dioxin Intro - Dioxin Sources - Achieving Zero Dioxin - Dioxin Elimination Report - Health & Environmental Effects - What are POPs? - POPs Sources - Eliminating POPs

A New Zealand Government report states that more than 1 in 1000 New Zealanders may be dying from cancer because of dioxin contamination. This figure does not take into account the non-lethal effects of dioxin, such as birth defects, behavioural problems, diabetes and many other serious health impacts.

What is dioxin?

Dioxin and furans are a class of chemical compounds widely recognised as some of the most toxic chemicals ever made by humans. Often just referred to as dioxin, dioxin and furans have no useful purpose and are produced as the unwanted by-products of industrial processes such as the manufacture of PVC, pesticide production, incineration, pulp and paper bleaching with chlorine, and the smelting and recycling of metals.

Once released into the environment, dioxin can be transported vast distances along air and ocean currents. Because of this globe trotting ability, dioxin is a global contaminant that can be found in the tissue, blood and breast milk of human beings in most countries of the world. In 1997, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified the most toxic dioxin as human carcinogens. It is associated with a wide range of other health impacts including:

+ altered sexual development
+ male and female reproductive problems
+ suppression of the immune system
+ diabetes
+ organ toxicity
+ effects on a wide range of hormones

One of the most disturbing aspects of dioxin toxicity is the effect it can have on the developing foetus, which is far more susceptible than adults. Humans are exposed to dioxin mainly through the food we eat, especially meat, fish and dairy products. Dioxin levels are generally higher in people living in industrialised countries, such as the US, Europe and Japan, where they are already at - or near - the level where health effects may occur. However communities with a high fish or sea mammal diet, like the Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic, are also at a high risk from dioxin effects.

According to World Health Organisation figures, a piece of dioxin the size of a small grain of rice, if distributed equally and directly to people, is equivalent to the "allowable" yearly dose for one million people.

DIOXIN: HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE
As it travels throughout the global environment dioxin build-up - or bioaccumulates - and can take decades to break down.
dioxin dissolve easily in fats and as a result can build up in the fatty tissues of animals or humans. So animals with high fat contents, like humans, whales, polar bears or dolphins, are particularly susceptible to the build up of dioxin. As it travels up the food chain - if an animal with dioxin in its body tissue is eaten by another animal, for instance - dioxin biomagnify, or multiply in concentration as it goes. So animals at the top of the food chain - humans, polar bears, beluga whales - will accumulate the highest levels of dioxin.
Because of their insidious, globe-trotting nature, dioxin is a global problem, that need a global solution.

ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH EFFECTS OF DIOXIN
Recent research on environmental and health effects from dioxin show some effects may already be occurring in the general population of industrialised countries. Studies show the following:

+ In fish, birds, mammals and humans, the developing foetus/embryo is very sensitive to toxic effects of dioxin. Developmental effects in humans, seen after high accidental/occupational exposure to dioxin include pre-natal mortality, decreased growth, organ dysfunction, and effects to the both female and male reproductive system.

+ People with a higher than average exposure to dioxin, say through a high fish or sea mammal diet, are more at risk from dioxin effects, including reduced sperm count, weakened immune systems, and endometriosis in women.

+ Animal experiments have shown that exposure to very low doses of dioxin during an extremely short critical period during gestation is sufficient to cause detrimental health effects on the foetus.

+ In industrialised countries, levels of dioxin in breast milk often result in nursing infants having dioxin intakes far in excess of the "tolerable daily intake" proposed by the World Health Organisation.

+ Because dioxin is very chemically stable, and doesn't break down easily in the environment, they are often found in high concentrations in sediments, sludges and dusts. Because most dioxin accumulate in the fatty tissues of animals they are particularly evident in aquatic, bottom dwelling organisms that are continually in contact with sediments, and in filter feeders that ingest particulate matters suspended in water.

+ In June 1999, Belgian chickens were exposed to dioxin-contaminated feed leading to a European Union ban on Belgian egg and poultry products, that later spread to North America and Asia. The cost to Belgium and the European Union (EU) as a result of the global import restrictions has been estimated at US$3 billion.

+ In March 1998, the discovery of dioxin contamination of milk in Germany led to a ban on importing Brazilian citrus pulp into the EU. Britain and other EU countries had significant stocks of citrus pulp pellets, used in cattle feed, which had to be destroyed.

+ In September 1997, leaked French agriculture ministry statistics showed alarming levels of dioxin in Brie, Camembert and butter from northern France.

+ In June 1997, the UK Ministry of Agriculture Fishery and Food reported "relatively high concentrations" of dioxin and dioxin-like PCBs in fish oil dietary supplements such as cod liver oil.

+ In November 1996, a severe fire in the production hall of a metals processing plant in Lingen, north west Germany led to animal and vegetable products grown up to 2.5km away being contaminated.

MYTH-BUSTING
Have your ever heard the myth about how large amounts of dioxin is formed naturally and want to know more? Explode that myth - click here (See chapter six - Dow's Convenient Myth: "Most Dioxin is Natural" ).