EPA Posts First Figures on Dioxin Releases in Environment

For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday included dioxins--industrial byproducts that cause cancer and other health problems--in its annual list of the toxins released by companies.

Self-reported data from 23,000 facilities across the country showed that 220 pounds of dioxins were released into the air and water in 2000.

While tiny compared with the hundreds of millions of pounds of other pollutants discharged into the environment each year, this amount is alarming to public health advocates because dioxins are highly toxic in minuscule quantities.

And unlike many chemicals, they accumulate inside the body, where they can build to dangerous levels.

The so-called toxics release inventory, posted on the EPA Web site, lets individuals find out whether nearby industrial facilities are releasing dangerous chemicals.

“The toxics release inventory is a powerful tool to help citizens assess local environmental conditions and to help them make decisions about protecting their environment,” said EPA Administrator Christie Whitman.

The program, which required industry to report the release of some pollutants as early as 1988, has been credited with inspiring companies to make sharp cuts in their releases of those chemicals.

“I would hope that happens for dioxin,” said Linda Greer, public health director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, a national environmental group.

“It is more than a decade behind other pollutants that have had public accountability since the late 1980s.”

Dioxins are unintentional byproducts of the manufacture of a range of products, from paint to plastics. They are also emitted when these and other products are burned in incinerators.

They are known to cause cancer, attention deficit disorder, learning disabilities, weakened immune systems, infertility and birth defects, according to the EPA.

“We already have too much dioxin in our bodies,” said Stephen Lester, science director for the Center for Health, Environment and Justice. “Health effects have already been found at existing body burden levels, and additional exposures make it more likely that our health will suffer.”

In this latest inventory, the EPA also slashed the threshold for reporting emissions of mercury, another highly toxic chemical that accumulates in the environment and is hazardous in tiny amounts. Industrial facilities formerly had to report mercury production or use that exceeded 10,000 pounds a year, a figure that the EPA cut to 10 pounds for 2000.

The industrial facilities covered by the latest inventory reported releasing 4.3 million pounds of mercury into the air and water, the majority of which came from power plants.

“Last year the Centers for Disease Control showed that the amount of mercury in the bodies of many women of child-bearing age was at or above levels of concern,” said Dr. John Balbus, director of the environmental health program for Environmental Defense. The “information released today will help us to understand where that mercury is coming from and to start taking steps to reduce it.”

Mercury occurs naturally and is released into the air by coal-fired power plants and other industrial facilities. In waterways it builds up in the fish that people eat.

Developing fetuses face the highest risks from mercury.

At high doses, mercury can cause tremors, inability to walk, convulsions and even death.

Children who were exposed even to low levels of mercury in the womb have suffered a variety of movement and learning disorders.

Overall, the toxic release inventory showed that reported releases dropped by 700 million pounds, or nearly 10%, to 7.1 billion pounds from 1999 to 2000.

California accounted for 64 million pounds of the total.

Hard rock or metal miners again released more toxins than any other industry, accounting for 47% of all releases reported.

Along with gold, miners extract heavy metals such as arsenic, lead and mercury. Most of the hard rock mining industry’s discharges are onto land, but some are into the air and waterways.

Environmentalists said the huge quantity of toxic releases by that industry underlines the urgency for reforming the 1872 law that governs their activity.

“The 21st century’s largest toxic polluter shouldn’t be regulated by a 19th century law,” said Alan Septoff, research director of the Minerals Policy Center.

They accused the Bush administration of making the problem worse by changing an Army Corps of Engineers regulation to allow mining companies to fill streams with the rock that miners expose to seek gold and other metals.

A federal judge blocked the rule change, saying it violated the Clean Water Act. The Bush administration is appealing that ruling.

The EPA cautioned that the database was limited because it did not include all industries that discharged toxic chemicals.