-Caveat Lector-
First, Belgium, now Japan ...
How widespread IS the phenomenon of deadly dioxin in the foodchain?
Japan Facing Dioxin Pollution Woes
By MARI YAMAGUCHI
.c The Associated Press
TOKOROZAWA, Japan (AP) - Eiko Kotani keeps her windows closed and runs an air
purifier all day long. She washes her vegetables carefully, peels her
tomatoes and avoids fatty meat, fish from the nearby bay and ice cream of any
flavor.
But she still fears for the health of her family.
Kotani's home in this Tokyo suburb is surrounded by dozens of smokestacks
spewing smelly, gray plumes from burned garbage - smoke that potentially
carries dangerous dioxin.
``We've been forced to breathe in this air,'' she said. ``It's outrageous.''
Pollution from dioxin - a chemical compound linked to cancer, birth defects
and other health problems - has become Japan's latest environmental
obsession. Along with polluting the air, dioxins can seep into the soil and
water, contaminating farm, dairy and fish products.
Though researchers are now just beginning to grasp the scope of the problem,
some scientists believe dioxin pollution in Japan may be the worst in the
world.
Dioxin pollution is closely linked to the burning of trash. Dioxin is often
released when plastics and other wastes that contain chlorine-based chemicals
are burned.
This poses a special problem for Japan, which is a country of incinerators.
Garbage here is burned at 3,840 government-approved incineration facilities,
compared with fewer than 200 in the United States. Part of the reason for all
the incinerators is the lack of space for landfills in the crowded island
nation. Another, environmental groups say, is the failure of the government
to see dioxin contamination as a problem.
Awareness got a major boost in 1997, however, when the city of Kyoto was host
to a global conference on environmental issues. Japan and 37 other countries
promised to cut their combined greenhouse gas emissions - mainly carbon
dioxide - to 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008 to 2012.
Pressure on the government to act has since increased, with heavy coverage of
dioxin-related stories in Japanese news media.
Two recent cases have caused particular concern:
In February, near panic resulted after a television network reported that
high levels of dioxin had been found in ``leafy greens'' from a suburb
northwest of Tokyo. Spinach prices nose-dived, and angry farmers demanded an
apology. The network later said the contamination was of tea leaves.
In March, two former employees at an incinerator in Osaka applied for
workers' compensation after dioxin levels 40 times higher than normal were
found in their blood fat.
Officials have generally tried to calm the public with reassurances that the
contamination is not a dire threat.
At the same time, however, the government is beginning to take more serious
action to curtail it.
In late March, the Cabinet announced it would tighten controls on trash
burning and over the next four years reduce total dioxin emissions by about
90 percent.
In announcing the package, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi promised the ``utmost
effort to tackle dioxin contamination and meet the public's expectations.''
The government has earmarked $690 million for monitoring and other projects
for the fiscal year that began April 1 and will start conducting soil, water
and air sampling as early as this summer.
Currently, the Health and Welfare Ministry sets the tolerable daily dioxin
intake at 10 picograms per kilogram of body weight, or about 4.5 picograms
per pound. A picogram is one-trillionth of a gram.
But the governing Liberal Democratic Party has proposed legislation to set
the limit at 4 picograms per kilogram, at the upper end of the World Health
Organization's recent proposed level of 1 to 4 picograms.
The government is already claiming some gains in dealing with dioxin
pollution.
A tightening of standards last year prompted the closing of 2,046
incinerators. It is unclear how many of the remaining 3,840 will be forced to
improve or close when the standards are further tightened in 2002, since
nearly 700 have yet to comply with a government request for emissions data.
Some experts criticize the government's actions as too easy on manufacturers.
``Japan's anti-pollution measures have always been designed to protect the
industry instead of the public health,'' said Kazuki Kumamoto, environmental
policy professor at Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo.
Kumamoto said manufacturers must be made to stop producing materials and
waste that cause pollution to begin with.
``The problems only get worse,'' he said. ``And our offspring will be forced
to pay the price.''
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