Re: More or Less Dioxin???...good news and bad news...BC

[philip@prcn.org (Philip Fleischer)]

  >In British Columbia, where we are just recovering from massive dioxin
  >output in effluent from kraft pulp mills, dioxin levels have gone down
  >dramatically in fish-eating birds and their eggs, and somewhat down in
  >crab, fish etc, since the switch to using Chlorine dioxide. However, I
  >think levels in humans are just about the same, (As far as I know there are
  >no "before" and "after" tests of native people, who probably EAT more fish
  >than anyone else.) and it is my impression that so-called background levels
  >eg air, soil etc, have not declined.
  
  Yes, pulp mill effluent was a hot spot that has now shown some dramatic
  improvements.
  
  But as you say there was very little testing of other media back
  then and since we are seeing tests of pulp mill landfill leachate,
  sludge etc. we are seeing lots of dioxin.  And they want to use
  this stuff as fertilizer.
  
  Yesterday I got some analysis sheets for the air samples which we have been
  taking with the sampler on the roof of Henderson School.  A couple of
  stack samples had been done from each of the recovery and power boilers
  though but these are the first ambient air samples ever taken here, as far
  as I know.  The four TEQs I have range 5 to 42 fg/m3 (nd0).  Henderson
  school is a moderately impacted point in the Powell River townsite.
  These are low levels compared to some other industrial locations
  in North America but I still think its unacceptable for k-gr6's kids to
  be breathing this.
  
  (These analyses were done by Env Can and along with all this talk of
  regulatory capture, I have to say, I appreciate the work of some
  good people there.)
  
  
  
  
  Philip Fleischer   philip@prcn.org