Dioxin Pollution

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Term Paper Title	Dioxin Pollution
# of Words	1022
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.09

Dioxin Pollution

Dioxin is one of the most toxic chemicals known.
A report released for public comment in
September 1994 by the US Environmental
Protection Agency clearly describes dioxin as a
serious public health threat. The public health
impact of dioxin may rival the impact that DDT
had on public health in the 1960's. According to
the EPA report, not only does there appear to be
no "safe" level of exposure to dioxin, but levels of
dioxin and dioxin-like chemicals have been found
in the general US population that are "at or near
levels associated with adverse health effects." The
EPA report confirmed that dioxin is a cancer
hazard to people; that exposure to dioxin can also
cause severe reproductive and developmental
problems (at levels 100 times lower than those
associated with its cancer causing effects); and
that dioxin can cause immune system damage and
interfere with regulatory hormones.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer
[IARC] --part of the World Health Organization
--announced February 14, 1997, that the most
potent dioxin, 2,3,7,8-TCDD, is a now
considered a Class 1 carcinogen, meaning a
"known human carcinogen."

Dioxin is a general term that describes a group of
hundreds of chemicals that are highly persistent in
the environment. The most toxic compound is
2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin or TCDD.
The toxicity of other dioxins and chemicals like
PCBs that act like dioxin are measured in relation
to TCDD. Dioxin is formed as an unintentional
by-product of many industrial processes involving
chlorine such as waste incineration, chemical and
pesticide manufacturing and pulp and paper
bleaching. Dioxin was the primary toxic
component of Agent Orange, was found at Love
Canal in Niagara Falls, NY.
(http://www.enviroweb.org/issues/dioxin/index.html)

The major sources of dioxin are in our diet. Since
dioxin is fat-soluble, it bioaccumulates up the food
chain and it is mainly (97.5%) found in meat and
dairy products (beef, dairy products, milk,
chicken, pork, fish and eggs in that order... see
chart below). In fish alone, these toxins
bioaccumulate up the food chain so that dioxin
levels in fish are 100,000 times that of the
surrounding environment. The most conspicuous
source of dioxin pollution is from paper mills which
may pollute nearby streams with wastewater. Fish
living downstream from paper processing plants
have been found to contain significant amounts of
dioxin in their tissues.

In EPA's dioxin report, they refer to di...

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