The federal government is adding dioxin to its list of chemicals thatare known to cause cancer. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s JonathanAhl reports:
Transcript
The Federal Government is adding dioxin to its list of chemicals that are known to
cause cancer. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports.
Dioxin is a chemical produced as a by-product when paper is bleached and certain kinds
of trash are burned. The National Institute of Environmental Health is adding the
contaminant to its list of known carcinogens. Dr. Bill Jamesion is the coordinator of the
report. He says local and state governmental bodies will now know the chemical poses a
threat to people.
“These state and local agencies look to the report on carcinogens as
an indicator that something has been identified as a carcinogen, and perhaps they need to
take another look and do their own risk benefit analysis and perhaps regulate it more
strongly.”
Jamieson says the listing doesn’t set levels of how much of any contaminant is
dangerous. But he says laboratory tests in animals and studies of humans exposed to
dioxin show a direct link to increased risks of cancer. For the Great Lakes Radio
Consortium, I’m Jonathan Ahl.