PCB's Are Not Proven To Cause Cancer in Humans

Letter to the Editor Copyright 1998 New York Times August 16, 1998

To the Editor:

"New Jersey's Other Shore," the Aug. 9 cover article about the Delaware River, refers to PCB's as "an industrial byproduct that causes cancer." There is no credible scientific evidence that PCB's at any level of human exposure cause cancer. The Environmental Protection Agency has identified PCB's as a "probable" cause of cancer based solely on high-dose toxicity experiments in rodents, while workers exposed to PCB's over a period of decades have not been found to have a higher rate of cancer, or any other disease, even after decades of observation. Such inaccurate media pronouncements do a disservice to the public health by diverting attention from our real health priorities.
 
ELIZABETH M. WHELAN
Brant Beach
 
The writer is president of the American Council on Science and Health.

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