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Inserisci una descrizione per DioXin

EFFETTO ARANCIO SUL VIETNAM 6/2/04

Emanuele Giordana

Venerdi' 6 Febbraio 2004-il manifesto

Di ritorno da Hanoi - Hong è nata nel 1954 nella comunità di Duc Phong. Ma tra il 67 e il 72, venne ferita e contaminata dall'orange mentre imperversa la battaglia a Ba To e Tra Bong, zone obiettivo dei bombardamenti alla diossina. La sua prima figlia, Nhung, nascerà nel 1988, oltre dieci anni dopo la fine del conflitto. Ma fino a sette anni, non riuscirà nemmeno a camminare. I suoi due fratellini muoiono mentre sono allo stato fetale. Tra il 68 e il 69, ricorda Hong, nessuno riusciva a coltivare un pezzo di terra nel villaggio. Persino i pesci perdevano le squame, mentre lei diventava paonazza e si riempiva di ulcerazioni. Il Tcdd, micidiale defoliante chiamato anche agente orange, venne sparso su oltre 3 milioni e mezzo di ettari di terra in Vietnam. Distrusse tutto. Lo scopo era far terra bruciata della foresta. Spogliarla, perché potesse rivelare i nascondigli dei vietcong lungo la linea demilitarizzata o nei meandri del sentiero di Ho Chi Minh che portava rifornimenti dal Nord. Ma la diossina penetrava nel suolo, contaminava l'acqua e si incistava nella catena alimentare.

Questi racconti, riassunti da una ricerca compiuta da un'organizzazione non governativa vietnamita, fanno riaffiorare alla memoria la tragedia del diserbante alla diossina, una delle pagine peggiori della guerra in Vietnam. Ma se la vicenda dell'orange fosse soltanto uno dei tanti orribili episodi di quel conflitto, rimarrebbe un fatto legato al passato, al più, come succede adesso, connesso a una causa in tribunale che tormenta il calendario maledetto degli anni `60. Ma non è così.

«Il suo impatto è a lungo termine e già colpisce sino alla quarta generazione. Spesso si manifesta solo in età avanzata e anche in zone distanti centinaia di chilometri dai luoghi su cui venne irrorato: nelle montagne ad esempio, dove le comunità pensano che il malato si trovi in quelle condizioni per una sorta di maledizione». E non per gli effetti, oltre trent'anni dopo, del micidiale diserbante che veniva spruzzato sulle campagne vietnamite dai bombardieri, dai camion o anche a mano da qualche marine. Mentre parla, Le Thi Nham Tuyet, antropologa e direttrice del Centro di ricerca Cgfed di Hanoi, una delle più vecchie Ong locali che dalla metà degli anni `90 studia, tra l'altro, l'impatto sociale dell'orange, ha sul tavolo le storie raccolte in una delle tante ricerche del suo gruppo. «E' sbagliato - dice - porre la questione solo in termini medico scientifici, un aspetto che presta il fianco a molte scappatoie perché gli americani, ad esempio, chiedono sempre di vedere i test del sangue e del latte. Produrle costa una cifra impossibile per noi vietnamiti, mentre gli effeti dell'orange si desumono molto facilmente dalle storie delle singole famiglie». Magari non eri neanche stato esposto ma ti sei sposata con un soldato. Nasce un figlio sano ma poi, a 12 anni, comincia a sviluppare malformazioni. Sono i regali dell'orange.

Per Le l'orange oggi è «un problema sociale che richiede risposte sociali». Non è solo una questione da scienziati o di denaro: «anche se - aggiunge - è problema farsi riconoscere la malattia dallo stesso governo vietnamita, se non puoi dimostrare che vieni da una zona irrorata». Sì, perché l'agente orange colpisce a distanza. In tempo e chilometri. Si dice che almeno 18 milioni di vietnamiti sono stati toccati, anche se indirettamente, dalla diossina. Forse un milione i morti in passato. E oggi?

A marzo una nuova ricerca del Centro Cgfed cercherà di far luce sugli effetti dell'orange nella zona Bien Hoa. L'associazione non demorde ma ha pochi soldi. E' sostenuta in buona parte dall'estero: dalla Danish Family Planning Association (ne sta costruendo tra l'altro il sito web) e da varie Ong, tra cui l'italiana Aidos. Per gli studi sull'Orange, dà una mano lo svedese Karolinska Instituet. «Ma pochi vogliono investire in ricerca e documentazione», dice Pham Kim Ngoc, del Centro. Invece la storia dell'orange è ancora tutta da scrivere e da indagare.

Il più recente studio sulla sua tragica eredità è stato reso noto da Nature qualche mese fa e ribalta completamente le vecchie convinzioni, sostenendo che, in base alle nuove ricerche, la quantità di erbicida irrorato fu assai maggiore di quanto si pensasse. Utilizzando un nuovo sistema statistico e sommando l'uso dell'orange con quello di altre sostanze simili sperimentate in precedenza (l'Agent Purple e l'Agent Pink), la ricerca diretta da Jeanne Mager Stellman alla Columbia University di New York stima che anche il numero delle persone esposte potrebbe moltiplicarsi. Un numero compreso in una forbice che va da due e quattro milioni di individui. Tremila furono i contaminati esposti direttamente. Senza contare la catena del contagio, come dimostrano le ricerche del gruppo diretto dalla dottoressa Tuyet, che allarga il numero degli «effetti collaterali» anche a che non fu mai esposto, nemmeno indirettamente, ma ha succhiato orange nel latte materno o attraverso il Dna dei genitori.

Stellman e il suo gruppo hanno messo a punto un sistema di assemblaggio dei dati che ha rivoluzionato tutti i precedenti studi e che consente di creare una vera e propria mappa delle incursioni, dei luoghi colpiti e delle persone esposte. Il sistema incrocia diversi dati con i «memo» che ogni pilota scriveva a fine missione e che, finora, non erano mai stati presi in considerazione. Le sintesi dei soldati al rientro alla base, un colonnino chiamato «missionum», mai incluso nelle ricerche, ha gettato così nuova luce sull'utilizzo dell'orange. Consentendo, tra l'altro, di scoprire che non furono 72 ma 100 i milioni di litri irrorati. Il 30% in più.

Ha fatto bene Ettore Mo nel suo ultimo libro (I dimenticati, Rizzoli) a chiamare i vietnamiti colpiti dall'orange le «eterne vittime» dell'erbicida. La maledizione dura nel tempo. I vietnamiti hanno però tutt'altro che dimenticato quella tragica eredità, benché sui depliant turistici si eviti accuratamente di parlare della guerra - come dimostra la trasformazione a Ho Chi Minh City, l'ex Saigon, del museo sui «Crimini di guerra americani e cinesi». Qui il termine «cinesi» è scomparso nel 90 e «americani» nel 94. Nel `96 sono scomparsi anche i crimini e infatti Hanoi non ha mai chiesto formalmente un risarcimento agli Usa.

Adesso che la denuncia della neonata Associazione per le vittime dell'agente orange, creata ad Hanoi agli inizi di gennaio, riapre il caso, il lavoro di persone come Le Thi Nham Tuyet e il suo gruppo diventa sempre più prezioso. Non sono le elucubrazioni di uno storico o il lavoro, per altro fondamentale, di ricostruzione di quel lugubre passato. Gettano luce sul Vietnam di oggi. Un paese dove l'«effetto arancio» non è ancora finito.


Agente Orange, tutti assolti Carlo Maria Miele – tratto da “Il Manifesto” 12 marzo 2005

La guerra del Vietnam non è finita. Almeno per quel milione di persone che nel paese asiatico soffrono ancora oggi per le conseguenze di quasi dieci anni di bombardamenti chimici americani.

Giovedì il giudice federale di New York Jack Weinstein ha respinto l'azione legale avviata dalle vittime del famigerato agente chimico Orange (così chiamato dal colore dei bidoni che lo contenevano) contro le trenta industrie che lo produssero nel corso degli anni `70, tra cui la Monsanto e la Dow Chemical. Una decisione che potrebbe mettere fine alla vicenda e contro cui ieri hanno duramente protestato le vittime vietnamite, che chiedono un risarcimento economico e il risanamento delle vaste aree devastate. La sola speranza, adesso, è ricorrere in appello. Le prove portate dall'accusa sarebbero, infatti, insufficienti. Dalla fine della guerra a oggi le persone contaminate sono quattro milioni. Per curarle esistono attualmente in Vietnam dodici «villaggi della pace» e circa cinquecento cliniche. Per rafforzare la propria istanza, l'accusa ha citato il caso delle industrie tedesche che, durante la seconda guerra mondiale, produssero i gas utilizzati dai nazisti nei campi di sterminio e che, successivamente, furono condannate per «crimini di guerra». Le multinazionali imputate per il caso Orange, però - si legge nella sentenza - non avrebbero violato nessuna legge statunitense o internazionale. «Il fatto che le malattie siano state contratte da persone esposte agli spray - ha fatto sapere il giudice - non rappresenta una prova sufficiente».

A gioire per il pronunciamento di ieri è anche la Casa bianca che ottiene l'ennesima affermazione del principio di impunità per le azioni compiute dal suo esercito. Dopo essere state chiamate in causa, infatti, la Monsanto e le altre aziende chimiche coinvolte avevano tirato subito in ballo il governo degli Stati uniti, ritenuto il vero responsabile dell'utilizzo «improprio» del diserbante e dei danni conseguenti. In risposta, già a gennaio il dipartimento di Giustizia americano chiese al giudice federale di rigettare l'azione legale: aprire i tribunali alle istanze avanzate da ex nemici - si leggeva in una nota diffusa allora - può rappresentare una seria minaccia al potere presidenziale di «muovere guerra». Restano così senza risposta gli appelli di chi ha scontato sulla propria pelle le conseguenze della guerra americana. Riferendosi a quanto accaduto nel suo paese oltre trenta anni fa, il vicepresidente dell'Associazione delle vittime dell'agente Orange (Vava), Nguyen Trong Nahn, aveva parlato di utilizzo di «armi di distruzione di massa».


DA GREENPEACE

  • Spolana Chemical Plant, Czech Republic —
    • Agent Orange should be a cautionary tale from the past. Containing some of the most toxic chemicals known to man it was sprayed it over huge areas - creating a toxic legacy for those people exposed. The Spolana factory in the Czech Republic produced Agent Orange before poisoned workers forced production to be shut. However the factory still produces lethal poisons - just a different type.

The factory on the banks of the Elbe River is one of the most contaminated sites in the world due to the past production of Agent Orange. Production of chlorine and PVC at the plant has also lead to contamination on surrounding land, food and in the bodies of local people. Mercury pollution, regular explosions and leaks of chemicals endanger residents of the local town.

The plant owners refuse to accept responsibility for contamination from the plant and claim the pollution must be the fault of those contaminated. We have been touring the chemical plants of the Elbe River for three weeks to highlight the risks to local people of outdated plants producing toxic chemicals.


Background on the Spolana Plant and Agent Orannge in English and Czech.

Full details of the Elbe tour 2003 in Czech.

Czech Republic

The chemical factory Spolana Neratovice is situated approximately 25 kilometres north of Prague on the river Elbe. It produced in the period of 1965-68 the chlorine herbicide 2,4,5-T. The former communist regime delivered it through various trade corporations to Vietnam where the American Army used it as a component for "Agent Orange". During production, a huge amount of dioxins were created and the former factory buildings are one of the most contaminated places on the Earth until today. These buildings were abandoned and closed more than 30 years ago. They contain rests of contaminated facilities, raw materials and intermediates from the cancelled production. Due to the immense dioxin contamination the reconstruction of the buildings is impossible and because of the fact that even maintenance is impossible, the buildings deteriorate quickly.

Extremely high dioxin concentrations were indicated in the surroundings of the contaminated buildings.

One of the buildings was put into a concrete sarcophagus halfway in 1998. The two other contaminated buildings are situated in an area near the Elbe that floods in average once every 50 years. If this happens, dioxins will be washed into the environment. The ground water under Spolana is contaminated not only with dioxins but with many other toxic chemical substances like: DDT, DDE, endrin, diendrin, lindane, benzene, 2,4,5-T, heptachlor, chloroform, HCB, HCH etc.

Dioxins and their characteristics

The immediate toxic impact of dioxins in the air of the contaminated buildings was proven by a rabbit experiment conducted by the Toxicology Department of the Military Medical Academy of J. E. Purkyne in Hradec Kralove. Rabbits in cages were located in the buildings in a way that they were exposed only to breathing the dioxin-contaminated air. The first rabbits already died on the 7th day of the experiment. Autopsy showed a significant damage of livers, lungs and kidneys.

  • G

Carcinogens in human blood near Spolana can cause serious health problems

  • LINKS:

Agent Orange

http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/benefits/herbicide/

http://www.lewispublishing.com/orange.htm

http://www.mts.net/~kolar/ZzK/2000/

  • Vietnam.html

http://natura.eridan.cz/natura/2000/9/

  • 20000904.html

Disposal of the dioxin contamination

In June 1992 the ICF Inc. (USA), Aquatest, Chemoprojekt and Ekohydrogeo carried out a study dealing with old environmental burdens in Spolana including also the dioxin contaminated buildings. As a result, Agreement 33/94 with the Czech National Property Fund was signed. This Agreement binds the National Property Fund to cover the disposal of old environmental burdens financially up to 4,329 billion of Czech crowns. In 1998 the first contaminated building (A114) was partially taken apart and partially set in a sarcophagus of approximately 1000 cubic metres of concrete. According to a declaration of Spolana, the costs of this "decontamination" were 66 million Czech crowns.

In January 2001 the company Aquatest finished a risk analysis on the dioxin-contaminated buildings A 1420 and A 1030. Both, Spolana management and relevant public authorities, refuse to disclose the report. The report suggests 12 methods of handling the dioxin contamination using a projected investment of 300 to 400 million Czech crowns. According to Greenpeace, however, some of the suggested methods may post a huge danger for human health and the environment. Amongst these are methods as demolition by using explosives, followed by incineration (burning).

Catastrophe and its victims In the years 1964 to 1968 about 80 people from Spolana suffered from dioxin contamination. 55 of them were hospitalised at the average age of 36,3 years when first admitted. Intoxication manifested itself mostly by skin changes (chloracne). Often suppurating cysts were forming on the skin; many of the symptoms were so severe and widespread that they changed the patient's appearance completely.

Dioxins lead also to disorders of the porphyry metabolism, manifesting itself in dark skin colour and other symptoms linked with liver porphyria. A frequent finding was also diabetes (disorder of sugar and fat metabolism), tiredness and weakness of lower limbs - also proven by electromyographic examination.

According to a statement of one of the involved physicians, dioxins are highly probably responsible for brain function disorders found during psychiatric examination of the affected workers. However, the psychological changes were also caused by the desperate situation of the patients: indeterminate future, disfigurement and death fear.

In 1981 Dr. Vejlupkova published an essay on the progress of dioxin intoxication of the Spolana workers in an American professional magazine, Archives of Environmental Health. This was met with a large response. Although Dr. Vejlupkova had fully respected the communist regime's general information ban and had not mentioned the location of the dioxin disaster, she was scapegoated by the political power and said to cause harm to the good name of socialist Czechoslovakia. Spolana Neratovice, Agent Orange and Vietnam War Agent Orange is the name for a compound existing of butyl ester 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T) and butyl ester 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). The first substance was produced in the years 1965 - 1968 in the nowadays-contaminated buildings. The American Army used Agent Orange on a massive scale as defoliant in its confrontation with the communist troops hidden in the jungle of Vietnam. For the preparation of Agent Orange, the Americans used also 2,4,5-T from Spolana. At that time Spolana delivered its products through the Foreign Trade Corporation to Vietnam where Agent Orange was prepared directly at the U. S. air bases. The substance 2,4,5-T that was produced in Spolana was according to available information one of the substances most contaminated with dioxins, causing serious health problems.

Besides the victims amongst Spolana workers, also thousands of American soldiers (nowadays veterans) and hundreds of thousands Vietnamese were contaminated with dioxins in herbicides used for the Agent Orange production. Up till now there are still vast areas of Vietnam contaminated with dioxins.

WANTED: Monsanto for crimes against the planet

Hendrik A. Verfaillie and Monsanto are wanted for crimes of genetic pollution. Enlarge Image

Johannesburg, South Africa — Long time corporate scoundrels Monsanto are WANTED for their crimes against the planet. It started innocently enough with the production of Agent Orange for military use in Vietnam. Then came PCBs and Dioxin. Now they are after our food. Their goal: global food supply domination. The environmental criminal: Monsanto is wanted for questioning in relation to the genetic pollution of the planet Earth, force feeding global citizens genetically engineered foods and the global take over of the planet’s food sources.

It is armed with the arrogant belief that genetic engineering is safe, both for the environment and human health. Monsanto is the same company that brought us such safe, healthy products as Agent Orange and PCBs.

The accomplice: The US and Canadian governments not only ignored the inherent risks of genetic engineering, they have aided Monsanto setting up an inadequate regulatory system that relies on risk assessment, industry science and voluntary compliance.

The environmental crime: As if polluting the planet with noxious PCBs, dioxins and harmful pesticides wasn’t enough, now this leader in the genetic engineering industry is threatening to alter the genes of every food crop on Earth.

Monsanto's Robert Fraley testified: “What you are seeing is not just a consolidation of seed companies, it’s really a consolidation of the entire food chain.”

Through a spending spree of billions of US dollars acquiring seed companies around the world and the contamination of the global food chain with GE crops, Monsanto’s diabolical plan of global food take over may soon be a reality.

ì


Toxic contamination in floods threatens population 15 August 2002

The flooded Spolana chemical plant shortly after the explosion of chlorine gas Enlarge Image

Prague, Czech Republic — Greenpeace today confirmed flooding at two dioxin-contaminated buildings at the Spolana chemical factory outside Prague. Ninety per cent of the company sites are under water and the mercury-contaminated area has been flooded since yesterday.

The impact from flooding at the chemical factory escalated this afternoon when a chlorine cloud forced residents to seek safety indoors. The Greenpeace team had earlier observed smoke coming out of the factory site. During the night a small explosion occurred inside the factory.

Greenpeace has protested the company's reluctance to clean up its dangerous wastes and repeatedly warned about the contamination in Elbe River's flood plain and the possibility of a disaster if flooding occurred. (1)

The chemical factory Spolana Neratovice is situated approximately 25 kilometres north of Prague on the river Elbe. Spolana produces polyvinylchloride (PVC) and other basic chemicals and pharmaceutical products. The two dioxin-contaminated buildings were former production facilities of the herbicide 2,4,5-T, more commonly known as Agent Orange. The company halted its 2,4,5-T production on account of the severe health effects on workers in 1968. Extremely high dioxin concentrations were indicated within in the surroundings of the contaminated buildings.

Spolana allowed the heavily dioxin-contaminated buildings to remain within the Elbe flood zone despite environmental concerns for potential flooding. The company put a flood barrier around one of the more endangered buildings only after pressure from Greenpeace The current flooding threatens to poison the river not only with dioxins and the mercury from vinyl chloride production, but also with other toxic substances such as DDT, endrin, diendrin, lindane, benzene and heptachlor.

"Spolana should be made accountable for the damages caused by this accident. They have known for years about the risks connected with contamination on their site," said Martin Hojsik, Greenpeace Toxics Campaigner for Greenpeace Central Europe. "Despite knowing about the dangers, the company has not taken specific measures to clean up and prevent what we now see today." Notes to Editor

(1) At the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, August 26th to September 4th, Greenpeace is calling on world governments to commit to the development of a global framework on corporate responsibility, which should include corporate liability.

For more information on Spolana, Greenpeace report on corporate crimes: http://www.greenpeace.org/~toxics/documents/spolana.pdf


Where it comes from

The process required to create Dioxin is rather simple, all that is needed are three common ingredient. The first is a material containing a sample of Chlorine. Chlorine is a widely used chemical that can be found in thousands of products ranging from bleaches, plastic, and personal hygiene product. The second ingredient is an organic substance such as wood, pulp or paper. And the third ingredient is a catalyst such as fire that creates the chemical reaction during which Dioxin is formed. The EPA (Environment Protection Agency), has identified incinerator and other combustion sources as being the largest emitters of Dioxin. These sources, including medical, garbage, and military incinerators account for over 90% of all Dioxin emissions. Another major source of Dioxin contamination is produced by pulp and paper manufacturers, which account for 7% of Dioxin emissions. However, a small percentage of Dioxin emissions remains unidentified, it is believed that this source includes accidental or natural sources such as house fires, cars and torches.

The following chart shows some of the main sources responsible for Dioxin production Chart taken from [Toxic Report, April 2002]

TABLE 4: Dioxin Sources in the U.S.

  • % of total identified emissions

Sources: U.S. EPA(1) Cohen(2) Thomas (3) Medical waste incinerators 45 48.7 10 Trash and apartment incinerators 42 20.1 65 Haz. waste incinerators/Cement kilns 4* 8 2.5 Pulp mills 3 ND 0.1 Wood burning 3 1.9 5.8 Copper recycling 2 4.2 2.5 Forest fires/Agricultural burning 0.7 ND 7.5** Vehicle fuels 0.7 1.4 0.7 Sewage sludge incineration 0.2 0.6 1 Dioxin-contaminated chemicals <1 ND 4.5 Lead recycling <0.1 ND ND Steel smelters ND 10.6 0.8 Open waste burning ND ND 2.5 Accidental fires ND ND 0.7**

What is Chlorine

Chlorine is an essential ingredient required in the creating on Dioxin. Basically this substance is a natural element which constitute for a large percentage of the earths surface. Chlorine is a very reactive chemical, because it’s surface is missing as electron, it is constantly attracted to other molecules. This trait makes Chlorine very useful in chemical reaction which can change, build or improve various products. Most often chlorine is found attached to other elements, to make it useful for manufacturing it must first be separated. The process that is used to separate chlorine from other substances is called electrolysis. This process involves passing large currents of electricity thought sea water, which removes the negative chloride ions and deposits them on the positive sodium. The product is chlorine gas, which will be chilled pressurized and made in to a powder.

Incineration

Incinerators and other combustion facilities were proven to be the single largest source of Dioxin contamination. Basically, an incinerator is an oven that uses extreme temperatures to reduce large quantities of matter into ash. In most cases, incinerators are used to dispose of organic garbage. By doing so, it is possible to reduce the amount of property required for landfills, as well as save money associated with the removal of waste. However incinerators are also widely used for the purpose of destroying medical and industrial waste. Medical and other toxic garbage cannot be frown away. Due to a threat of contamination, all waste from these sources must be destroyed. Medical and industrial incineration accounts for the largest percentage of dioxin production. This fact can mainly be attributed to the large quantities of PVC plastic (more on this later) which they use. Many attempts have bean made to reduce the amount of Dioxin that is being released by these sources. The most widely used method is a filter that remove the ash from the exhausts. Although this method has proven somewhat effective, it still does not terminate all the dioxin emissions. The main problem is that the Fly ash, the material that Dioxin travels in, is very small. Even with the use of filters, it is virtually impossible to stop all of it from leaving the facility. Another problem is the waste created by the incinerator. The remains of the burnt material created by the incinerator are heavily contaminated with Dioxin. There is no other way to dispose of it, but to through it away. The third problem is that filters are only used in larger facilities, leaving the majority of the smallest once uncontrolled.

Materials

One of the largest factors in the production of Dioxin can be attributed to polyvinyl chloride plastic or (PVC) for short. According to the studies made by the EPA, this product has bean directly linked to over 40% or all Dioxin productions. So why does PVC play such an important role in the creation of Dioxin? The first reason why PVC is such a major source of dioxin, is simple the popularity of it’s use. PVC can be found virtually anywhere, in fact over 80% of all chorine goes in to the manufacturing of this product. The second factor is it’s growing demand. Unlike other chlorine products who’s numbers have bean decreasing steadily, the demand for PVC in on the rise.

Why it’s so harmful

One of the traits that make Dioxin so harmful is it’s similarity to natural hormones (chemicals used the body to transmit information). Like hormones, Dioxin has the ability to pass thought a cell’s membrane and attach itself to the neural receptors (parts of the cell that collect information). By doing so, a dioxin molecule can literally alter the genetic structure of the cell, creating new instructions that can interfere and disrupt the immune and neurological systems. Another factor that makes Dioxin so harmful is it’s ability to remain in our bodies for such long periods of time. Because the immune system has no deface against this pathogen, there is basically no way to remove it. Unlike most other toxins, dioxin does not require a minimal dose to be harmful. Once it’s inside the body, even the smallest amounts of Dioxin can begin to disrupt it’s functions. So how does Dioxin get into a human host? Dioxin is what’s called a hydrophobic substance, basically meaning that it tries to avoid water. Then ash from an incineration facility, lands on water or soil, the dioxin contained within is automatically drown to the fat in living creates. Because of it’s long life span, dioxin can travel from one host to another thought the ecological food chain until it finally accumulates inside higher life forms. It was found that the levels of Dioxin in fish were often 100,000-million times that of surrounding water. Sense humans are at the top of the food chain, most of the dioxin from the environment eventually ends up in our diets. There are many other sources that were found to be contaminated with dioxin. It is assumed that most products that involve the use of chorine it their manufacturing can contain small traces of the toxin. Objects such as cleaners, toys and clothing.

Life cycle

The life-span of Dioxin is directly related to the amount of sun light to which it is exposed. If left in the open, the Half-life (the time it takes for the substance to degrade to ½ it’s size) is believed to be only 20 hours. However, in most instances dioxin finds refuge in near by water systems, or soil that can significantly increase it’s life. If released in to the water, dioxin will usually find it’s way into sediments or suspended materials. Under such conditions dioxin’s half-life has been estimated to excess 1.5 years. In surface soil dioxin’s half-life is believed to be between 1-3 years, and over 12 years deeper down. The life-span of Dioxin also depends on the climate. Because of the higher amounts of sunlight founds in hot climates, Dioxin does not last very long. However in cold, or frozen climates Dioxin can remain hidden away for centuries.

DioXin (last edited 2008-06-26 09:50:16 by anonymous)