[Dioxin-l] dioxin in burgers

[Jon Campbell]

very impressive, David.

But you missed a crucial point. ALL of the samples used in that paper =
are
from a SINGLE SUPERMARKET in Binghamton, NY. The point of the paper is =
that
the original exposure estimate due to ingestion of these foods was
originally based on uncooked concentration, and Schecter et al wanted =
to
find out whether cooking affected this, and obviously found that it =
did, by
a factor of 2 or so for beef. Broiling of beef throws off fat, and
apparently about half of the dioxin is thrown off with this fat.

When the EPA 1994 Reassessment was released, the range of TEQ for beef =
for
samples from around the U.S. was 0.3-1.5 pg/gram TEQ, I believe (I =
don't
have Dying From Dioxin in front of me at the moment). The concentration =
of
dioxins in food varies widely depending on the source and feeding of =
the
animals involved. The AVERAGE for hamburger at that time (and I don't =
think
it has changed much) was considered to be 1.0 pg/gm TEQ. (See Dioxins =
and
Health by Schecter or Dying From Dioxin by Lois Gibbs). Thus my =
estimate of
100 pg for a 100 gram McDonalds hamburger. Schecter's paper would =
modify
this estimate down to 50 pg actual exposure.

Note that in the 2nd paper cited, the EPA estimates 0.29 pg/gram TEQ of
dioxins, furans, and coplanar PCBs for exposure to beef. If this is the
current number and it is accurate, we only need to bring it down by a =
factor
of 30 or so to get exposure to the EPA max allowable limit for a single
serving, never mind fish, milk, eggs, cheese, etc.
Note especially the dioxin and coplanar PCB concentration in freshwater
fish: 2.4 pg/gram TEQ. A 50 gram (1/8 pound) serving of fish provides =
us
with 120 picograms of dioxin/PCB TEQ. Why are we still allowing stores =
to
sell fish from the Great Lakes???

David, welcome to the Real World. Is this not wholesale contamination =
of the
biosphere?

Regards
Jon Campbell


-----Original Message-----
From: david bell [mailto:burnt_paper@hotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2000 12:49 PM
To: derwuestenfuchs@yahoo.com; dioxin-l@lists.essential.org
Subject: Re: [Dioxin-l] dioxin in burgers




>Jon Campbell wrote
>
>"A single McDonalds hamburger has 100 picograms of
>dioxin in it, the EPA max dosage is 0.7 picograms for
>an ADULT."
>
>Pretty upsetting if true.  What's the source of this
>number?
>

A recent estimate of total CDD/CDF/PCB in burgers is 150 pg of TEQ per =
kg of

burger. I guess a burger weighs 100-200 g, so maybe 15-30 pg/burger:
Citation: Schecter, A.; Papke, O.; Dellarco, M. 1997. Dioxin, =
dibenzofuran,=20
and PCB congeners
in cooked and uncooked food. Presented at Dioxin =9197, 17th =
International=20
Symposium on
Chlorinated Dioxins and Related Compounds, held August 25-29 in=20
Indianapolis, IN, USA. Short
paper in, Organohalogen Compounds, Volume 33:462-466.

This is available at:
http://www.epa.gov/ncea/docs/cooktemp.wpd

General information on food intake of dioxins is available at:

http://www.epa.gov/ncea/relpubs.htm#sources

Fair coverage of the amount of total dioxin in various foodstuffs is=20
available at:
http://www.epa.gov/ncea/docs/food99.wpd

david bell
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com



_______________________________________________
Dioxin-l mailing list
Dioxin-l@lists.essential.org
http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/dioxin-l