ES&T
CURRENTS INTERNATIONAL Air pollution in Taiwan is said to have become a severe problem be cause of rapid industrialization and urbanization on that island. Pollu tion is especially strong in Taipei, mainly because of vehicles with lit tle or no controls, and in Kaohsiung, because of industry. In the latter city, for example, up to 330 Mg/m 3 of lead, sulfates, and suspended particles were detected, in excess of the 140-Mg standard (in the U.S., the standard is 75 μg). A centralized Bureau of Environ mental Protection was created in 1982, but many believe that pollu tion controls will wait until materi al lifestyles have improved.
WASHINGTON A relatively aggressive approach should be used to control toxic air pollutants because many have been identified as cancer promoters, Bernard D. Goldstein, chairman of EPA's Clean Air Scientific Adviso ry Committee, said recently at the annual meeting of the Air Pollution Control Association. A "fair amount" of evidence indicates that tumor promoters, which aid the de velopment of tumors in people al ready exposed to a primary carci nogenic substance, play an impor tant role in determining whether an individual will contract cancer. Enough is known about a number of substances to take regulatory ac tion, Goldstein said. He noted that 2,3,7,8-TCDD is "by far the great est promoter known." In a draft report to Congress, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ( N R C ) has suggested that the $570-million limit on liability of utilities for damages resulting from a reactor accident be eliminated. Congress established the limit 26 years ago in the Price Anderson Act to encourage the development of the civilian nuclear power indus try. Damages to the public could be hundreds of times higher, accord 0013-936X/83/0916-0397A$01.50/0
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ing to studies by the N R C . The re port suggests that Congress set a limit on the amount any utility would have to pay in one year in stead of limiting total liability.
Ruckelshaus: reduces sanctions Sanctions will no longer be imposed on states solely for failure to attain air quality standards. Those states that have made a reasonable effort to address their air quality prob lems and are carrying out EPAapproved pollution control plans will not be subject to sanctions, EPA Administrator William Ruck elshaus said in June. However, 11 states have been cited by EPA for not establishing inspection and maintenance programs for emission controls on automobiles. They may lose funding to carry out local pro grams or face a ban on construc tion of major sources of a specific pollutant unless they show that they are taking concrete steps to implement the required programs expeditiously. A House agriculture subcommittee was told that more than 50 chemi cals that were tested by the discred ited Industrial Bio-Test Laborato ries (IBT) have been approved for "emergency" use on crops from soybeans to fruit. Allen Spalt, a re searcher for the nonprofit Rural Advancement Fund, did a comput er analysis of EPA records for 25 states and found that more than 40% of the 2089 emergency regis trations were for chemicals tested by IBT. Many of the pesticides ap
1983 American Chemical Society
proved for emergency use were ap plied over extensive areas, even though emergency registrations are intended for small-scale applica tions for special problems. In a re lated development, EPA has noti fied manufacturers of 34 pesticides tested by IBT that the registration of these products will be suspended unless they offer new test data in 90 days or promise to do further tests. Bernard D. Goldstein is expected to be nominated to head EPA's Office of Research and Development, ac cording to agency sources. Gold stein is chairman of the Depart ment of Environmental and Com munity Medicine at Rutgers Medi cal School in New Jersey and chairman of the Clean Air Scientif ic Advisory Committee at EPA. He would replace Courtney Riordan, who has been acting assistant ad ministrator for the office since De cember 1981. EPA has proposed a new standard requiring "best available technolo gy" to reduce by about 20% the in dustrial emissions of inorganic ar senic. It will have some effect on copper smelters and glass manufac turing plants, but will principally affect the copper smelter operated by Asarco, Inc. in Tacoma, Wash., the only smelter that uses ore with a high arsenic content. The arsenic standard is open to debate and change until Sept. 30, the end of the public comment period. Hear ings were held in Tacoma at the end of August when citizens were asked to give their opinions, and according to EPA Administrator William Ruckelshaus, these will be given heavy weight in the final de cision.
STATES The cities of Boston and New York are still releasing billions of gallons of untreated sewage into their har bors each year, even though the Environ. Sci. Technol., Vol. 17, No. 9, 1983
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