Levels of dioxin in the environment, food and human blood in Taiwan are lower than those in Japan, according to the latest surveys carried out by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) and the Department of Health that were released yesterday.
Beginning in 2000, the EPA initiated a survey on concentrations of dioxin in the air, soil and plants at places surrounding 12 large-scale waste incinerators. Results released yesterday show that levels of dioxin are not higher than those in Japan, a country that favors waste incineration.
"We hope the survey will eliminate people's concerns on dioxin pollution, which has been one of the most frequent questions posed to us," Leu Horng-guang (
Waste incineration has been confirmed as one source of dioxin in the environment. Other sources include trash burning, metal smelting, straw fires and vinyl manufacturing.
According to the EPA, levels of dioxin in the air near the 12 waste incinerators were between 0.0044 and 1.7 pico-gram WHO-TEQ per cubic meter, while Japan's levels are between 0.003 and 1.8 pico-gram WHO-TEQ per cubic meter.
In the soil, EPA officials said, levels of dioxin were between 0.02 and 24.6 pico-gram WHO-TEQ per gram, while Japan's levels are between 0.00067 and 110 pico-gram WHO-TEQ per gram. Levels of dioxin accumulated in plants, officials said, are between 0.22 and 21.0 pico-gram WHO-TEQ per gram, which are similar to Japan's levels ranging from 0.426 to 21.0 pico-gram WHO-TEQ per gram.
EPA officials cited Japan's official surveys carried out between 1990 and 2001 as a reference.
"Taiwan adopted waste incineration quite late," Leu said. "Therefore our incinerators, with advanced dioxin prevention equipment, emit less dioxin than aging ones in other places, such as Japan and some European countries."
Sources of human exposure to dioxins include food and water intake, air inhalation and skin contact. Dietary intake, EPA officials said, is by far the most important and accounts for more than 90 percent of dioxin exposure.
Meanwhile, a survey on dioxin concentrations in food released by the health department yesterday suggests that seven categories of food -- pork, chicken, beef, fish, shrimp and shellfish, dairy products and milk powder -- meet dioxin regulatory standards established by the EU.
Based on levels of dioxin in food, health department researchers estimated that each Taiwanese individual's daily intake of dioxin is 0.53 pico-gram WHO-TEQ per kilogram of body weight per day.
The level, health officials said, is far less than the tolerable daily intake levels recommended by the World Health Organization, which are between 1 and 4 pico-gram WHO-TEQ per kilogram of body weight per day.
"We are sure that on average the amount of dioxin digested by an individual in Taiwan is at a safe level," said Chen Lu-hung (
In addition, another health department survey on levels of dioxin in blood, whose samples were collected from 27 males and 28 females at ages ranging between 18 and 25, suggests that the results in Taiwan are similar to those in the US, Germany, Japan and Spain.
According to the health department, the average level of dioxin in male blood samples is 19.8 pico-gram WHO-TEQ per gram of fat, while in females it's 19.0.
Health officials said that the results were close to Japan's 19.7 pico-gram WHO-TEQ per gram of fat, a result that appeared in a study carried out in 1993 and 1994 on 50 Japanese females.
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