(The following is excerpted from the September 1997 issue of "Common Sense", the newsletter of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, published by the Kentucky Environmental Foundation.)
Dioxin is a family of chemicals produced during industrial processes that involve chlorine, or processes that burn chlorine with organic matter. Incinerators, paper mills and chemical manufacturing plants are examples of dioxin sources.
In 1994, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted a "reassessment" of dioxin. In that reassessment, they acknowledged that the levels of dioxin present in the average American could cause harm to the immune system, reduce testosterone which affects male fertility, and alter glucose tolerance. In addition, dioxin can cause cancer, reproductive disorders in men and women, birth defects, neurological damage, heart problems...and the list goes on and on. The reassessment showed that most Americans already carry an unsafe body burden of dioxin. The reassessment also confirmed that dioxin is potent in tiny amounts. Anyrelease of dioxin, in addition to current unsafe levels, could produce drastic health problems.
90% of human exposure to dioxin comes via the food chain. In other words, dioxin from the smokestack of a chemical weapons incinerator gets into the grass and soil. A cow grazing nearby eats the grass, and the dioxin accumulates in the cow's fatty tissues and milk. Humans drinking the cow's milk or eating its beef are then exposed to dioxin...and the same occurs when we eat fish, poultry and other foods.. The dioxin then accumulates in our bodies' tissues.
The populations most vulnerable to dioxin are infants. Dioxin can pass through the placenta directly to the fetus, and can cause developmental problems. Breastfeeding infants get dioxin from their mother's breastmilk. A breastfeeding infant gets up to 14% of her lifetime exposure to dioxin from breastmilk. People living near incinerators who raise and consume their own food are also at a higher risk of dioxin exposure.
Yes! Chemical weapons incinerators in the Pacific and Utah have already released dioxin -- and others would do the same. Much of what goes into the incinerator, including residue from some chemical agents, contains chlorine. The Army acknowledges that dioxin will be released from the incinerator, but they have tried to downplay dioxin's health effects. In Utah, the Army and state regulators ignored the health effects of dioxin on infants and local subsistence farmers in a health risk assessment. However, in federal court state officials admitted that the incinerator posed an unsafe risk to these populations.
Incinerators also emit toxics such as PCBs, heavy metals, and furans from the smokestack -- yet roughly 80-90% of incineration emissions have not even been identified. In this case, what we don't know may very well hurt us.
Toxic incinerator emissions, like dioxin, accumulate in humans through the food chain. Because dioxin-contaminated beef, milk, fish and vegetables are shipped all over the country, incineration is everyone's problem -- no matter where you live. Dioxin-laden chicken processed in Alabama, potatoes from Oregon, rice from Arkansas, beef from Utah or fish from the Pacific could end up on your dinner plate at a restaurant or at home. Break the link in the toxic food chain: Support safer alternatives!
There is only one way to break the link in this toxic food chain: stop dioxin exposure at the source. Fortunately, safer, non-dioxin producing technologies exist for chemical weapons disposal. Possible alternative disposal methods include neutralization, biodegradation, gas phase hydrogenation, and electro chemical oxidation. None of these technologies release dioxin like incineration does.
The Army has already agreed to test alternative technologies for disposal of chemical agent in Maryland and Indiana. Another program is investigating alternatives for assembled chemical weapons at other stockpile sites. But in order for these technologies to be implemented, they need support from local residents and decision-makers.
Several food producers across the country, including Keebler, Sara Lee, Perdue and GoldKist have already taken a stand against the siting of incinerators near their processing plants. They realize that dioxin- producing incinerators can take a toll on their company's reputation and profits. Food producers near chemical weapons stockpiles could do the same, working together with concerned citizens to ensure that safe alternatives to chemical weapons incineration are used.
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