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Oakland Tribune Thursday, May 18, 2000  For more information, contact:
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EPA: Dioxin more Toxic than once thought By Dennis J.
Oliver A study suggesting deadly dioxin is much more toxic than previously thought had environmentalists and public health advocates vowing Wednesday to push for stricter controls on the chemical in the Bay Area, where dioxin has long been a top concern. The report, to be released next month by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, concludes the risk of cancer from exposure to dioxin may be as much as 10 times higher than previously thought. The report has been nearly a decade in the making. Dioxin is born from a number of chemical processes, including combustion and incineration. In the Bay Area, exhaust from vehicles, wood combustion, fires, and industrial sources such as incinerators and refineries are thought to be major contributors. The chemical, which also occurs naturally in various forms, has long mystified public health officials with the way it travels through the environment, eventually becoming stored in the fatty tissues of animals. Most human exposure is thought to be dietary when those animals are eaten as food. Bay fish are so badly contaminated with the chemical that the EPA has issued health warnings to those who eat from the Bay on a regular basis. "The more we learn about dioxin, the worse we know it to be," said Gina Solomon, a scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco. "This chemical has such an astounding array of toxic effects that it's really quite a frightening chemical." The report, described by EPA officials familiar with it, concludes that the cancer risk from dioxins among individuals who eat large amounts of fatty meats and dairy products may run as high as 1 in 100. The draft report has not yet gone through the scientific peer review process and EPA officials acknowledged in interviews it is likely to generate sharp debate. Locally, the report is likely to fuel the debate over a number of different dioxin sources, including Contra Costa County refineries, the Integrated Environmental Systems medical waste incinerator in Oakland, and automobile and truck exhaust. Robert Reed, spokesman for the IES incinerator, said the facility emits so little dioxin that the amount that escapes from its air stacks each year would probably be equivalent to "one or two" grains of sand. The facility is able to burn as much as 22.8 tons of waste per day, but operates at far less than that, he said. He cited a 1996 report that found in all of the Bay Area just 2.9 grams per year of dioxin were emitted to the air from all known sources combined. Bradley Angel, an activist with the environmental group Green Action, said, however, the new report confirms that even tiny amounts of dioxin can be harmful. Dioxin is thought to bioaccumulate if there is repeated exposure, the report contends. "This is the nail in the coffin for those incinerators in Oakland," Angel said. His group wants IES to switch to less harmful technologies, such as microwaving and autoclaving. The new report is also likely to draw attention to a hearing this summer at which the Regional Water Quality Control Board will consider a new permit regulating dioxin discharges into San Francisco Bay by Tosco Corp's refinery at Avon in Contra Costa County. The refinery is operating under a five-year-old cease and desist order from the agency that regulates only the most toxic strain of the chemical. That order expires July 1. The new EPA report concludes that at least one form of dioxin -- the most potent form known as TCDD -- should be classified as a definite human carcinogen. Other dioxin-like compounds were considered by the EPA reviewers as "likely" carcinogens. The report also links exposure to dioxin to a variety of other health problems, including diabetes, developmental problems and irregularities in the immune system, they said. It also concludes that children's intake of dioxin is greater than those of adults because the chemical is often found in dairy products and even breast milk.
Wire services contributed to this report. © 2000 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers |