Dioxins

Dioxins are a class of highly toxic chemical pollutants that are released into the environment when trash, coal, and other substances are burned.⁴³ Dioxins have a bioaccumulative effect, so animals absorb them from the environment and store them in their flesh, and when we eat animals, we absorb all the dioxins that had built up in their bodies during their lifetimes. Leading scientists and the EPA report that up to 95 percent of our dioxin exposure comes from red meat, fish, and dairy products.⁴⁴

A powerful hormone-disrupting chemical, dioxin binds to a cell and modifies its functioning, causing a wide range of health problems, including cancer, depressed immune response, nervous system disorders, miscarriages, and birth defects.⁴⁵ EPA studies have shown that people who consume even small amounts of dioxin in fatty foods and dairy products face a relatively high cancer risk. They may also develop other problems, such as attention deficit disorder, learning disabilities, susceptibility to infections, and liver disorders.⁴⁶ The EPA also reports that dioxin is a cancer hazard to people; that exposure to dioxin can cause severe reproductive and developmental problems; and that dioxin can cause immune system damage and interfere with regulatory hormones.⁴⁷ EPA researchers quantified the seriousness of the threat by stating that people who consume even small amounts of dioxin from meat and dairy products have an extra one in 100 risk of suffering from cancer as a direct result of their meat consumption.⁴⁸

According to a New York Times report, “Dioxin is particularly worrisome for women, who can accumulate it in their bodies for years and then pass it on to their unborn children or nursing infants.”⁴⁹ A widely publicized study by researchers at the University of Texas School of Public Health found that “Through food alone, Americans are getting 22 times the maximum dioxin exposure suggested by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Among nursing infants, that level is 35 to 65 times the recommended dosage.”⁵⁰ Dr. Arnold Schecter, the scientist who directed the research, told reporters, “Blood samples from pure vegans, who consume no animal products, show that they have less dioxins in their bodies than average Americans.”⁵¹ In fact, as reported in Food Chemical News, the lowest level of dioxin exposure measured by researchers was in a vegan man from Oregon.⁵²

According to a report from the WorldWatch Institute, “Something as common as a McDonald’s Big Mac carries 30 percent of the World Health Organization’s recommendation for daily dioxin intake.”⁵³ Consumer Reports published a study showing that meat-based baby foods contain alarmingly high levels of these dangerous carcinogens, and a report by the European Union on dioxins notes that the common practice of feeding farmed animals back to each other (e.g., feeding ground-up fish back to farmed fish and other animals) causes dioxin to become further concentrated and even more harmful to the humans who eventually eat the animals’ flesh, milk, or eggs.^54,55

No Animal Products Are Safe

No animal products are free of dioxins, not even those that claim to be organic, because dioxins are everywhere in the environment, and all animals are exposed to them. In 2000, Ben & Jerry’s, an ice cream producer, came under fire after researchers discovered high levels of dioxins in its ice cream. Researcher Steve Milloy said, “Many children enjoy Ben & Jerry’s, but, by the company’s own standards, its ice cream is not safe. … An appropriate new flavor would be ‘Tasty Toxics’ …. The levels of dioxins in Ben & Jerry’s are eight times greater than the Department of Health’s ‘safe daily dose.’”⁵⁶ Scientist Dr. Michael Gough warned consumers: “The level of dioxin in a single serving of the Ben & Jerry’s World’s Best Vanilla Ice Cream, which we tested, was almost 200 times greater than the EPA’s ‘virtually safe daily dose.’” Ben & Jerry’s responded, “There is nothing we can do about the levels of dioxins in our ice cream.”⁵⁷

Dioxins are in all animal products, and buying organic meat and milk will not protect you or your family from these toxic chemicals. Doctors and scientists say that the only way to limit exposure to dioxins is to stop eating animal products altogether because 95 percent of human dioxin exposure comes in red meat, dairy products, and fish—the other 5 percent is environmental, and there are no dioxins in plant foods such as grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables.

Read more.