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body and then be passed into a fish body, ultimately culminating in 
man’s food supplies. So, we do have a very positive pathway whereby 
these toxic materials that have been talked so much about this morn- 
ing may enter into the food chain of humans. We are presently analyz- 
ing crabs for their heavy metal content. 
The other very recent observation that we made was that while much 
of the sludge settles immediately from the boat when it is dumped 
offshore, recently there has been a large residual amount of material 
which we find floating. I have color slides of this material with me 
today. This material floats on the surface of the water for some period 
of time. Last week, part of this floatable material consisted of the dead 
bodies of rats. I do not know where these came from, how did they get 
in the sewer sludge processing plants, but there were at least a dozen 
rats floating in the water around our research vessel, along with other 
noxious-looking materials. 
Furthermore, getting into the realm of observations, the beaches 
along the Jersey shore have been so contaminated this year that many 
people I know are dropping their membership in the beach clubs; they 
are refusing to swin in coastal water. Many of my neighbors, for in- 
stance, who have used certain beaches for the past decade or so, are no 
longer willing to swim there. 
Then last weekend at a beach called the White Sand Beach in Long 
Branch, N.J., there was offal washed up on the shore for the length of 
one-eighth of a mile and about 10 feet wide. It was so bad people sim- 
ply got up and left the beach. The owner has threatened to sue the city 
of Long Branch. He believes it is coming from a sewer outfall. 
This type of material is found along the beaches at Sandy Hook and 
south to Asbury Park. It has its origin in many different sources, in- 
cluding pollution from the Hudson River, from sewer sludge dump- 
ing, and from local small outfalls along the Jersey shore. 
Mr. Diner. Can you make the statement that any of these residues 
being deposited on the beach, the offal and toxic matter of one kind or 
another, is related to the dumping that we are discussing? 
Dr. Pearce. We have not attempted to tag this material so we can- 
not positively identify its origins in sewage sludge. However, on nu- 
merous cruises, in fact on a cruise made some weeks ago when officials 
from the Corps of Engineers accompanied us in the boat, this material 
was floating out all the way from the shoreline. When you leave Sandy 
Hook on our research vessel this material is found all the way out to 
the dump areas and beyond. 
Tf you are interested, you can see that the material that is shown 
in the color slides we have taken at the site of dumping is very similar 
to the materials which wash up on our beaches. This material includes 
things like little plastic containers that tampons come in. It also in- 
cludes condoms, a wide range of material of an extremely unpleasant 
nature. Cigarette butts are regularly found in this material. Cigarette 
filters are an index of pollution of the bottom environment. This is 
one of the ways we know that areas previously not intensively polluted 
have been impinged upon by these sludge materials. We simply count 
the number of band aids, cellophane and foil wrappers, or pharma- 
ceutical containers, prophylactics, and cigarette filters. These form an 
excellent index of pollution in areas or marginal pollution. 
