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May I please ask this question of you first. Your statement is on 
behalf of the Department of Interior and you speak then not only 
as Assistant Secretary of Interior for Fish and Wildlife, and Parks, 
but am I to infer you speak also with regard to the Federal Water 
Quality Administration and related matters? 
Dr. Guascow. Yes. - 
Mr. Drinecetu. And that is the reason Dr. Singer is with you? 
Dr. Guascow. Yes, sir, that is one reason. He is also an expert in this 
area and he is here to assist with respect to his area of competence. 
Mr. Dincety. May I ask Dr. Singer, do you have a statement of 
your own that you would like to give to the committee? 
Dr. Stncer. No, sir, I do not. 
Mr. Dincett. Very well. 
Dr. Glasgow, you may proceed. 
Dr. Guascow. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the privilege of being 
here to discuss with you and members of your subcommittee several 
bills dealing with the disposition of certain waste materials in our 
coastal waters and in the ocean. 
At the outset, Mr. Chairman, let me emphasize as strongly as I 
can that, in my opinion, disposal of waste in our waters, not only those 
waters under consideration today but all waters, is one of our most 
crucial and demanding environmental problems. Without doubt, we 
have reached that point where effective action to control such pollution 
is absolutely essential. 
We once deluded ourselves into thinking that the ocean was big 
enough to absorb all our wastes without regard to quantity or time. 
We now know that this is not true. The New York Bight is proof 
enough, but one could also cite the contamination of the Baltic Sea, and 
other important water areas of the world. 
We have been heading toward the creation of a worldwide cesspool. 
If man is to avoid literally drowning in his own effluent, we must act 
now. For example: 
We have begun to recognize the awesome and terrible consequences 
of biological amplification of DDT and other biological active hydro- 
carbons, mercury and other heavy metals, and radioactive and other 
industrial wastes. 
We are concerned about the high incidences of disease, cancer, mal- 
formation, emaciation, and genetic changes among fish and shellfish 
found in the vicinity of disposal areas and sewer outfalls. 
We are frightened about increasing outbreaks of human poisoning 
and illnesses associated with eating fish and shellfish from a polluted 
marine environment, and with increasing outbreaks of red tide orga- 
nisms, sea nettles, and other obnoxious plants and animals. 
e know now, too, that we are responsible for perhaps as much 
as one-half of the world’s pollution input into the sea. This raises 
grave questions about our moral and legal responsibilities to the 
international community. 
In short, Mr. Chairman, we have ourselves in a mess of our own 
making and it is high time we did something to get out of it. 
The bills which we are considering today recognize this urgent 
fact. I applaud the intent of these proposals because they aim directly 
at many of the things which must be done to regulate the ever- 
growing disposal of all kinds of wastes and pollutants into our waters. 
