Abstract |
Polychlorinated biphenyls in soil have been monitored since 1972 as part of the National Soils Monitoring Program, originally established to measure pesticide residue levels in agricultural soils, raw agricultural commodities, and urban soils across the Nation. The PCB's are monitored as part of this program because of their chemical similarity to certain chlorinated pesticides. The PCB's have rarely been detected in agricultural soils of the United States. Only 0.1 percent of the soil samples collected in the National Soils Monitoring Program for 1972 contained detectable PCB levels. However, detectable levels of PCB's occur more frequently in urban soils. Of the 19 metropolitan areas sampled since 1971, 12 of the cities, or 63 percent showed detectable PCB levels. The most commonly encountered PCB was Aroclor 1254, which was identified in approximately 40 percent of the positive samples, while Aroclor 1260 was prevalent in about 20 percent of the positive samples. |