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Dioxins build up in living tissue over time, so even small exposures can accumulate to dangerous levels.
Dioxins cause a severe form of persistent acne (known as chloracne) in humans (only at very high dosages) and developmental abnormalities and cancers in animals. The U.S. government has recently listed dioxin as a known human carcinogen, but debate on human effects continues.
Both veterans groups and Vietnamese groups (including the Vietnamese government) have convened scientific studies to explore their belief that dioxins were responsible for a host of disorders, including tens of thousands of birth defects in children, amongst Vietnam veterans as well as an estimated one million Vietnamese, through their exposure to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, which was found to be highly contaminated with TCDD.
The most recent study, paid for by the National Academy of Sciences, was released in an April 2003 report.
Large amounts of dioxin were released in an industrial accident at Seveso in 1976 (no human fatalities or birth defects occurred). In 1978Events January January 1 The Copyright Act of 1976 takes effect, making sweeping changes to United States copyright law. January 1 Air India's Boeing 747 explodes near Bombay 213 dead. January 4 Referendum in Chile supports policies of Augusto Pinochet., dioxin was one of the contaminants that forced the evacuation of the Love CanalLove Canal is a neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York. It officially covers 36 square blocks in the southeastern corner of the city. Two bodies of water define the northern and southern boundaries of the neighborhood: Bergholtz Creek to the north and th neighborhood of Niagara Falls, New YorkNiagara Falls is a city located in Niagara County, New York. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 55,593. It is located across the Niagara River from Niagara Falls, Ontario, both named after the famed Niagara Falls which they share.. Dioxin also caused the 1983Events January January 1 Beat Raaflaub became Basel Boys Choir's new conductor January 1 the ARPANET officially changes to use the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet. January 1 compulsory wearing of seat belts becomes law in the UK. January 2 The mu evacuation of Times Beach, MissouriTimes Beach, Missouri was a small town of 2,240 residents in St. Louis County, Missouri, 17 miles (27 km) southwest of St. Louis and two miles (3 km) east of Eureka, Missouri that was completely evacuated in the mid-1980s due to a dioxin scare that made n.
Dioxins are produced in small concentrations when organic material is burned in the presence of chlorine, whether the chlorine is present as chloride ions, or as organochlorine compounds, so they are widely produced in many contexts such as:
Dioxins are also generated in reactions that do not involve burning such as bleaching fibers for paper or textiles, and in the manufacture of chlorinated phenols, particularly when reaction temperature is not well controlled. Affected compounds include the wood preservative pentachlorophenol and also herbicidesA herbicide is a pesticide used to kill unwanted plants. Selective herbicides kill certain targets while leaving the desired crop relatively unharmed. Some of these act by interfering with the growth of the weed and are often based on plant hormones. such as 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid. Higher levels of chlorination require higher reaction temperatures and greater dioxin production. See Agent Orange for more on contamination problems in the 1960s.
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