EPA Special Communications Committee to Address Food Safety Concerns
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reportedly created a special communications committee to address food safety concerns related to dioxin. According to a January 15, 2010, Inside EPA article, a forthcoming EPA reassessment is expected to identify dioxin “as highly toxic and bioaccumulative with most exposure occurring through the food supply.” The agency apparently undertook the reevaluation after a 2006 National Academy of Sciences report advised EPA to update its risk assessment of 2,3,7,8 Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-Dioxin (TCDD), a byproduct of combustions and other industrial processes. Inside EPA has anticipated that the pending EPA report will intensify public concerns “given existing data from the Food & Drug Administration (FDA),” which in 2009 reported that “over 95 percent of exposure arises from dietary intake of animal fats.” In addition, an EPA source has purportedly indicated that human body burdens are “probably” at levels higher than any reference dose recommended by the agency.
Inside EPA nevertheless noted that new data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture “shows declining levels of dioxins in the food supply and in humans.” “It’s a classic communication problem because most dioxin emissions are greatly reduced,” the EPA source was quoted as saying. “It’s a big legacy problem instead of a current emissions problem.”
In a related development, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has petitioned EPA “to establish water-quality criteria for numerous endocrine-disrupting chemicals under the Clean Water Act.” In a January 11 press release, CBD claims that “A wide variety of substances, including pharmaceuticals, dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls, DDT and other pesticides, solvents and plasticizers can cause endocrine disruption.” The group has urged EPA to fill the “regulatory void for controlling endocrine disruptors,” calling on the agency to “completely eliminate or dramatically reduce the ‘acceptable’ levels of these pollutants in the waterways.” See Inside EPA, January 15, 2010.
