Written question asked by Countess of Mar (Crossbench), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Rooker (Labour) on Wednesday, 2 April 2008.

Toxic Chemicals

Question: asked Her Majesty's Government:At what levels and under what circumstances they consider dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls, especially those typed as aroclors 1242, 1248, 1254 and 1260, to be safe.

Answer: The World Health Organisation International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) has recently reviewed the data on the toxicity of polychlorinated biphenyls in its Concise International Chemical Assessment Documents Series. This is available on its website. In this document, a tolerable intake value of 0.02 micrograms per kg per day was derived for an aroclor 1254 mixture. With regard to dioxins, the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) has recommended a tolerable daily intake of two picograms toxic equivalents (TEQ) per kg of body weight per day. This is explained in a statement published on the Food Standards Agency website. There is no single threshold set for dioxin emissions into the environment. Directive 2000/76/EC on waste incineration sets an emission limit for dioxins of 0.1 nanogram I-TEQ per cubic metre of gaseous releases to air, and emission limit values for discharges to water are set at 0.3 nanogram per litre. The Persistent Organic Pollutants Regulation (EC-850/2004) brought in additional controls on the disposal of waste containing dioxins above a trigger level of 15 micrograms per kg TEQ.

Secondary information