§ Mr. SayeedTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many maximum tolerable daily doses of dioxin, as defined by the WHO, 1.1g represents. [13439]
§ Mr. MeacherIn June 2001, the Joint Food and Agriculture Organisation/World Health Organisation (WHO) Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) proposed a provisional tolerable monthly intake of 70 picograms (pg) WHO toxicity equivalents (WHO-TEQ) per kilogram (kg) bodyweight for "dioxins" (that is polychlorinated dibenzo-p-doxins, polyclorinated dibenzofurans, and dioxin-like polychlorinated bephenyls). For an adult weighing 70 kilograms, this corresponds to a tolerable daily intake of approximately 160 pg. 1.1 g is 6,875 million times 160 pg.
The 1.1 g figure which I quoted in my earlier response (23 October 2001) represents the emissions of dioxins and furans from municipal solid waste incinerators during 2000. This figure does not refer to human intake so it is not appropriate to make such a comparison with the TDI.
The most recent (1997) estimate of average daily intakes for adults in the UK is 1.8 pg WHO-TEQ per kilogram bodyweight, which (for an adult weighing 70 kg) corresponds to an average daily intake of approximately 130 pg.
The Government believe there is a strong case for reducing emissions to the environment further, and my Department will shortly be consulting on measures to achieve this.