sive increase in the use of synthetic organic pesticides in the late 1940's 

 and 1950's led to research programs for their detection and measurement; 

 for the identification of their breakdown products; and for the determina- 

 tion of their accumulation in water, soil, and the bodies of organisms, and 

 their metabolic pathways and passage through the food chain. Extensive 

 studies have been and are being carried on to develop methods for 

 collecting these materials from water supplies and other portions of man's 

 environment and to determine their possible carcinogenic and other adverse 

 effects . 



Following the passage by the U.S. Congress in 1948 of Public Law 845, 

 which was an important milestone in the struggle to abate pollution, the 

 Cincinnati laboratory of the U.S. Public Health Service was enlarged and 

 designated as the Environmental Health Center. Activities were reor- 

 ganized, and more emphasis was placed on research by the establishment of a 

 Research and Development Branch. An Aquatic Biology Section was set up 

 under my direction. The research effort was divided between two projects: 

 the biology of water supply and the determination of water quality criteria 

 for aquatic life. 



The water-supply unit, under the leadership of CM. Palmer, directed 

 its studies to the identification and control of organisms producing tastes 

 and odors, to the identification and removal of substances producing tastes 

 and odors, and to the identification of filter-clogging organisms and their 

 control. The usual method for the control of tastes and odors in water 

 supplies was to treat with chlorine or absorb the offending sub- 

 stances on activated carbon. The chlorine treatment was entirely experi- 

 mental and often was ineffective or resulted in the production of even more 

 odoriferous materials. The activated carbon treatment was usually success- 

 ful, but it often required tremendous amounts of carbon, which were costly 

 and presented a disposal problem. Something more exact than the cure-all 

 chlorine treatment was needed. 



The first step in meeting the problem was to grow pure cultures of 

 those algae suspected of producing taste- and odor-causing substances to 

 determine which species actually produced such substances. The next step 

 was to collect and isolate those materials and determine their chemical 

 composition. It was believed that, if the chemical compositions of these 

 materials were known, methods could be developed for their removal from or 

 destruction in water-treatment plants. Over 100 species of algae were 

 grown in pure culture, but this line of research was not further supported, 

 and equipment and staff necessary for making the chemical analyses were not 

 secured. However, some Zb years later this same research for the determina- 

 tion of the composition of taste and odor materials produced by living or- 

 ganisms was included as a research need in the National Academy of Science, 

 National Academy of Engineering report entitled, "Research Needs in Water 

 Quality Criteria 19/2." 



Research for the development of culture methods for actinomycetes and 

 their pure culture was also carried out for the same objective. Cultures 

 were grown and odoriferous materials were isolated, but research for their 

 identification was not accomplished. 



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