MERCURY:
High Levels in Foods Another distressing report concerning the pervasive presence of mercury in the biosphere has surfaced in Canada where chemists at University of To ronto have analyzed more than 300 samples of foods and human hair and found disquietingly high levels of mer cury. Dr. Robert E. Jervis and his co workers subjected cereal grains, meat, fish, poultry, milk products, tea, game birds, vegetables, fruit, baby food, and even wine, to neutron activation analy sis and found that more than half the samples exceeded World Health Or ganization recommended safety limits of 0.05 p.p.m. mercury. Specifically, U.S., Canadian, and other wheats were found to contain from 0.02 to 0.085 p.p.m. mercury. Japanese and French wheats were ex ceptions, containing 0.15 and 0.25 p.p.m., respectively. North American rice contained "only" 0.05 p.p.m. mer cury, but Asian samples showed 0.2 to 0.4 p.p.m. mercury. Several samples of powdered milk contained more than 0.1 p.p.m., Dr. Jervis found. Pork, calf, and beef liver samples showed higher levels than the recommended maximum. In addi tion to the well-documented and widely acknowledged contamination of fish, which Dr. Jervis' work confirmed, mercury is apparently present in per haps excessive quantities in everything from apples and walnuts, to beans and potatoes, carrots and parsley, baby food, and even spinach, the vegetable urged on generations of resisting chil dren. Dr. Jervis does not claim that his samples constitute a statistically valid cross section of Canada's food supply. He does note that the significance of WHO's suggested maximum of 0.05 p.p.m. may be questionable with such a large number of common foods con taining more than this maximum. The results of the Toronto chemists' hair sample analysis may be even more distressing than their work with foods. Mercury's toxic effects apparently co incide with concentrations of the metal in hair of about 150 p.p.m. Dr. Jer vis' belief that this level is critical is based on his analysis of hair samples from Japanese stricken with mercury poisoning at Niigata and from the Huckleby family of New Mexico, which was also stricken after eating pork contaminated with mercury. Apparently, toxic effects began at about the 150 p.p.m. level. Hair samples obtained from Canadian citizens of the Kenora-Dryden district and the Lake St. Clair area showed that 75'γ of the individuals had ab normally high levels of mercury in their hair, and that these levels—which cor 8 C&EN OCT. 5, 1970
relate well with fish consumption— sometimes reach 50 to 100 p.p.m. Control samples from individuals who have not apparently been unusu ally exposed to the element show levels ranging from 0.2 to 15 p.p.m. This represents a safety factor in many cases "not much greater than a factor of 10 to 20," Dr. Jervis says. "This is not considered an adequate margin of safety by most toxicologists," he adds.
GM STRIKE:
Lowering the GNP Chemical manufacturers, textile pro ducers, and petroleum refiners, among others, stand to lose between $4 and $6 million per week because of the General Motors strike. The work stop page also means a weekly loss of $39 million to steelmakers, $20 million to the rubber and plastics industries, $2.9 million to the glass industiy, and $1.7 million to the paint industry. That is the gist of an analysis of the strike's impact on U.S. industry pre pared by Cybermatics, Inc., a Fort Lee, N.J., computer information ser vices firm. According to the analysis, the strike reduces the 1970 gross na tional product by about $290 million each week that it continues. Most of the loss could be made up by the end of the year, however, if the strike is settled quickly. Cybermatics says that GM dealers with inventories of cars and parts on hand will not feel the full effect of the strike for three or four weeks, but that GM's suppliers will feel the pinch "within days." Apparently the pinch is already be ing felt. Uniroyal—which says that GM is its largest single customer for auto tires—has closed its 1100employee tire plant at Opelika, Ala. "for the duration," laid off 650 em ployees at its Detroit tire plant, and instituted temporary shutdowns affect ing some 3500 employees at California and Massachusetts tire factories and Louisiana plastics plants. Major steel makers are also being forced to cut production. Noting that GM's domestic output accounts for about 35% of the U.S. auto and truck industry's total, Cyber matics' analysts say that GNP will be reduced by about $240 million each week in lost auto sales and by about $50 million in reduced spending by strikers and employees of affected in dustries. The company's figures are obtained by updating and analyzing data from the Department of Commerce's input 7 output tables. Computations are based on anticipated rates of auto pro duction, GM's normal share of the mar ket, and the sales expected to go to
THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEEK
GM's competitors as a result of the strike. The survey stresses that the weekly "losses" will not necessarily have a cu mulative effect on annual GNP: "If the strike is settled quickly and if GM can produce enough by year's end to make up for production lost in the strike, the net effect on GNP would be minimal." Historically, Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. observes in its September survey, even prolonged strikes have had only transitory effects on business in general. What the strike may do, according to the survey, is "blur trends" and make it difficult to deter mine whether the recovery of the economy has begun.
WASTE RECOVERY:
From Tires, Pulp Recycling industrial wastes, touted as the best solution to pollution control and raw material conservation, has made gains on the philosophic, com mercial, and research fronts in recent weeks. Last week, Cities Service Co. and Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. announced an experimental process for turning old tires into carbon blackused principally for making new tires. Georgia-Pacific started up a $5 million water pollution control system for its Woodland, Me., mill that recycles
Dow's Barnes Recycling is a social responsibility
INFLATION:
How Much to Expect
Cities Service-Goodyear's process makes carbon black from oil and scrap tires
most of the plant's wastes. On the philosophic side, a Dow Chemical executive urges chemical engineers to design completely closed-loop plants as their social responsibility. The Cities Service-Goodyear tire recycle process joins another method for disposal of old tires unveiled by Firestone four months ago (C&EN, June 8, page 12). The Firestone process uses destructive distillation to convert shredded tires into various chemicals for uses as fuel or chemical raw materials. The Cities Service-Goodyear process involves grinding up old tires, removing the wire and fabric, and mixing the ground rubber with oil for the production of carbon black. Carbon black, used to give tires strength, is normally produced by incomplete combustion of oil. Goodyear claims that the rubber from one passenger tire provides enough carbon black to produce a new passenger tire. Pilot plant tests indicate that a mixture of 20% scrap tires and 80% oil produces good quality carbon black. If this 20-80 mixture were used to produce all the carbon black needed by industry, Goodyear explains, some 60 million scrap tires would be consumed each year. Further process developments to increase the proportion of rubber to 60% would make it possible to consume all the 180 million tires scrapped each year, the firm points out. Disposal of wire and fabrics has not yet been solved by the two companies. In Maine, Georgia-Pacific's Woodland mill now has a closed-loop system for its industrial and sanitary wastes. The facilities consist of four parts: an effluent clarifier, color-removal clarifier, sanitary sewage treatment plant, and kraft mill liquor recy-
cling system. The color removal unit uses a unique lime recycling process, Georgia-Pacific points out. The total process removes up to 96% solids, 82% of the oxygen demand for liquid wastes, and provides fuel from the recovered solid wastes for a new power plant with its own pollution controls. The company is nearing completion of a similar system for its Arkansas operations. In the process, the effluent clarifier handles waste from throughout the mill. The resulting sludge is dewatered and sent to the power plant to be burned. Colored effluent is mixed with lime at the color removal clarifier. The lime reacts with the colored compounds, which become a sludge. This lime sludge is dewatered and fed to a kiln where 80% of the lime is recovered for recycling. Back in the Midwest at Dow Chemical's Midland complex, Dr. Earle B. Barnes, Dow vice president and general manager of the firm's U.S. operations, told the local section of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers that "the plant of the future must be a completely closed cycle as far as air and water contamination are concerned." Dow's Midland division has already been pledged to this objective. Dr. Barnes adds that this commitment extends "an adequate challenge to chemical engineers, and for that matter, all good engineers and scientists. Engineers should not wait for the managers of industry to tell them to build clean plants; they should exhibit their own social consciousness in their jobs. Chemical engineers should aggressively lead the way in environmental control, which can help enhance the somewhat tarnished and battered image of the chemical industry."
Chemical executives will be watching closely in coming months for evidence that inflation has finally been curbed. How much inflation to expect is a nagging question for chemical managers charged with planning their company's future. Many executives in the chemical industry point out that recent wage increases won by labor unions, coupled with the continued escalation in the price of raw materials, services, and land, indicate that the problem of excessive inflation has not been solved, despite the assurances of members of the Nixon Administration to the contrary. Economists responding to a survey conducted by the National Association of Business Economists share this concern over inflation. In response to questions on economic policy, 56.9% of the respondents indicated that government administrators should give curbing inflation higher priority for corrective action than decreasing unemployment. Economists at the National Industrial Conference Board's "Business1971" conference in New York generally call for an economic upturn in the coming year and characterize 1970 as a year of "no real growth." Walter A. Couper, director of economic research for Federated Department Stores, Inc., told the conference that gross national product should climb to $1046 billion in 1971 from this year's $977 billion level. In terms of real growth, however, GNP will average $726 billion in 1970 and $754 billion in 1971 for a 3.8% gain. Other bright spots for 1971, according to Mr. Couper, are that the consumer has money and will begin spending, monetary policy will relax and interest rates drop somewhat, the nation's manufacturing plants will operate at 5 to 5.5% below capacity, inflationary pressures will diminish, housing starts should be up 18%, and the nation should shift from a war- to a peacetime economy. Although the overall outlook is sanguine, there are many factors holding back a rapid economic advance: Outlays for new plant and equipment should grow only modestly in 1971, after plateauing in the first half of 1970. The length and costliness of the General Motors strike still aren't known and labor contracts between the steel industry and the United Steel Workers expire in July. Chemical executives may also find that the demand for money exceeds the supply. Tilford C. Gaines, vice president and economist at Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co., says that long-term financing of all types is likely OCT. 5, 1970 C&EN 9
