153 



daily, as though the Atlantic were an infinite catch-basin for the wastes 

 of man." 



In January 1971 the Governments of Canada and the United States 

 released a report by the International Joint Commission on Pollution 

 of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and the international section of the St. 

 Lawrence River. 



The report concluded that water pollution extends throughout the 

 lakes; the principal causes are wastes discharged to the boundary 

 waters and tributaries by municipalities and industries; pollution is 

 taking place in all jurisdictions sharing the boundary waters. 



The Commission expressed the view that urgent remedial measures 

 are required, including adoption and adherence to the recommended 

 water quality objectives ; immediate reduction of the phosphorus con- 

 tent in detergents ; and the prompt implementation of a vigorous pro- 

 gram to treat municipal and industrial waste and to reduce phosphorus 

 inputs into these waters. 



In 1969 the IJC was asked to extend its inquiry to the adequacy 

 of existing requirements for the prevention of oil leakage into Lake 

 Erie as well as of existmg measures for cleaning up any major oil 

 spill. 



The IJC concluded, in an interim report submitted to both Gov- 

 ernments and confirmed in its present report, that safety require- 

 ments and procedures applicable to drilling and production operations 

 were adequate if effectively supervised and properly enforced. With 

 respect to cleaning up a major oil spill, the IJC found current methods 

 to be primitive and inadequate. In addition, an urgent need now exists 

 for a formal plan of international cooperation on oil spills. 



In the present report on pollution in the Lower Lakes, the IJC 

 finds that Lake Erie, particularly its western basin, is in an advanced 

 state of eutrophication, or aging, and that accelerated eutrophication 

 is occurring in Lake Ontario. 



As a result, the IJC recommends that both Canada and the United 

 States adopt the water quality objectives set out in the report and enter 

 into agreement on programs, measures, and schedules to achieve them. 



Just last month Secretary of Transportation John A. Volpe an- 

 nounced that a committee of the Intergovernmental Maritime Con- 

 sultative Organization meeting in London had adopted a U.S. reso- 

 lution calling for the end of willful marine x^oUution and minimization 

 of accidental spills by 1975. 



The magnitude of our water pollution has been made evident to 

 Americans in at least one dramatic respect. Last December, Prof. 

 Bruce McDuffie, a chemist at the State University of New York, tested 

 a can of tuna fish and the question of the concentration of mercury hi 

 fish erupted into worldwide proportions. 



The tinia contained a mercury concentration well above the U.S. 

 Food and Drug Administration limit. So did frozen swordfish steaks 

 also tested by McDuffie. The FDA confirmed his findings and took a 

 million cans of tuna, and most swordfish, off the market. 



For many years no one worried about dumping insoluble, inorganic 

 mercury into water. In 1967, however, scientists discovered that bac- 

 teria could convert inorganic mercury into a highly toxic, soluble, 

 organic form called methylmercury. The bacteria are eaten by tiny 



62-513—71 11 



