge in the waters of the Hudson or another body of water. The fact of the matter is that until we as people feel the negative effects of something, we will not do anything to protect ourselves from another product. Global warming is a perfect example. People as a whole were polluting the environment through industrialization, littering, and CO2 emissions from the early 20th century until about 10-15 years ago. It was not until we saw the negative effects of global warming until we decided that recycling, using less energy, hybrid cars, and other environmentally friendly ideas were important to our future. Whatever the next crisis, the appropriate system to research and determine the effects of this crisis will not come into effect until we feel the negative effects of the crisis. Although we have advanced exponentially in technology since GE was dumping PCBs, people feel no real sense of urgency until other people begin to get sick or die.