The New Straits Times, January 14, 2001
By Professor Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
Women taking meat, dairy products often at greater risk
Dioxin has made the headlines again. The last global scare was reported in Europe with contamination of some brands of baby milk formula in 1999. The whole world was rudely awakened by its toxicity.
The finding was limited only to Japan where lately there has been concern over the amount of dioxin in the air. A Japanese government survey suggests that dioxins are found in breast milk where the levels are found to be higher among women who eat meat often.
Dioxin is known to be a "fat-loving" persistent compound that accumulates in the body, resulting in a number of ill effects.
The Health and Welfare Ministry findings were based on an analysis of the breast milk taken from 487 Japanese women from 1997 to 1998.
In the survey, dioxin levels allegedly rose in direct proportion to the frequency with which women consumed ham, cow milk, dried sardines and eel. The survey, however, found no relationship between the levels in breast milk and the emission levels of dioxin from a waste facility.
The survey also found no relation between the dioxin levels and whether the woman was a smoker.
In fact, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a routine dietary exposure through mainly red meat, fish and dairy products has produced an average body burden estimated to be 13 nanogrammes of dioxin per kilogramme of body weight.
Dioxin, according to the Miller Keane Medical Dictionary, is a highly toxic and teratogenic chlorinated "hydrocarbon" that is a trace contaminant in the herbicides 2,4,5-T and "Agent Orange" - the notorious chemicals use during the Vietnam War (NST, Poison Control, May 14, 2000).
It is a well-known cancer-causing toxic chemical and has been linked to birth defects and other health problems.
In May last year, the US EPA suggested in a draft report that the cancer risks from exposure to dioxins may be significantly greater than previously thought. The cancer risk from dioxins among individuals who eat large amounts of fatty meats and fairy products may be 10 times as great as previously projected.
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.
While the benefits of breastfeeding continue to outweigh the risks from dioxin, the fact remains that dioxin is not naturally-occurring and that breast milk should be free from the toxic substances.
In fact, the sources are man-made since it is rarely, if ever, found in nature. Dioxin is an industrial byproduct created by car emissions and the burning of waste.
It has been well documented that dioxin is released when a group of "chlorinated hydrocarbons" are used and processed in factories, ranging from those dealing with chemicals, pesticides, metal as well as paper, or otherwise as the result of burning in incinerators.
In 1995, a US EPA study reviewed the health impact of dioxin, and mentioned numerous problems such as: immune system toxicity, central nervous system toxicity, hormonal disruptions as well as a variety of cancers.
Others reported the impact of dioxin on normal growth and the development of the young, including behavioural effects and learning disabilities.
The basic message is that dioxin is very toxic and that the general public is not adequately protected from such effects.
According to the book, Our Stolen Future (1997), in areas where there has been exposure to the substances due to industrial accident such as in the city of Seveso in Italy in 1976, the effect on reproductive health is apparent.
For example, many pregnant women sought abortions following the accident where a cloud of dioxin spread contaminating almost 900 acres of land and thousands of people living nearby.
The dioxin levels measured in some Seveso residents - up to 56,000 parts per million - are the highest ever reported in humans.
In short where the situation remains unchecked, all these combined sources of dioxins can have a grave impact on the environment and consequently on our health, especially of our children. This unfortunately is not all.
Dioxin, like so many pollutants, can also contaminate water sources as shown by a study on the Great Lakes in the US.
The sources of dioxins are said to originate from hospital waste incinerators as well as commercial medical waste incinerators. Eventually they will creep into the human food chain and become part of our diet.
The US EPA has imposed tougher regulations on many dioxin emitters including municipal, medical, and hazardous waste incinerators and pulp and paper companies. As a result, dioxin emissions have been reduced by about 80 per cent since the 1980s, according to the agency.
Unfortunately in may developing countries, the threat dioxins to public health has been over looked and not well-documented. Therefore, it presents a lingering problem and significant risk to the population. The agreement concluded late last year at South Africa should augur well for a drastic change (NST, Poison Control, Dec 31, 2000), and we should take full advantage of it.
