Carcinogenic Dioxin Chemicals Found in East Palestinian Soil – World Time Todays

The US Environmental Protection Agency said the soil in eastern Palestine did not contain dangerous levels of a cancer-causing chemical. However, a previous scientific recommendation from the EPA contradicts this claim.

Earlier this month, Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator Debra Shore said there had been “very low levels of dioxins” during a hearing by the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

“We found very low concentrations that went down to undetectable very quickly. Without these primary indicators, the likelihood that dioxins would have been produced was very small,” Shore told Congress. “They are secondary byproducts of burning vinyl chloride, but we’ve listened to the community and they’ve raised significant concerns about toxins.”

The EPA waited a month before ordering dioxin tests near the toxic Norfolk-Southern train derailment in eastern Palestine, Ohio.

Pace Analytical, an independent Indiana-based laboratory, published a report whether dangerous levels of chemicals were found in soil samples from East Palestine.

The guard reported: “Regulatory authorities determine the toxicity of dioxins in a soil sample by calculating the ‘toxicity equivalency’ of all dioxins in the soil compared to the most toxic dioxin compound called 2,3,7,8 TCDD “2,3,7,8 TCDD toxic equivalent “ of 700 parts per trillion (ppt).”

Since 1998, the EPA has determined that soil dioxin concentrations of less than 1,000 parts per trillion (ppt) are safe for residential areas and between 5,000 ppt and 20,000 ppt in commercial and industrial soils. Anything above these values ​​would trigger a purge.

However, in 2010, the EPA proposed drastic reductions in levels of dioxins, which the agency had deemed safe based on the “best available peer-reviewed science.” The concentration of dioxins in soil samples from eastern Palestine is 100 times higher than the EPA safety advisory threshold of 2010.

The EPA explained in 2010: “Based on a review of oral and dermal exposure to dioxin, the EPA has developed the following draft recommended interim PRGs for dioxin in soil: 72 ppt for residential soil and 950 ppt for commercial/industrial soil.”

The EPA stated, “The EPA believes that these draft recommended interim PRGs should generally provide adequate protection against non-cancer effects and generally protect against cancerous effects.”

However, the EPA also considered lowering the threshold far more to protect Americans from cancer and other health problems.

“EPA is considering (and seeking comment) an alternative concentration of 3.7 ppt TEQ in residential soil and 17 ppt TEQ in commercial/industrial soil as draft interim remediation targets,” the agency said in its draft recommended interim remediation targets for dioxin In the ground.

The EPA proclaimed that the 3.7 ppt concentration “would protect against cancer and other effects.”

Mathy Stanislaus, EPA Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response, called in 2010: “We are driven by the need to protect ourselves from excessive risk of cancer and other health concerns. We believe that (the current standards) do not provide adequate protection and tighter numbers are needed.”

The Obama administration loudly killed the then-proposed dioxin limit reduction Global News.

Dioxin concentrations requiring cleaning are much lower in several conditionsincluding 90 ppt in Michiganand 50 ppt a California.

The EPA released a statement on the soil samples: “The available data, analyzed and validated by an independent laboratory, show that the waste from East Palestine that went to Indiana does not contain any harmful levels of dioxins.”

Linda Birnbaum, a leading dioxin researcher, toxicologist and former director of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, called Burning vinyl chloride from the train derailment may have produced dioxins.

Birnbaum added: “Concentrations are not outrageously high, but we have confirmed that dioxins are in the soil of eastern Palestine. The EPA needs to do more soil testing in the region.”

Carsten Prasse, an organic chemist at Johns Hopkins University, told The Guardian: “I certainly wouldn’t feel comfortable living there.”

The EPA website notes that dioxins are persistent organic pollutants that “take a long time to break down once in the environment.”

The EPA warns: “Dioxins are highly toxic and can cause cancer, reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system and disrupt hormones.”

The World Health Organization conditions“Long-term exposure is associated with impairment of the immune system, developing nervous system, endocrine system, and reproductive functions.”

An article published in Environmental Sciences Europe – a peer-reviewed environmental science journal – warns of the dangers of endocrine-disrupting dioxins:

Dioxins are a group of highly persistent lipophilic chemicals produced as a by-product of various industrial and natural processes including smelting, chlorine bleaching of paper and pulp, in the manufacture of some pesticides, biomedical and plastic waste incineration. Chemically, it is 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin (TCDD) and is considered a “dirty dozen,” a collection of hazardous chemicals also known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), since they resist biological and environmental degradation. They are of concern because of their highly toxic nature and their ability to be absorbed by adipose tissue and stored in the body for long periods of time (7-11 years). They are known to cause serious reproductive, developmental and cancer problems.

President Joe Biden has not visited East Palestine since the toxic train derailed on February 3. More than two weeks ago, Biden promised that he “would be out there eventually”.

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