Dioxin Debacle by Professor Allan Springer Department of Paper Science & Engineering Miami University Oxford, Oh

International Toxicity Equivalency Factors (I-TEFs) (1988) NUMBER OF CONGENERPCDDISOMERSPCDFISOMERS 2378-Tetra Penta Penta Hexa Hepta Octa

TABLE 2 One Time Doses of TCDD That Kill Half the Animals Exposed Micrograms/kilograms body Guinea Pig Rat Rabbit115 Dog Hamster3,000 Monkey<70 The dose shown is the amount that kills about half of the animals exposed to is. This is called the LD 50 (lethal dose 50).

TABLE 1 Sources Releasing Dioxins Into the American Environment Sources are listed in order of the total amounts of dioxins produced by all units. Municipal solid waste incinerators Smelters that recycle copper Residences and public utilities burning coal and oil Fuel wood burning Forest fires Production of the metal magnesium Municipal sewage Hospital waste incinerators Pulp & Paper operations Industrial & hazardous waste incinerators Petroleum industry operations Motor vehicle driving - mostly burning unleaded fuel Miscellaneous sources Cigarette smoke

What Are Some Dioxin Levels Found in the Environment? Soil, Background Levels in American soilUp to 1 ppt Soil, Highly contaminated (Times Beach, MO)Up to 340 ppm Wood stove (chimney soot)7500 ppt FishUp to 100 ppt Whole cow milkUp to 3 ppt Human fat tissue ppt Human milk fat ppt Sewage Sludge ppt Bleached paper mill wastewater sludge ppt Bleached paper mill effluent ppq range Bleached Kraft pulps ppt

How Do We Describe Levels of Dioxins In the Environment? ppm = parts per million ppb = parts per billion (one thousand times smaller than ppm) ppt = parts per trillion (one million times smaller than ppm) ppq = parts per quadrillion (one billion times smaller than ppm) ppquintillion (one trillion times smaller than ppm) These terms refer to parts by weight. For example, one pound would equal 1 ppm in 500 tons. A ton contains 2,000 pounds. One pound in 500,000 tons would equal 1 ppb. One pound in 500,000,000 tons equals 1 ppt. Another way of looking at these quantities is to compare them to periods of time: 1 ppm is equivalent to 1 sec in 11.6 days 1 ppb is equivalent to 1 sec in 32 years 1 ppt is equivalent to 1 sec in 32,000 years 1 ppq is equivalent to 1 sec in 32,000,000 years

RISK ASSESSMENT Paper Daily Use TCDD Required for Product One in a Million Risk, ppt Diapers 6 540,000 Tissues 7230,000 Towels 107,900,000 Notepaper 604,200 Toilet Paper 60 27,000,000 Paper Dust 10mg/M 3 670

One in a Million Risk 400 miles of air travel 60 miles of travel by car 3/4 of a cigarette 1 1/2 minutes of rock climbing 20 minutes of being a man aged 60

Sources of DBD & DBF In Brownstock Certain Oil-Based Defoamers Wood Chips DBF = 3 to 11 ppb Mill Water BROWNSTOCK DBF = ppb

DBF Concentration Determined for Various Wood Species Wood SpeciesDBF, ppb Western Hemlock3.1 Black spruce11.2 Balsam Fir6.0 Jack Pine6.1 Beech4.4 Maple4.2 Poplar7.9

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Options to Reduce Dioxin Levels Decrease the chlorine multiple Increase the chlorine dioxide substitution Decrease the precursor level: Use clean Defoamer and good pulp washing Have good C-stage mixing and control

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Are We at Risk From Dioxin? U. S. EPA - YES Most other agencies and countries - NO

Table 3 Standards Set by U.S. Agencies and Other Countries for Virtually Safe Lifetime Daily Doses of Dioxin Picograms/ kilogram body weight/ day U.S. Agencies Environmental Protection Agency State of Connecticut0. 04 Food and Drug Administration0. 06 Centers for Disease Control Other Countries Netherlands4. 0 Canada10. 0 West Germany A picograom is one trillion times smaller than a gram.

PROBABLE LEVEL OF EXPOSURE U.S. EPA 1900 RISK ASSESSMENT LIKELY EXPOSURE TO 0.01 PG/KG/DAY NCAI MONTE CARLO ANALYSIS LIKELY EXPOSURE 0/0015 TP 0.05 PG/KG/DAY

1970 ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCAITON PROGRAMS IMPLEMENTED IN U.S.SCHOOL SYSTEM 1973 MILL DISCHARGES CHECKED FOR DIOXIN AND NON DETECTED 1978 ROYAL SWEDISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCE CONFERENCE ON “CHLORINATED PHENOXY ACIDS AND THEIR DOXINS: MODE OF ACTION, HEALTH RISKS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS” STOCKHOLM EVENTS WHICH INFLUENCED P&P INDUSTRY RESPONSE TO DIOXIN

1985 MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY AND CRADBOAK INSTITUTE OF SCIENCES CONFERENCE ON “DIOXINS IN THE ENVIRONMENT ANARBOR, MI 1985 ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUE EMPROVED 3 ORDERS O9F MAGNITUDE AND DIOXIN DISCOVERED IN EFFLUENT AND SLUDGES FORM P&P MILLS MILL STUDY NCASI - EPA STUDY 1987 PRESENCE OF CHLORINATED DIOXIN CONFIRMED IN U.S. MILLS - 5 MILL STUDY EPA- NCSI 1987 GREEN PEACE PUBLISHERS “NO MARGIN OF SAFETY”

1987 SWEDISH GOVERNMENT MARINE ACTION PLAN 1987 CPPA/PPRIC & NCASI STUDIES CONTINUE 1990 INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH EVOLVES WAYS TO MINIMIZE DIOXIN FORMAITON RESEARCH STRATEGIES IMPLEMENTED AND DIOZIN BELOW NONDETECT LEVEL AT MOST MILLS

RESOURCES SPENT VRS LIVES LOST PAPERS IN LITERATURE 1.2 BILLION U.S. DOLLARS LIVES LOST? MORE LOST FORM STRESS OVER PROBLEM THAN FORM EXPOSURE

LESSONS LEARNED FORM DIOXIN DEBACLE 1. NONPROBLEMS CAN BECOME ISSUES AS ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES IMPROVE 2. SCIENCE ISONLY A PART OF THE DECISION MAKING PROCESS WHEN FEAR OF LOSS OF HUMAN LIFE IS INVOLVED 3. THREEE IS NOT A CONSENSUS IN THE REGULATORY COMMUNITY ON HOW TO DO RISK ASSESSMENT AND SET SAFE LEVELS 4. COMPLEX MULTI VARIABLE MODELS HAVE A HIGH DEGREE OF UNCERTAINTY ASOCIATED WITH THEIR RESULTS AND MUST BE INTERPRETED WITH CARE 5. ONCE AN INDUSTRY DEVELOPS AREOND A POLLUTANT IT IS DIFFICUST TO ACHIEVE OBJECTIVITY 6. ENVIRONMENTAL DESCISION MAKING MAY BE CHANGING FORM A SCIENCE BASED PROCESS TO A PRECAUTIONARY EMOTIONAL BASED PROCESS