Re: Dioxins and Plants

["Catalano, Dennis" <catalad@wdni.com>]

Not exactly true about the only reason trees give off dioxin when
burned.  Dr Gross of the University of Nebraska found dioxin in very old
petrified trees that had burned thousands of years ago.  He also found
dioxin in the tissue of Eskimo bodies found frozen in an igloo from
several hundred years back.  The dioxin was thought to have come from
burning wood for heat within the igloo.  The chlorine source for this
was most likely salt air from the sea, but trees do contain chlorine
from salt uptake from the soil.  I agree that the levels are higher now
due to the organochlorines from the atmosphere.

Dennis Catalano
 ----------
From: Byron Bodo
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Re: Dioxins and Plants
Date: Tuesday, January 27, 1998 8:26AM

At 11:14 PM 26/01/98 -0500, Jon Campbell wrote:
>Hello,
>
>       Dioxins are not found in nature except in exceedingly small
>concentrations (lightning bolts into the ocean), nothing like what is
found
>today.

I've heard that there was a recent paper on some sort of naturally
formed
PCDD/Fs in the seabeds off Japan but I couldn't find a precise
reference.

>The only reason that trees give off dioxin when burned is because
>they have absorbed organochlorines from their contaminated atmosphere
>(especially where 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T have been sprayed!). They are
extremely
>peculiar molecules. As far as I have read, there are no natural
organisms
>which can use or assimilate them.

That's the 1st time I've seen anyone claim this.  What about the natural
Cl content of wood & vegetation?

 -bb