Girls warned to cut back on meat, whole milk

[Guest guest]

I've read that dioxin is in the cardboard milk cartons, but then the plastic

also has an estogen effect. N

 

Girls warned to cut back on meat, whole milk

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030703.udiox0703/BNStor

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By ANDRÉ PICARD

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

 

 

Girls should markedly cut back their consumption of red meat, poultry and

whole milk to reduce their exposure to dioxin, a chemical that can build up

in the body and, in their childbearing years, harm their babies, a U.S.

scientific panel says.

 

The Institute of Medicine, in a report released yesterday, said that

teaching girls to cut their fat intake is the most efficient way to reduce

the risk to the next generation.

 

Dioxins are believed to cause developmental problems and increase

susceptibility to cancer, but the levels at which they become dangerous are

unclear.

 

" Because the risks posed by the amount of dioxins found in foods have yet to

be determined, we are recommending simple, prudent steps to reduce dioxin

exposure while data are gathered that will clarify the risks, " said Robert

Lawrence, the associate dean at the school of public health of Johns Hopkins

University and chairman of the IOM committee that prepared the report.

 

Dioxins are chemical compounds produced when material is burned. They are

ubiquitous in the environment, but accumulate in the fatty tissues of

animals. People are exposed principally by eating animal fats, including

beef, chicken, fatty fish, whole milk and eggs. The IOM committee said

aboriginal people — including those in Canada's North — who eat a diet rich

in wild game and fish are at particular risk, and should heed the counsel

for girls to cut back on their fat intake.

 

The levels of dioxins in the breast milk of women in Canada's Far North is

five-times higher than among women in the south.

 

Last year, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency tested food sold in Canadian

supermarkets such as beef, pork and eggs and found dioxins and other

carcinogenic chemicals in about 80 per cent of samples.

 

Dr. Lawrence said the committee cannot set acceptable levels of dioxin

consumption for two reasons: The scientific evidence is lacking, and the

tests to determine dioxin levels are extremely expensive. It can cost up to

$1,000 to check a single piece of meat.

 

" We refrained from setting any risk-tolerance limits or mandatory cutoff

points because it would have been cost prohibitive, " he said.

 

In addition to having girls change their dietary habits, the committee also

recommended that food companies and farmers increase their efforts to curb

dioxin levels in food, notably by reducing the prevalence of dioxins in

animal feed. The panel said additional research is needed to track the

effects of dioxins on children.

 

Earlier this week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported that

150 kilograms of dioxins were released into the atmosphere in the United

States in 2001, up from 100 a year earlier.

 

But, since the 1970s, dioxin levels have decreased sharply — by about 76 per

cent according to the EPA.

 

Dioxin levels are also believed to have fallen in food, but breastfeeding

rates have soared — dioxins accumulate in breast milk because it is fatty —

meaning the risk to babies is actually greater.