Dioxin formation

Dioxin formation - Vinyl Council Australia

Dioxins may be created in small amounts in a variety of synthetic and natural chemical processes. Agricultural burning off, waste incineration, forest fires, metal smelting, cement kilns and certain industrial processes involving chlorine and other organic compounds all have the potential to create dioxins.

PVC feedstock manufacturing – like many other industrial combustion processes – can cause the production of dioxins; however, in PVC’s upstream supply chain, dioxins are captured within the operating process and emission levels from plants are very low/undetectable today . There is no correlation between PVC production/use and levels of dioxin emissions in the environment.

Internationally, levels of dioxins in the environment have been falling for over 20 years. [1] Alcock, RE & Jones, KC 1996 Dioxins in the Environment: a Review of Trend Data, Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 30, no.11. PVC production has trebled in the same period.

In fact, levels of dioxins emitted from all sources peaked in the early 1970s and have since been declining steadily. Japanese Government data shows that daily human intake of dioxins fell by 75 per cent between 1977 and 1998 [2] Ministerial Council on Dioxin Policy, 1999 Dioxins, Japan. Basic Guidelines of Japan for the Promotion of Measures against Dioxins (Revised Draft)

In the USA, The US Environment Protection Agency (US EPA) has reported that dioxin emissions there fell by 80 per cent between 1987 and 1995 [3] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, September 2000, Draft Exposure and Human Health Reassessment of 2, 3, 7, 8 -Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-Dioxin (TCDD) and Related Compounds.