Ayako Sekine

Greenpeace Japan
(1-35-1, Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo 151 Japan)

Abstract

There is no doubt that contamination with dioxins constitutes a serious environmental problem. Increasingly, it is being recognized that low level contamination threatens human health, the ecosystem and the future generations through diverse, subtle toxicological mechanisms. Conventional risk assessment procedures cannot adequately quantify the magnitude of the environmental threats posed by dioxin. A common factor in dioxin generation is the involvement of chlorine or chlorine containing chemicals. Nonetheless, there is still great uncertainty about the precise quantities emitted into the environment, some of the unidentified sources are poorly characterised and there may be sources unidentified as yet. International Fora under the auspices of UNEP are working towards a global, legally binding convention to reduce and eliminate POPs including dioxins. The Japanese government has a responsibility to help ensure that a POPs Convention is successful and effective. Recognizing that there is no acceptable level of dioxin exposure to humans and the wider environment, the Government should adopt the precautionary principle. This means that it will be necessary to adopt clean production methods and to concentrate on a rapid phase-out of chlorine use and the production of chlorinated chemicals.

Key words: dioxins, hormone disruption, risk assessment, precautionary principle, clean production