Launch of new UKAS-accredited service to test for dioxin and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls coincides with the introduction of new, lower, EU limits
Reading Scientific Services has launched a new UKAS-accredited service to test for dioxin and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
The launch of the service coincides with the introduction on 1 July 2002 of new EU limits for dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs in materials entering the human food chain and animal feed stuffs.
The new EU limits for the presence of dioxins are significantly lower than those set previously and will require the use of new state of the art technology for analysis. Dioxins produce a wide range of toxic effects and some are known human carcinogens.
They are widely distributed in the environment due to aerial transportation and deposition of emissions from sources such as waste incineration, chemical production and traffic.
The soil is a natural sink for dioxins, which may result in contamination of vegetation and thus become absorbed by grazing animals.
On entering the animal body they are highly soluble in fat where they accumulate and so enter the human food chain.
Similarly, because they are insoluble in water, they tend to concentrate along the aquatic food chain.
The Food Standards Agency is involved in the surveillance of dioxins in the human food chain and on 21 June requested the removal of several batches of pure cod liver oil from the UK market place.
Last year the UK lowered the national tolerable daily intake of toxic dioxins plus dioxin-like PCBs from 10 to 2 picograms TEQ/kg bodyweight/day.
The average dietary intake in the UK is about 1.8 picograms TEQ/kg.
(TEQ = toxic equivalence).
This is based on the most toxic dioxin since the toxicities of these chemical compounds are not all the same.
