Take Action - Tell the EPA to Protect Americans from Dioxin

We have a unique opportunity to protect American families from Dioxin – one of the most toxic chemicals ever studied by the EPA. The EPA is currently soliciting comments on their proposed cleanup guidelines for Dioxin, which ends on Friday February 26th. Dow Chemical and the American Chemistry Council are doing all they can to stall this process, so it’s critically important for EPA to hear from the public and the environmental health community.

EPA is proposing an interim preliminary remediation goal (PRG) for residential soil at 72 ppt TEQ and commercial/industrial soil at 950 ppt TEQ which are based on non-cancer effects. If cancer effects were used to determine the cleanup goals, the levels would be 3.7 ppt and 17 ppt respectively at the generally accepted one-in-a-million cancer risk. EPA did not use cancer effects to determine the cleanup goals.

Dioxin is a potent cancer-causing agent and is considered to be a human carcinogen.The toxicity of dioxins is of such concern that they have been targeted for global phase out by over 100 nations across the world.

Take Action - Tell the EPA to protect American families, children, and workers from Dioxin. Send an e-mail to EPA using the form below. Feel free to modify and personalize this message.

Subject:

Your Letter:

Thank you for the attention EPA has given to Dioxin.

I fully support EPA developing cleanup guidelines on Dioxin to protect American families, children and workers from Dioxin.

Dioxin has been classified as a known human carcinogen by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Toxicology Program.  Therefore, I strongly urge EPA to develop health-protective cleanup guidelines that are based on both Dioxin's non-cancer impacts and a cancer risk of 1 in a million.

I'm very concerned the EPA is proposing cleanup goals that can expose workers to potentially harmful levels of Dioxin - as high as 950 ppt - which do not adequately address cancer risks.  Workers at remediated commercial and industrial sites will be exposed to unsafe levels of dioxin in the soil and dust.  Additionally, children and families may be at risk when industrial/commercial land is redeveloped for parks, schools and other places children gather.  EPA should consider children's unique vulnerabilities to the harmful effects of Dioxins.  The standards should be protective of children, taking into account children's unique vulnerability to Dioxins and their soil hand-to-mouth ingestion behaviors.

To protect the health of American families, EPA needs to revise both the residential and commercial/industrial cleanup goals for Dioxins in soil so they are based on a cancer risk of 1 in a million, as well as non-cancer effects.   Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

Sincerely,

EPA Docket Center

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Mail Code: 5305T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.
Washington, DC 20460

Your e-mail will be sent to the EPA and posted on the EPA's website.