Health effects of Dioxins contamination: The need for public awareness in developing nations.

Good day great steemians.
It's great to be back on board again after been away for awhile. I have been very busy with a whole lot of other equally important commitment. I know I missed a lot while I was away and that's why I am so excited to be back on this platform again. OK. Let go right to the business of the day.

It seem to me that little or no awareness has been created about dioxin exposure on human and its health effects in Africa especially in Nigeria. I intend to create some awareness of the effects of dioxin on health through this post.

Some few days ago, I was passing by an Iron and steel industry a few miles away from my working place and I noticed for the umpteenth time how the offensive, untreated and unfiltered pollutants emitted from the industry literally darkened the atmosphere around the neighborhood leaving passers by and residents in the area in great discomfort. This has been going on since the company began operation in 2011 despite the complaint of residents in the neighborhood about eye's irritation and breathing problems as result of the smoke coming out of the roof of the company. The company and the regulatory authority have taken no measure to control these emission through the use of chimney.
This sort of thing illustrate the attitude of the average citizen of Nigeria toward health implication of pollutants released into the environment.

For example, I have personally observed that the practice of burning rubber tyres on street is widespread across Nigeria especially during riot or protest. Protesters often seem to vent their anger by releasing toxic pollutants into the air. This, I think is due to ignorance of the long term environmental and health effects of what they are doing.

By Takeaway - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

Burning of motor rubber tyres releases toxic chemical such Carbon Black, Carbon Disulphide , Benzene, toxic metals and dioxins into the environment endangering lives and shortening the relatively short life span of Nigerians.

Carbon Black settles in the lungs and can lead to inefficient lung functioning as well as aggravate asthma attacks. Carbon Disulphide makes one vulnerable to heart diseases and Benzene is carcinogenic.

This post is actually about the most toxic of them all, dioxins. But before I go further, it worthy noting that similar to the practice of burning motor rubber tyres, are those of burning plastics waste at home and indiscriminate bush burning . They generate dioxins which are some of the most toxic chemicals known to man apart from generating green house gases like carbon dioxide which are notorious for causing global warming.

By Christopher J. Fynn - Own work, Public Domain

By 80 trading 24 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

It is true that these are some of the many ways that dioxins are released into the environments. It's certainly a great disservice to nature to intentionally pollute the environment.

Dioxin are formed as by product of many industrial processes such as bleaching paper pulp, manufacture of herbicides, insecticide and pesticides, smelting and so on. They may also result from natural processes like volcanic eruption and forest fire. However, incinerators - medical wastes incinerators, municipal wastes incinerators, hazardous waste burning incinerators, sewage sludge incinerators and so on are the worst identified dioxins sources.

So what are dioxins?

Dioxins are groups of compounds with similar structures and characteristics. Many forms of dioxins exist but only about thirty are known to be significantly toxic. Of these thirty, 2, 3,7,8 tetrachlorodibenzo-para- dioxin (TCDD) is the most toxic.

TCDD By Emeldir (talk) - Own work, Public Domain

Dioxins are persistent organic pollutants that resist physical, biological and chemical degradation over decades. This is due to their chemical stability. They are insoluble in water but they readily dissolve in fat. These toxic chemicals bioaccumulate in food chain once they find their way into the environment and their concentration increases as one climb up the food chain.

Actually, there is no running away from dioxins because they are present in all media- in air, soil, sediment, water and in food especially diary product, meat, egg, and fish.

Human exposure to dioxin is majorly through the diet. In the recent past, there have been cases of contamination of food- chickens, eggs, and catfish through contaminated ingredient ( bentonite clay) use to manufacture animal feeds in industrialized countries of the world.

I think the reason for the paucity of report on dioxin contamination of food from developing countries is because of the poor monitoring of food for these insidious chemicals and nonavailability of the equipment required for doing so and not because of non-occurrence of dioxin contamination of food in these countries.

What are the effect of Dioxins on Human Health?

Dioxin have a wide range of effects on human health depending on the level of exposure. Short term exposure to dioxins can lead to formation of skin lessons like patchy darkening of the skin and chloracne as well as altered liver functions.

Long term exposure to dioxin, on the other hand can cause cancer, reproductive and developmental effect as well as disrupt the endocrine system. It is disturbing to know that dioxin can be passed from mother to child during sensitive developmental stages across the placenta and in the course of breastfeeding.

How can exposure to dioxins be minimized?

• To start with, according to Environmental Protection Agency data in the United State, there has been a great decline in dioxin exposure from industrial sources in the industrialized world due to coordinated effort by regulatory authorities which stem from the interest of the government, public health groups, industry and others in understanding the health implication of human exposure to dioxins. Developing countries can adopt similar methods to achieve the same type of result.

• Again, concerted effort must be made to enlighten the public about the negative consequences of nefarious practices such as burning of motor rubber tyres, burning of plastic waste at home , indiscriminate bush burning and the likes. Law should be enacted to prohibit these practices and offenders should be brought to book while beneficial alternative measures of managing waste should be encouraged.

• To curtail dietary exposure to dioxins, one should choose diet low in fat because dioxin from food are found mostly in animal fat. Remember that dioxins are fat soluble and they bioaccumulate in food. For this reason, it advisable to remove fat from chicken before cooking and to choose milk with low fat content.

• Feeding on fish from polluted river is courting trouble, it should be completely avoided.

• Choosing a balanced diet that consist of vegetables, fruits and cereal is a good way to avoid exposure to dioxin from food.

• Government should put in place measure to monitor and control dioxin contamination in food.

• The use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) should be greatly minimized and replaced with alternative chlorine-free materials. This way, dioxin formation linked with PVC can be reduced.

• Use of insecticide, pesticide and herbicide containing chlorine should be avoided.

• The use of bleaching product containing chlorine should be substituted with oxygen bleach.

In Conclusion

Dioxins poses serious threat to human health and there is an urgent need for public awareness of the hazards caused by dioxins in developing countries as well as proper monitoring of food for dioxin by regulatory bodies in order to safeguard public health.

Thank you for stopping by to read my post. Keep on steeming till the next time!

References

Dioxin effect on human health - a review

Dioxins and their effects on human health

Dangerous health effects of home burning of plastics and waste