GENEVA (June 3, 1998 10:50 a.m. EDT http://www.nando.net) - The World Health Organization Wednesday said it had lowered by more than half the daily dose of dioxins acceptable to human health.
Health experts in 1990 fixed a "tolerable" daily intake of 10 picograms per kilogram of body weight for the most toxic dioxin, tetracholorodibenzo-p- dioxin (TCDD), which causes a chronic and disfiguring skin disease.
One picogram equals a millionth of a millionth of a gram)
This daily threshold was reduced to between one to 4 picograms by some 40 specialists from 15 countries who met in Geneva between May 25 and 29, a WHO statement said.
The revision took into account new epidemiological data on the effects on neurological and development and the endocrine system of dioxins, which are environmental chemicals found in the ground, river beds and the air.
The experts recognized that subtle effects may already occur in the general population in developed countries at levels of two to 6 picograms.
"They therefore recommended that every effort should be made to reduce exposure to the lowest possible level," the WHO said.
Measures introduced to control dioxin release in a number of countries had resulted in a substantial reduction in intake of these compounds in the past few years, Maged Younes in the WHO program for the promotion of chemical safety said.
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