In the Crosshairs
welch, jack
"In the Crosshairs" GE's 25 year voyage of the damned BY JACK WELCH For me, the PCB story started accidentally a couple of weeks before Christmas 1975, when I was a General Electric group executive...
...I asked him if he would go to our plants to study GE employees who had the greatest exposure to PCBs...
...Extremists have latched on to issues like PCBs to challenge the basic role of the corporation...
...It denies you the basic right of due process...
...era Hades FLit...
...Peen what it described as "rrclaaa• Z- of the MW...
...About 1,000 people using a type of vegetable oil from rice hulls in cooking developed severe acne and other symptoms.When PCBs were detected in the oil, the incident became known as the "PCB oil disease...
...weal tC pap the teotpany's rhemnl Contan.reiim of the Hodwr, it.rrr woe an effective preaedeni fm dealing with akuatlora of loin: culpahity-', The eatwarett by RM- Abraham T Sofaer, nee afttr Drkoner Peter A. A- hark the SIAM tare bepertet Ppvinnntalet t Conaem[wn and i,Aw F wriept G.E n" prHdenL vwst.kaal slraerient vnd" hKh the oanlany pkdaed to step dpnplyg to e PCB's lPNyChkruewd Gpheeylst by hey 1, laT7 G.E uter PCs', to make ceptar-PA electtane dance for alertItl~ dy +al plant...
...Normally, in a population of the size he studied- without any major PCB exposure-at least eight cancer deaths would have been expected...
...New York State approved our discharge and issued permits to us for it...
...Art and I negotiated a settlement with DEC commissioner Peter Berle, who later became president of the National Audubon Society.The DEC hearing officer, a Columbia University law professor named Abe Sofaer, helped to mediate the settlement...
...Bald eagles and other wildlife are flourishing in the Hudson Valley.The government's proposal to dredge is based on a wild risk assessment: If a person eats half a pound of fish every week for 40 years, the EPA contends that the person's risk of cancer may increase by one in 1,000...
...directed ee$t ech mla matt cheekahL Jack I4 blch retired lastfall as chairman and CEO of the General Electric Company...
...ud hills F. WekY, a rice prealdead CE fly Genial Ekelrk Campany...
...Some 7,075 current and former employees were involved in the research...
...We'll spend whatever it takes to do the job right...
...In other words, you've got to eat 52 meals a year for four decades before the increase might go up by one in a thousand...
...I decided to drive over the mountain to Albany to find out what was going on...
...Now I was into it...
...The truth is, we never " dumped" PCBs, and we never made them...
...Private investigators were hired to track down some of them through payroll records and old telephone directories...
...Mack's opinion only because we got it from EPA files after a Freedom of Information request...
...Wt, Coaearlaakser k EarkaRwaweai Cassemlbn...
...The EPA is using this law in their dredging proposal...
...The panel was made up of U.S...
...It says nothing about character and everything about age...
...Prom Fort Edward w Alheny, of PCs...
...GE has taken its responsibility for these sites seriously...
...This isn't about what's best for the Hudson River...
...Thomas Mack had this to say: "I found the Kimbrough paper to be well designed, appropriately analyzed and fairly interpreted.The follow-up was complete...
...I had never dealt with PCBs before, but being a chemical engineer, I was familiar with plant discharges, and I was curious about this hearing...
...Never mind that eating fish from the river has been banned for two decades or that PCB levels in the water and fish have fallen 90 percent since 1977...
...Irwin Selikoff, then head of Mount Sinai's Environmental School of Medicine...
...government and academic researchers led by the former head of the National Cancer Institute, Dr...
...Some fifty boats and barges would have to be in the river fulltime, along with miles of pipelines to carry PCBs...
...It's nothing more than the flesh and blood of the people who make it come alive...
...Internally, our PCB efforts were led by Steve Ramsey, former head of the justice Department's Environmental Enforcement, who now leads GE's environmental and safety operations...
...Unfortunately, this issue is no longer about PCBs, human health and science...
...SSPTZMR&R l, Idfd Peter A. A. bark...
...Our expert didn't look or sound like one...
...Selikoff, I wanted a recognized scientist with unassailable integrity and credentials to look at PCBs again.This time, in April 1992, we asked Dr...
...The EPA proposes building plants along the river to dry the mud that would be carried away in tens of thousands of . trucks or railcars.After the EPA gets the sediment out, they're proposing to add two billion pounds of sand and gravel back into the river...
...As part of its review of the Kimbrough work before their final decision, the EPA asked an epidemiologist at the University of Southern California's Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center for his opinion...
...Like most other companies, we disposed of our wastes legally, under government permits when required...
...I wanted to know if PCBs caused cancer in humans and whether our workers were at risk...
...These people often see companies as inanimate objects, incapable of values and feelings...
...In 1999, Dr...
...So I went down to see Dr...
...It would take 24 hours of dredging a day, six days a week, for six months each year...
...The more I listened, the more uncomfortable I got...
...JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2002 • THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR 65 preparation by the Department of a plan of action to obtain such funds including specifying applications will be made to federal agencies and/or other sources of funds in as expeditious a manner as possible...
...We do have a large number of these sites, 85 to be exact...
...Pro...
...I knew that if a company-funded study were to have any credibility, I had to get the most widely respected scientist I could find...
...One of the puzzling things about the EPA's proposal is that it failed to analyze whether there were less destructive and less disruptive alternatives...
...That day, GE's expert witness was testifying.A biologist and vice president of a laboratory hired by us, he claimed his tests showed negligible levels of PCBs in fish from the Hudson...
...alraenenl...
...Unfortunately, his correction got little or no recognition...
...Activists think we should be quiet and do what we're told...
...in the paper are appropriate...
...This law was known as the Superfund Act...
...It's about politics and punishing a successful company...
...I was visiting a semiconductor plant in Syracuse one day when the division manager happened to mention casually that NewYork's Department of Environmental Conservation was going to hold a hearing soon...
...Kimbrough found that rats fed large doses of PCBs had increased tumors in their livers...
...h-lh...
...Otherwise you face treble damages and daily fines...
...The law gives the EPA power to issue orders of unlimited scope...
...Selikoff first examined over 300 volunteers from the two GE factories...
...In the Crosshairs GE's 25 year voyage of the damned BY JACK WELCH For me, the PCB story started accidentally a couple of weeks before Christmas 1975, when I was a General Electric group executive in Pittsfield...
...I think it is appropriate to downgrade the priority given to PCBs...
...The settlement had been made on the basis of animal studies...
...We made some progress in getting the facts out...
...Criticizing us for having these sites is like criticizing someone for having gray hair...
...He had trouble giving a straight answer...
...First, they say GE has more Superfand sites than any other company...
...At the majority of the Superfund sites, GE has less than 5 percent of the liability for what was put there...
...and IM care wR ach pay 'T.3 -IBM The in recommendMl the +peel lv pot upll nlllim,,,r, for pats...
...end Tort Edward, north of ARany- Ann the manufedutttta pnKaa1, the PCO i fore been ratt+nety drrcharled [nib the Huddvn for about 23 Vol...
...This isn't about money...
...Selikoff had become something of an environmental icon after finding that exposure to asbestos could cause lung cancer...
...The prior insulating material caught fire and could explode...
...now iatnatrd the Bare, limap beneath the err...
...We've spent almost $1 billion in the last decade on their cleanup...
...GE was founded in 1892 and has had more factories in more towns than any other company in the world...
...Two months later, the DEC hearing officer issued an interim ruling that in his words claimed "PCB contamination" was a result "of both corporate abuse and regulatory failure," because our PCB usage had been legal and to discharge them...
...There was little argument over the information in the campaign...
...She was heavily involved in this work in the mid1970s when she was at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and later at the EPA...
...Almost 40 years later, in 1977, a government report by NIOSH stated that the Halowax experiences "have continued to be erroneously cited...
...New York's DEC agreed to match our contribution and release us from any further liability on the Hudson...
...Kimbrough issued a striking report.The death rate due to all types of cancer for employees at our plants was at or significantly below the general and regional population rates...
...Arthur Upton...
...Through this long, drawn-out controversy, GE has been portrayed as an uncaring big business that "dumped" PCBs from plants in Hudson Falls and Fort Edward, NewYork...
...Governor l:-ray pined caientr.pdar beck in say~st that Iha afreernent nnehenaed taw 'rhared responsib.hly of to pale end G.E- In KR pollpltm of It* Hudson.' Thai Is why, Me Rear lay, bode the oar...
...The PCB issue had been raised much earlier when two major false alarms were sounded.The first was in the 1930s, when a chemical mixture containing PCBs known as Halowax led to a serious acne-like condition and, in a few cases, deaths due to liver dis ease...
...I knew if he couldn't convince me, he couldn't convince the hearing officer...
...GE has spent more than $200 million on research, investigation and cleanup...
...At the end of the day, what happens in rats does not happen in humans when both are exposed to PCBs...
...I sat in the back of the hearing room, and no one knew I was there...
...e0NnHti,F Commly.mer pdoe R. Rend beEa an tore saeinu com pany...
...rmplcyina ahartt 1300 ..o,t...
...Why doesn't a rational mind come to the conclusion that that risk is practically lower than breathing...
...Death certificates were examined...
...I gave Selikoff total access to our employees...
...But the workers weren't sick.When scientists dosed monkeys with PCBs and these different chemicals, they concluded that it was these other chemicals- and not PCBs-that caused theYusho incident...
...More than twenty studies-most completely independent of GE-show no link between PCBs and cancer...
...But it didn't end there...
...It was those false alarms that prompted an American researcher, Dr...
...In a letter to the chief of the EPA's risk methods group, Dr...
...PCBs were viewed as a lifesaving chemical...
...To tell this story to the people in the Upper Hudson and explain why we oppose dredging, we've spent over $10 million on an information campaign.That caused a controversy as well...
...After studying this further, however, he corrected himself in 1939, by stating that PCBs were "almost non-toxic...
...Corporations are human.When they're big, they're an easy target...
...Why would anyone rip up the Hudson...
...wilt attar.[, in als*Atpo to desn.e a SG'm.k.truth of IM Hodrm...
...After the hearing, I called Art Puccini, my general counsel, and asked him to come over from Pittsfield...
...He and a GE scientist, Dr...
...Steve Hamilton, knew critics would still be skeptical of GE-funded research.They established an advisory panel to peer review the Kim brough and other studies...
...Even today, it's not unusual to get a call from a reporter thinking he has discovered some new "explosive evidence" in these old Halowax incidents discredited by both scientists and the government...
...Just as I had in 1975 with Dr...
...We've reduced the PCBs coming out of the bedrock under our old facilities from five pounds per day to three ounces.We think we now have the technology to reduce the daily seepage to zero...
...But the number has everything to do with our longevity and our size...
...A couple of days later, I was in my Pittsfield office and had a slow day...
...government on PCBs...
...GE isn't made up of bricks and buildings...
...After questioning him until 2:30 a.m., we were convinced that he hadn't done a thorough job.We felt we could not use his data or allow the hearing officer to use it, either...
...1= 71.111 ..heat harlaas arSer the , ,e ly law prekear who crAduned We, aerated I I day, of waritaoay nosed harinp of state potluetee themes apm.l the General EttCt iS Cof.pany said here today that yesterday's wee...
...Today, the EPA says the Hudson is safe for swimming, boating, wading and use as a source of drinking water...
...I'm a chemical engineer and not a constitutional lawyer, but I can't understand why in God's name this makes any sense under our Constitution...
...He put a research team together and set up a lab at our Fort Edward plant...
...After doing all this, dredging won't get PCBs out of the Hudson...
...Their use was dictated by fire and building codes because they solved a long-standing problem in electrical equipment...
...These best efforts will include we had state permits THE NEW YORK TIMES, THURSDAY...
...More than sixty Upper Hud son River local governments and organizations oppose dredging...
...It's a shoot-first-ask-questions-later law We believe that's wrong...
...JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2002 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR 67...
...I doubt this would have seen the light of day if we hadn't used the law to dig it out of the EPA...
...Art and I asked the "GE expert" to come to my motel room...
...and GS...
...I1tll taacay a year ep, P itaH Sale, noted, when former 3aradme,, Fa...
...Nothing has changed since then, except the politics-and PCB levels in fish have been reduced by 90 percent...
...Reprinted by permission o rifer Books...
...Another common complaint is that we're challenging the Superfund law so we can get off the hook for our cleanup obligations.Yes, we have challenged a portion of the law Americans are used to getting their day in court.This is true for everything from traffic offenses to murder...
...We agreed to pay $3.5 million to a river cleanup fund, support research on PCBs, and stop using the chemical...
...PCBs are a case where good science and common sense have been drowned out by loud voices and extreme views...
...Excerpted from Jack: Straight From the Gut, byJaek Welch with John A. Byrne...
...Other scientists studied utility workers and Westinghouse employees who had been heavily exposed to PCBs.Alexander Smith, of the government's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, gave the most succinct summary of this work in 1982...
...den as ayaemras in Albany Wiring the aae or the PCBs dumped itl1o the Hudae...
...G.E.-State Pact on PCB Is Praised As Guide in Other Pollution Cases outside AEJAHY...
...However, later analysis by Japanese scientists found that the oil also contained high levels of two other chlorinated chemicals, both high-temperature by-products of PCBs.They also examined Japanese electrical workers and found they had higher levels of PCBs in their blood than theYusho patients...
...This now seemed important enough that I should stay overnight...
...The EPA's final decision should take into account the views of those most affected by their proposal...
...Destroy the ecosystem...
...None of the published occupational or epidemiological studies (including ours), however, have shown that occupational exposure to PCBs is associated with any adverse health outcome...
...Source control coupled with the natural sedimentation in the river would reduce PCBs in fish to the same level as dredging might, without re-suspension-and without destroying the river...
...O.Ef had -Pep--W end obtained` Federal end stale peer tt to dung PCB's elo the xudwn...
...Levels in fish are now down to between three to eight parts per million.Two is the level the FDA says is safe for sale at the fish market...
...We asked him to walk us through all the details of his handwritten control sheets for the study...
...He said it would focus on a possible violation by two of his capacitor plants in upstate NewYork that were discharging PCBs into the Hudson River...
...Another false alarm, the Yusho incident, was sounded in Japan in 1968...
...His final sentence is telling: "I'm sure this has not been particularly useful for you, but it's the best I can do...
...The remaining liability is shared by dozens of other parties, including municipalities, other companies and waste haulers...
...Renate Kimbrough, to do one of the first rat studies for the U.S...
...The implication is that we did something wrong...
...The agency proposes removing eight billion pounds of sediment from the Hudson to get at probably 100,000 pounds of PCBs...
...Knock the trees down to widen the roads through farmlands and backyards to remove whatever they were after...
...Polls show that by more than three to one, the people in the Upper Hudson, from Washington to Dutchess counties, are against the EPA dredging proposal...
...For years, those employees had worked in it up to their elbows...
...His study, finally published in 1982, is what convinced me more than anything else that PCBs didn't cause cancer...
...Kimbrough to take on the assignment...
...Sept...
...Kimbrough studied virtually everyone who ever worked at those two GE plants in Hudson Falls and Fort Edward between 1946 and 1977...
...The EPA itself rejected dredging in 1984, saying it could be devastating to the ecosystem...
...He listened carefully to my request...
...This isn't the case when the EPA issues a Superfund order.You really have only one choice under the law: Do what the agency tells you or else...
...The Times quoted Sofaer, who called the settlement "an effective precedent for dealing with situations ofjoint culpability...
...He seemed unsure of his own work...
...What do our critics using PCBs as the foil say about us...
...Berle and I eventually signed the settlement.The Neiv rkTiinies ran a picture of both of us above the headline, "GEState Pact on PCB Is Praised As Guide in Other Pollution Cases...
...The next day, I told our defense lawyers not to rely on his data and to tell the hearing officer the same thing...
...A Harvard scientist studying the incident first reported that PCBs were the most toxic component of the mixture...
...Over the years, the debate has gone from PCBs to a more fundamental crusade...
...In 1980, Congress 66 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR , JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2002 passed a law to address the cleanup of sites where wastes had been disposed in the past...
...The September 8, 1976, agreement even required the state to turn to the federal government for money if any further action to protect public health and resources were needed...
...Think about the magnitude of what the EPA's proposal would do...
...It would be an environmental disaster...
...I could have strangled him...
...Divers would also have to replace one million aquatic plants destroyed by dredging...
...And when they're winners, they're an even bigger target...
...Selikoff's mortality study found there were no cancer deaths or other serious side effects among workers 30 years after they were first exposed...
...Imagine if someone came along with a commercial proposition to dredge anything out of the Hudson River.Tear up the banks...
...He wrote: "One would expect that adverse human health effects from exposure to PCBs, if they exist, would most readily be identified in groups with the greatest exposures...
...We know about Dr...
...That's as clear as can be on page three of the agreement:"In the event that the funds herein provided for implementing remedial action concerning PCBs present in the Hudson River shall be inadequate to assure protection of public health and resources, then the Department will use its best efforts to obtain additional funds, from sources other than General Electric, that are necessary to assure such protection...
...It's made up of people who live in the same communities, whose children go to the same schools, as the critics.They have the same hopes and dreams, the same hurts and pains...
...It will cause resuspension of buried PCBs that will flow down river...
...Governor Hugh Carey later offered to drink a glass of water from the Hudson River to demonstrate his confidence that the river water was not harmful...
...my bottom line is that the summary statements...
...rle ode fwd ewer rktned that G.E's KR dtrcharles Wolaetd stale oiler Aolity Standard...
...You get no hearing before being ordered to do the work.You get no hearing until many years later, and then only when the EPA chooses to tell you the work is done...
...CdWnke VIY...
Vol. 35 • January 2002 • No. 1
