Toxic Chemicals Leak

ITHACA, N.Y. and COLLEGE PARK, Md.--PCBs, one of the most toxic man-made organic compounds, have been leaking from a transformer at Cornell University for two years, Henry E. Doney, director of utilities, said this week.

The leaking transformer is located in a hall used for meat processing and the PCBs in the air could be absorbed into the fat tissues of the meat, a Cornell professor who wanted to remain anonymous, said. A few hundred transformers on campus are cooled by PCBs and one or more probably leaks every year, Doney said.

A woman who works in the building said the smell the solution was noticeable all over the building and was so "terrible" near the transformer that the man who works in the office next to the transformer did not want to enter the building.

Meat was being smoked in the building this week, she said, adding that the fumes were in the same part of the building as the meat.

PCBs are fat-soluble and build up in these tissues, the chemistry professor said. PCBs have long toxicity and build up in the liver, another professor said, adding that they are never excreted from the body.

At the University of Maryland, electrical equipment has been leaking PCBs since August, in violation of federal safety guidelines, physical plant officials at the university said last month.

The officials said government investigators did not find the leakage significant enough to warrant shutting the equipment down, but Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines state, "Transformers containing PCBs can be used as long as they perform their intended function and do not leak PCBs into the environment."

"Under our regulations, use of a leaking transformer is a violation of the rules," Bill Bunter, EPA toxic substances project manager, said.

Three leaks were detected during an annual check in August, Jack Cooke, physical plant maintenance supervisor, said. One of the leaking transformers was kept in operation, Steve Tranum, physical plant electrical shop supervisor, said, adding that the physical plant will continue to operate until spring.

William Horsey, physical plant director said ten days ago that the operation of the leaking transformer is within EPA guidelines because a state inspector has looked at it.

But an EPA staff member said the agency has not yet sent an investigator to the campus, and has not authorized any state agency to make the investigation in its place.