Dioxin controversy

There has been a controversy about the health and environmental effects of dioxins and dioxin-like compounds for more than 28 years.^[1][2]

Dioxins are by-products of many industrial processes including waste incineration, chemical manufacturing, chlorine bleaching of pulp and paper, and smelting. Any process "in which chlorine and organic matter are brought together at high temperatures can create dioxin"^{[citation needed]}. Greenpeace and some other environmental groups have called for the chlorine industry to be phased out.^[2][1][3] However, chlorine industry supporters say that "banning chlorine would mean that millions of people in the third world would die from want of disinfected water".^[4]

One of the key players in the dioxin controversy has been the Dow Chemical Company. Dow is a large manufacturer of chlorine, producing an estimated 40 million tons of chlorine each year, much of which is used to make plastics, solvents, pesticides and other chemicals. In 1965 "a Dow researcher warned in an internal company document that dioxin 'is extremely toxic' but Dow has always publicly claimed it is not".^[2]

Sharon Beder and others have argued that the dioxin controversy has been very political and that large companies have tried to play down the seriousness of the problems of dioxin.^[3][1][5] The companies involved have often said that the campaign against dioxin is based on "fear and emotion" and not on science.^[6]

See also

• Dioxin exposure incidents
• Dioxin Affair
• Viktor Yushchenko#Dioxin poisoning controversy

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Sharon Beder. 'The dioxin controversy: spilling over into schools', Australian Science Teachers' Journal, November 1998, pp. 28-34.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Dioxin controversy: What are dioxins?
3. ^ ^{a b} Sharon Beder (2000). Global Spin: The Corporate Assault on Environmentalism, Scribe Publications, chapters 9 and 13.
4. ^ Sharon Beder (2000). Global Spin: The Corporate Assault on Environmentalism, Scribe Publications, p. 153.
5. ^ Ronald Christaldi. Book Review: Dying From Dioxin by Lois Marie Gibbs Journal of Land Use and Environmental Law, 1996.
6. ^ Sharon Beder (2000). Global Spin: The Corporate Assault on Environmentalism, Scribe Publications, p. 154.