Summary-line: 6-Jan n, wilcox@cis.ohio-state. #Immune: Dioxins *** EOOH *** Return-Path: Date: Sun, 6 Jan 91 12:18:36 pst From: cnorman (Cynthia Norman) To: cnorman, wilcox@cis.ohio-state.edu, luna@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu, ames!chinet.chi.il.us!chaz@ucsd.edu, anasaz!john@asuvax.eas.asu.edu, dwyer@nosc.mil, jgautier@ads.com, b-davis@cai.utah.edu, richter@triton.unm.edu, hxkpy@slacvm.slac.stanford.edu, botteron@bu-it.bu.edu, rollo@xylogics.com, proud@ihlpy.att.com, bill@picard.att.com, jsparkes@bnr.ca, island!green@uunet.uu.net, ann@snow-white.merit-tech.com, iex!neptune.iex.com!bert@uunet.uu.net, siang@biochem.umass.edu, smalley@pilot.njin.net, king@reasoning.com, mnetor!perle!kevin@cs.toronto.edu, afc@shibaya.lonestar.org, mark.ochsankehl@p2.f175.n120.z1.fidonet.org, abc@brl.mil, pjz@ceres.physics.uiowa.edu, ardyk@tc.fluke.com, cyn@mdaali.cancer.utexas.edu, ogicse!sequent!roseal@ucsd.edu, paulxxxx@portia.stanford.edu, andrea@sdd.hp.com, mvac23!thomas@udel.edu, ames!claris!netcom!shelamer@ucsd.edu Subject: Immune: Dioxins Reply-To: cnorman@ucsd.edu >From "The Green Consumer," by John Elkington, Julia Hailes, and Joel Makower, 1990 edition. Pages 107-112. BTW--this is a great book. . . .the presense of dioxins, a family of toxic, carcinogenic chemicals, one of which was used as a weapon by American troops in Vietnam as the deadly "Agent Orange." A growing body of research has found traces of dioxins in many consumer paper products. . . What are dioxins and how do they get into paper? "Dioxin" refers to a chemical family with 75 individual members. While all have the same basic chmeical structure, some are more toxic than others. Scientists believe that dioxins imitate natural sterioid hormones, such as estrogen, in our bodies and can trigger a wide range of biochemical reactions. Minute quanties can trigger anything from acne and achy joints to insomnia, cancer, birth defects, and immune system disorders. Moreover, dioxins (and ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ a chemical cousin called "furans") tend to accumulate in the body because they are fat soluble; they are stored in the fat cells of each organism. As always, children are especially sensitive--dioxin is found in the milk of the average North American mother. It is possible for nursing infants to be exposed to up to two hundred times more dioxin than healthy adults. Based on animal tests, the Environmental Protection Agency has classified dioxins as a "probable human carcinogen." Dioxins are formed in paper making during the chlorine bleaching process. The problem is most severe in the manufacture of bleached "kraft" paper--a process that uses a sulfide soak to cook the wood chips in. . .Higher-grade papers, such as most printing papers, require fewer bleaching stages and less chlorine, resulting in less dioxin formation. Newsprint, because it is not bleached, is not known to contain dioxins. The dioxins created in paper making don't just end up in the paper. [Also fish downstream and crops grown with dioxin-contaminated water.] But it is the paper products themselves that present the most immediate problem. An official at the Food and Drug Administration told "Science News" in 1989 that the two major sources of dioxin were milk cartons and coffee filters. The official's "very rough estimates" were that young children getting all their milk from contaminated cartons might double their dioxin intake. Heavy coffee drinkers consuming most of their brew >from pots with bleached-paper filters might increase their daily dioxin intake 5 to 10 percent above the average U.S. level. But almost all bleached paper products are suspect. Tests sponsored by the paper industry found that superabsorbent disposable diapers, paper towels, tea bags, tampons, juice cartons, TV dinner containers, and various types of paper plates also have contained low levels of dioxin. Dioxins from any of these products can migrate into foods or onto sensitive parts of bodies. Moreover, when these paper products are disposed of in a landfill or are incinerated, the dioxins released in the air can be inhaled by animals and humans or ingested through contamination of food crops. It is important to keep in mind that the smallest detectable amounts of these compounds have been known to cause cancer in laboratory animals. By the way, dioxins aren't the only toxic substatnces found in the wastewater of pulp and paper mills. A 1986 study by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment found a total of 41 substances of concern, from aluminum to zinc. Included in that list were some of the most notorious pollutants: benzene, cadmium, lead, mercury polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), toluene, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ and others. Ironically, some environmentalists fear that focusing public attention on dioxins might derail industry and government action on some of these other pollutants. Avoiding Dioxins. [Summary--buy unbleached or chlorine-free paper products. Use recycled paper ("partial solution"). Use paper bleached with alternative techniches such as using oxygen, peroxide, and sodium hydroxide instead of chlorine. Tell companies you will switch brands until they have dioxin-free products.] --------------------------------- Comments: I have been trying to find out if using chlorine bleach in the home or pool also produces dioxins or if contact with paper (wood? carbon?) is a necessary element. The book doesn't say and an agency devoted to reproductive health, in Mass., warns against dioxins but doesn't know if household chlorine can produce them. Does anyone know? (Of course, there are plenty of other reasons to avoid chlorine.) Re-reading this article, I'm wondering if there's a connection between dioxin poisoning and toxic shock syndrone. It would explain why tampon-using women are the most prone but other women and men can get it too. ------------------------ Responses to old messages and the beginning of new messages are strongly encouraged. Send postings directly to me with a message stating you want it sent to the entire list (don't reply to the long list of names (unless you want to send mail to someone indivually) because I am adding names almost daily). Cyndi cnorman@ucsd.edu