Editing Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (section)

==Dioxin exposure incidents==
{{See also|Dioxin controversy}}
*In 1949, in a [[Monsanto]] herbicide production plant for [[2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid|2,4,5-T]] in [[Nitro, West Virginia]], 240 people were affected when a relief valve opened.<ref name="pmid8420584">{{cite journal | vauthors = Collins JJ, Strauss ME, Levinskas GJ, Conner PR | title = The mortality experience of workers exposed to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin in a trichlorophenol process accident | journal = Epidemiology | volume = 4 | issue = 1 | pages = 7–13 | date = January 1993 | pmid = 8420584 | doi = 10.1097/00001648-199301000-00003 | s2cid = 20291372 | doi-access = free }}</ref>
*In 1963, a dioxin cloud escaped after an explosion in a [[Philips]]-Duphar plant (now [[Solvay (company)|Solvay]] Group) near [[Amsterdam]].<ref name="weber2008"/> The plant was so polluted with dioxin after the accident that it had to be dismantled, embedded in concrete, and dumped into the ocean.<ref>{{cite book| last=Hay| first=Alastair| title=The chemical scythe: lessons of 2, 4, 5-T, and dioxin| year=1982| publisher=Springer| isbn=978-0-306-40973-8| pages=106–109| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V524J4zh06MC&pg=PA106}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last=Hoppe| first=Robert| title=The Governance of Problems: Puzzling, Powering and Participation| year=2010| publisher=The Policy Press| isbn=978-1-84742-629-1| page=151| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sp8kuAXHdH0C&pg=PA151}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last=Eijndhoven| first=J. van| title=Communicating risks to the public: international perspectives| year=1991| publisher=Springer| isbn=978-0-7923-0601-6|page=48| chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hfC-4veRbN4C&pg=PA48|author2=C. Worrell| editor=Roger E. Kasperson, Pieter Jan M. Stallen| access-date=19 October 2010| chapter=Active and passive provision of risk information}}</ref>
* [[File:Neratovice Spolana 965.JPG|thumb|300px|[[Spolana]] Neratovice [[chloralkali]] plant, air view]] Between 1965 and 1968 production of 2,4,5-trichlorophenol in [[Spolana]] [[Neratovice]] plant in [[Czechoslovakia]] seriously poisoned about 60 workers with dioxins; after 3 years of investigation of the health problems of workers, Spolana stopped manufacture of 2,4,5-T (most of which was supplied to the US military in [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]]). Several buildings of the Spolana chemical plant were heavily contaminated by dioxins.<ref>[[Miroslav Šuta]]: [http://www.sedmagenerace.cz/index.php?art=clanek&id=121 Spolana — časovaná bomba na břehu Labe], Sedmá generace, 10/2002</ref> Unknown amounts of dioxins were flushed into the [[Elbe]] and [[Mulde]] rivers during the [[2002 European flood]], contaminating soil.<ref>{{cite conference |vauthors=Christoph EH, Umlauf GC, Bidoglio G | title=PCDD/Fs and Dioxin-like PCBs in Soils after the Flooding of River Elbe and Mulde in 2002 | book-title=DIOXIN 2004 – 24th Intern. Symposium on Halogenated Environmental Organic Pollutants and POPs, 6–10 September 2004 | location=Berlin |date=September 2004}}</ref> Analysis of eggs and ducks found dioxin levels 15 times higher than the EU limit and a high concentration of dioxin-like PCBs in the village of [[Libiš]].<ref>[[Miroslav Šuta]]: [http://www.sedmagenerace.cz/index.php?art=clanek&id=45 Dioxinové kachny "made in Spolana"], Sedmá generace, 3/2003</ref> In 2004, the state health authority published a study which analysed the level of toxic substances in human blood near Spolana. According to the study, dioxin levels in [[Neratovice]], Libiš and [[Tišice]] were about twice the level of the control group in [[Benešov]]. The quantity of dioxins near Spolana is significantly higher than the background levels in other countries.  According to the US EPA, even a background level can pose a risk of cancer from 1:10000 to 1:1000, about 100 times higher than normal.<ref>[[Greenpeace]]: [http://old.greenpeace.cz/media/zpravy.shtml?x=165090 Carcinogens in human blood near Spolana can cause serious health problems] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430074202/http://old.greenpeace.cz/media/zpravy.shtml?x=165090 |date=2009-04-30 }}</ref> The consumption of local fish, eggs, poultry, and some produce was prohibited because of post-flood contamination.<ref>[http://www.ipen.org/ipepweb1/egg/HotspotReports/Usti_eggsreport.pdf Contamination of chicken eggs near the Spolchemie Ústí nad Labem chemical plant in the Czech Republic by dioxins, PCBs and hexachlorobenzene] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726185351/http://www.ipen.org/ipepweb1/egg/HotspotReports/Usti_eggsreport.pdf |date=2011-07-26 }} International POP Elimination Network (IPEN)</ref>
*Also during 1965 through 1968, [[Albert Kligman|Dr. Albert M. Kligman]] was contracted by the Dow Chemical Company to perform threshold tests for TCDD on inmates at [[Holmesburg Prison]] in [[Philadelphia]] after Dow studies revealed adverse effects on workers at Dow's [[Midland, Michigan]], plant were likely due to TCDD. A subsequent test by Dow in rabbit ear models when exposed to 4–8μg usually caused a severe response. The human studies carried out in Holmesburg failed to follow Dow's original protocol and lacked proper informed consent by the participants. As a result of poor study design and subsequent destruction of records, the tests were virtually worthless even though ten inmates were exposed to 7,500μg of TCDD.<ref name="hornblum">{{cite book| last=Hornblum| first=Allen M.| title=Acres of skin: human experiments at Holmesburg Prison: a story of abuse and exploitation in the name of medical science| publisher=Routledge| year=1998| page=38| isbn=978-0-415-91990-6| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HyFbdu7KKswC&pg=PA238| access-date=27 February 2010}}</ref>
*In 1976, large amounts of dioxins were released in an industrial [[Seveso disaster|accident at Seveso]], Italy, although no immediate human fatalities or birth defects occurred.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.roche.com/com_his_sev-e.pdf |title= Seveso&nbsp;– 30 Years After |access-date=2007-06-04 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061231143828/http://www.roche.com/com_his_sev-e.pdf |archive-date = 31 December 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/sragtech/caseseveso76.htm |title=Icmesa chemical company, Seveso, Italy. 9th July 1976 |access-date=2007-06-04 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/245t/245th/seveso.htm |title=Seveso |access-date=2007-06-04 }}</ref>
*In 1978, dioxins were some of the contaminants that forced the evacuation of the [[Love Canal]] neighborhood of [[Niagara Falls, New York]].
*From 1982 through to 1985, [[Times Beach, Missouri]], was bought out and evacuated under order of the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency]] due to high levels of dioxins in the soil caused by applications of contaminated oil meant to control dust on the town's dirt roads.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9403E0D71438F934A15757C0A965948260 |title=AROUND THE NATION; Times Beach, Mo., Board Moves to Seal Off Town&nbsp;— New York Times |access-date=2007-06-04 |work=The New York Times | date=1983-04-27}}</ref> The town eventually disincorporated.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E02E4DF1238F930A35757C0A963948260 |title=AROUND THE NATION; Times Beach, Mo., Votes Itself Out of Existence&nbsp;— New York Times |access-date=2007-06-04 |work=The New York Times | date=1985-04-03}}</ref>
*In the spring of 1990, a chemical plant Khimprom in [[Ufa]], Russia released [[phenol]] into the water tributaries.  An investigation revealed previously classified disposal of dioxin in manufacturing [[2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid]].  The [[Phenol and Dioxin Disaster in Ufa|accident]] affected 670,000 people.  Dioxin was found in tap water.  It was assumed that it resulted from [[chlorophenol]] produced by a reaction with chlorine in water purification.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://bluelink.info/environment-health/ufa-losing-battle-against-dioxins/
|title=Ufa Losing Battle Against Dioxins
|date=29 June 2019
|website=BlueLink – the Civic Action Network
|author=Artur Asafiev}}</ref>
*In December 1991, an electrical explosion caused dioxins (created from the oxidation of [[polychlorinated biphenyl]]) to spread through four [[residence hall]]s and two other buildings on the college campus of [[SUNY New Paltz]].
*In May 1999, there was a [[Dioxin Affair|dioxin crisis in Belgium]]: quantities of [[polychlorinated biphenyls]] with dioxin-like toxicity had entered the [[food chain]] through contaminated [[compound feed|animal feed]]. 7,000,000 chickens and 60,000 pigs had to be slaughtered. This scandal was followed by a landslide change in government in the elections one month later.<ref>[https://archive.today/20120713023410/http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2001/109p265-273vanlarebeke/abstract.htmlThe Belgian PCB and Dioxin Incident of January–June 1999: Exposure Data and Potential Impact on Health, Environ Health Perspect 109:265–273 (2001)]. Ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov. Retrieved on 2011-06-09.</ref>
*Explosions resulting from the terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001, released massive amounts of dust into the air. The air was measured for dioxins from 23 September 2001, to 21 November 2001, and reported to be "likely the highest ambient concentration that have ever been reported [in history]." The [[United States Environmental Protection Agency]] report dated October 2002 and released in December 2002 titled "Exposure and Human Health Evaluation of Airborne Pollution from the World Trade Center Disaster" authored by the EPA Office of Research and Development in Washington states that dioxin levels recorded at a monitoring station on [[Park Row (Manhattan)|Park Row]] near [[New York City Hall|City Hall Park]] in [[New York City|New York]] between 12 and 29 October 2001, averaged 5.6 parts per trillion, or nearly six times the highest dioxin level ever recorded in the U.S. Dioxin levels in the rubble of the [[World Trade Center site|World Trade Centers]] were much higher with concentrations ranging from 10 to 170 parts per trillion. The report did no measuring of the toxicity of indoor air.
*In a 2001 case study,<ref name="pmid11564625"/> physicians reported clinical changes in a 30-year-old woman who had been exposed to a massive dosage (144,000 pg/g blood fat) of dioxin equal to 16,000 times the normal body level; the highest dose of dioxin ever recorded in a human. She suffered from [[chloracne]], [[nausea]], [[vomiting]], [[epigastric]] pain, [[anorexia (symptom)|loss of appetite]], [[leukocytosis]], [[anemia]], [[amenorrhoea]] and [[thrombocytopenia]]. However, other notable laboratory tests, such as immune function tests, were relatively normal. The same study also covered a second subject who had received a dosage equivalent to 2,900 times the normal level, who apparently suffered no notable negative effects other than chloracne. These patients were provided with [[olestra]] to accelerate dioxin elimination.<ref name="pmid10520643">{{cite journal |vauthors=Geusau A, Tschachler E, Meixner M |title=Olestra increases faecal excretion of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin |journal=Lancet |volume=354 |issue=9186 |pages=1266–7 |year=1999 |pmid=10520643| doi = 10.1016/S0140-6736(99)04271-3 |s2cid=30933045 |display-authors=etal  }}</ref>
* [[File:Viktor Yuschenko.jpg|thumb|[[Viktor Yushchenko]] with chloracne after his TCDD poisoning incident]] In 2004, in a notable individual case of dioxin poisoning, [[Ukraine|Ukrainian]] politician [[Viktor Yushchenko]] was exposed to the second-largest measured dose of dioxins, according to the reports of the physicians responsible for diagnosing him. This is the first known case of a single high dose of TCDD dioxin poisoning, and was diagnosed only after a toxicologist recognized the symptoms of [[chloracne]] while viewing television news coverage of his condition.<ref name="nature.com"/>
*In the early 2000s, residents of the city of [[New Plymouth]], [[New Zealand]], reported many illnesses of people living around and working at the Dow Chemical plant. This plant ceased production of 2,4,5-T in 1987.
*DuPont has been sued by 1,995 people who claim dioxin emissions from DuPont's plant in [[DeLisle, Mississippi]], caused their cancers, illnesses or loved ones' deaths; of these only 850 were pending as of June 2008. In August 2005, Glen Strong, an [[oyster]] fisherman with the rare blood cancer [[multiple myeloma]], was awarded $14 million from DuPont, but the ruling was overturned 5 June 2008, by a [[Mississippi]] jury who found DuPont's plant had no connection to Mr. Strong's disease.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://money.netscape.cnn.com/news_story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001/20080605/1630797316.htm&TickerSymbols=DD |title=Miss. jury rules for DuPont in $14m dioxin case |access-date=2008-08-22 |work=CNN }}{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In another case, parents claimed dioxin from pollution caused the death of their 8-year-old daughter; the trial took place in the summer of 2007, and a jury wholly rejected the family's claims, as no scientific connection could be proven between DuPont and the family's tragic loss.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2007/06/12/80735.htm |title=Jury Finds DuPont Dioxins Not Responsible for Child's Death |date=11 June 2007 |access-date=2008-08-22 }}</ref> DuPont's DeLisle plant is one of three [[titanium dioxide]] facilities (including [[Edgemoor, Delaware]], and [[New Johnsonville, Tennessee]]) that are the largest producers of dioxin in the country, according to the US EPA's Toxic Release Inventory. DuPont maintains its operations are safe and environmentally responsible.
*In 2007, thousands of tonnes of foul-smelling refuse were piled up in [[Naples]], Italy and its surrounding villages, defacing entire neighbourhoods. Authorities discovered that polychlorinated dibenzodioxins levels in buffalo milk used by 29 mozzarella makers exceeded permitted limits; after further investigation they impounded milk from 66 farms. Authorities suspected the source of the contamination was from waste illegally disposed of on land grazed by buffalo. Prosecutors in Naples placed 109 people under investigation on suspicion of fraud and food poisoning. Sales of Mozzarella cheese fell by 50% in Italy.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/italys-toxic-waste-crisis-the-mafia-ndash-and-the-scandal-of-europes-mozzarella-799289.html?service=Print | title=Italy's toxic waste crisis, the Mafia – and the scandal of Europe's mozzarella | access-date=2008-03-28 | work=The Independent | location=London | first1=Michael | last1=McCarthy | first2=John | last2=Phillips | date=2008-03-22 | archive-date=2013-04-19 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130419030456/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/italys-toxic-waste-crisis-the-mafia-ndash-and-the-scandal-of-europes-mozzarella-799289.html?service=Print | url-status=dead }}</ref>
*In December 2008 in [[Ireland]] dioxin levels in [[pork]] were disclosed to have been between 80 and 200 times the legal limit. All Irish pork products were withdrawn from sale both nationally and internationally.{{Main|2008 Irish pork crisis}} In this case the dioxin toxicity was found to be mostly due to dioxin-like polychlorinated [[dibenzofurans]] and [[polychlorinated biphenyls]], and the contribution from actual polychlorinated dibenzodioxins was relatively low. It is thought that the incident resulted from the contamination of [[fuel oil]] used in a drying burner at a single feed processor, with PCBs. The resulting combustion produced a highly toxic mixture of PCBs, dioxins and [[furan]]s, which was included in the feed produced and subsequently fed to a large number of pigs.<ref>[http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/publications/2010/DioxinReport211209revised190110.pdf Report Inter-Agency Review Group Dioxin (Dec 2008)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101209121430/http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/publications/2010/DioxinReport211209revised190110.pdf |date=2010-12-09 }}. (PDF). Retrieved on 2011-06-09.</ref>
*According to data in 2009,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.tarantosociale.org/tarantosociale/docs/2000.pdf | title=Peacelink | access-date=2009-01-31 | archive-date=2009-02-25 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090225153143/http://www.tarantosociale.org/tarantosociale/docs/2000.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> in 2005 the production of dioxin by the steel industry [[Ilva (company)|ILVA]] in [[Taranto]] ([[Italy]]) accounted for 90.3 per cent of the overall Italian emissions, and 8.8 per cent of the European emissions.
*German dioxin incident: In January 2011 about 4700 German farms were banned from making deliveries after self-checking of an animal feed producer had shown levels of dioxin above maximum levels. This incident appeared to involve PCDDs and not PCBs.<ref name="eu"/> Dioxins were found in animal feed and eggs in many farms. The maximum values were exceeded twofold in feed and maximally fourfold in some individual eggs.<ref name=eu/> Thus the incident was minor as compared with the Belgian crisis in 1999, and delivery bans were rapidly cleared.<ref name=germany>{{Cite web |url=http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/chemicalsafety/contaminants/dioxin_germany_information_note_en.pdf |title=Dioxin contamination in Germany Closing information note |access-date=2011-11-27 |archive-date=2011-12-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111214161838/http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/chemicalsafety/contaminants/dioxin_germany_information_note_en.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>