Dioxins And Health

This book originated in a series of cross-disciplinary conversations in the years 1984-1990 between the editor, who is a physician-researcher involved in clinical and laboratory research, and a dioxin toxicologist. During the years in which the conversations took place, an extraordinary amount of new scientific literature was published related to dioxins, defined for purposes of this text as the chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurans, polychlorinated biphe nyls (PCB's) and other compounds that are structurally and toxicologically similar to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2,3,7 ,8-TCDD), the most extensively studied and most toxic of this group of chemicals. Dioxins also began to interest not only chemists and toxicologists, but also specialists from diverse disciplines such as wildlife and environmental science, immunology, neuroscience,public health, epidemiology, med icine, government, law, sociology, and journalism. Specialists from such varied disciplines, while familiar with their own literature, frequently did not have time to follow the dioxin literature outside their specialty area. In addition, each specialty had unique knowledge, methods, and perspectives. Cross disciplinary conversation was necessary, but all too frequently, specialists from the various disciplines did not speak the same language, resulting in misunderstanding.

Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency presented a comprehensive review of the scientific literature in its 2003 draft reassessment of the risks of dioxin, the agency did not sufficiently quantify the uncertainties and variabilities associated with the risks, nor did it adequately justify the assumptions used to estimate them, according to this new report from the National Academies' National Research Council. The committee that wrote the report recommended that EPA re-estimate the risks using several different assumptions and better communicate the uncertainties in those estimates. The agency also should explain more clearly how it selects both the data upon which the reassessment is based and the methods used to analyze them.

Dioxin and dioxin-like compounds, or DLCs, are found throughout the environment, in soil, water, and air. People are exposed to these unintentional environmental contaminants primarily through the food supply, although at low levels, particularly by eating animal fat in meat, dairy products, and fish. While the amount of DLCs in the environment has declined since the late 1970s, the public continues to be concerned about the safety of the food supply and the potential adverse health effects of DLC exposure, especially in groups such as developing fetuses and infants, who are more sensitive to the toxic effects of these compounds. Dioxins and Dioxin-like Compounds in the Food Supply: Strategies to Decrease Exposure, recommends policy options to reduce exposure to these contaminants while considering how implementing these options could both reduce health risks and affect nutrition, particularly in sensitive and highly exposed groups, if dietary changes are suggested.

Dioxin – Environmental Fate and Health/Ecological Consequences offers a unique, and comprehensive coverage of dioxins and their congeners once they are released to the environment. The book provides readers with a systematic understanding of past and emerging sources of dioxins, current dioxins inventories and historical trends, fate and long-range transboundary atmospheric transport, human health, and ecological risk and regulatory perspective. Providing an excellent analysis of dioxin exposure through the food chain and impact on human health, it also documents the environmental implications of dioxins on ecological flora and fauna. The book offers readers a holistic understanding about dioxins, their atmospheric fate and transport, distribution in various environmental matrices and various routes and exposure pathways through which human beings are exposed to this persistent organic pollutant. It further offers an insight into the toxicological profile and mechanistic analysis of the onset of cancer, remediation technologies, and existing regulatory framework to deal with the problems associated with dioxins. The book will serve as an excellent resource to environmental professionals, particularly environmental toxicologists, environmental health professionals, remediation engineers, environmental regulatory agencies, policymakers, and environmental law professionals.

Explores the latest science on dioxins and other POPs, and their impact on human health Now in its third edition, Dioxins and Health is the most respected reference of its kind, presenting the latest scientific findings on dioxins, dibenzofurans, polychlorinated biphenyls and related compounds, and their impact on human health. The book fully examines the many toxicological effects—including immunological, neurological, developmental, dermatological, and cardiological—these chemicals have on health. This Third Edition has been greatly expanded with the latest research findings on dioxins and related compounds. Moreover, it now includes coverage of other persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and endocrine disruptors, including: Brominated flame retardants, such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers and hexabromocyclododecane Perfluorinated chemicals such as perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid Other endocrine disrupting chemicals similar to POPs such as bisphenol A Readers will also learn about the latest findings on the long-term impacts caused by the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam. Other chapters review the Seveso disaster in Italy and the Yusho and Yucheng rice oil poisoning incidents in Japan and Taiwan. In addition, there is a full chapter dedicated to the dioxin poisoning of former Ukraine President Victor Yushchenko. All the chapters in the book have been written by leading international experts. References at the end of each chapter guide readers to the primary literature in the field. Expertly organized in one volume, Dioxins and Health offers readers quick access to essential information about dioxins and related compounds written in clear, simple language that is accessible to not only scientists, clinicians and public health professionals, but also general readers.

Dioxin and dioxin-like compounds, or DLCs, are found throughout the environment, in soil, water, and air. People are exposed to these unintentional environmental contaminants primarily through the food supply, although at low levels, particularly by eating animal fat in meat, dairy products, and fish. While the amount of DLCs in the environment has declined since the late 1970s, the public continues to be concerned about the safety of the food supply and the potential adverse health effects of DLC exposure, especially in groups such as developing fetuses and infants, who are more sensitive to the toxic effects of these compounds. Dioxins and Dioxin-like Compounds in the Food Supply: Strategies to Decrease Exposure, recommends policy options to reduce exposure to these contaminants while considering how implementing these options could both reduce health risks and affect nutrition, particularly in sensitive and highly exposed groups, if dietary changes are suggested.

Some dioxins, which are chemical compounds that share certain structural and biological characteristics, have been linked to adverse human health effects, including cancer. 1 Often the byproducts of combustion and industrial processes, complex mixtures of dioxins enter the food chain and human diet through emissions into the air that settle on soil, plants, and water. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other entities, such as the World Health Organization, began assessing the potential human health risks of dioxins in the 1970s, when animal studies on one of them 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, or TCDD showed it to be the most potent cancer-causing chemical studied to date. EPAs initial assessment of dioxins was published in 1985. Since that time, there have been major advances in the scientific understanding of dioxin toxicity and significant new studies on dioxins potential adverse health effects. As a result, in 1991 EPA decided to conduct a reassessment of the health risks of exposure to dioxins. A draft of this reassessment was reviewed by a scientific peer review panel in 1995, and three panels reviewed key segments of later drafts in 1997 and 2000.