May 16, 2001
		EPA Links Dioxin Contamination to Cancer, Meat Consumption After more than a decade of research, the Environmental Protection Agency's advisory committee could provide the data for federal regulators to impose limits on dioxin. This could prove costly to the chemical beef and poultry industries that have opposed the findings of the report. The committee voted unanimously Tuesday, May 15, to send federal regulators a report that concludes that dioxin possibly causes cancer in people. "It is important that EPA continue to try to limit emissions and human exposure to this class of chemicals in view of their very long biological and environmental persistence," the report states. Chlorinated dioxin, is created in burning plastic and medical waste with chlorine; it settles in grass and feed, which is used in animal agriculture. Dioxin is stored in the fat of animals, and is present in milk and all forms of animal flesh. The contaminant used in Agent Orange includes the most toxic form of dioxin. Agent Orange has been associated with cancer, birth defects and miscarriages. William Glaze, a University of North Carolina professor who is a member of the advisory panel said that the report was "a huge step forward" toward stricter limits of dioxin. Glaze also noted that his committee's key finding is that "diet is the principal root of exposure" for people who eat even minimal amounts of dioxin in fatty foods. The panel is planning to send the report to EPA administrator Christie Whitman by June 1. Whitman has declined comment on the report thus far. Industry representatives at the panel's meeting Tuesday tried to cast doubt on the conclusions reached by the committee. "Despite thousands of studies, great uncertainty remains in our understanding of the effects of dioxin and dioxin-like compounds," Marcie Francis, the science policy director of the Chlorine Chemistry Council, told the panel.