Dioxin ‘facts’ disputed

Press, 4 December 1979, Page 10

Dioxin ‘facts’ disputed

Hazards surrouding an explosion in a European chemical plant, described in a 1977 “World in Action” documentary televised in New Zealand last week, do not apply in this country, according to Ivor Watkins-Dow, Ltd.

Opinions on the hazards of dioxin had not been substantiated by scientific study in the three years after the Seveso incident, said Miss R. C. Newman, the company’s public relations officer. Exhaustive scientific studies on 2,4,5-T over the last 10 years had concluded that the chemical was not • dangerous to users or the environment if it was used properly. After the most recent scientific review, a group of experts had concluded that there was no evidence linking T.C.D.D. dioxin with abortion, birth defects, or mutation.

A survey completed this year on 121 workers exposed to dioxin in 1949 and who had developed a skin reaction had disclosed no apparent excess in deaths among them from cancer or cardiovascular diseases.

A statement made in the documentary that T.C.D.D. was almost indestructible was incorrect. It decomposed rapidly under certain conditions in sunlight and at various rates in soil and water.

In determining the potential danger of dioxin to the environment the amount needed to be related to the use. At the Seveso plant, the amount of dioxin released had been about Ikg over a limited area. New Zealand's entire use of 2,4,5-T in a year contained less than 15g of dioxin.