Excerpt from Endometriosis Sourcebook

by Mary Lou Ballweg

Dioxins

Let's move on to a specifics on dioxins and PCBs. Dioxins comprise a group of 75 related compounds, with TCDD (2,37,8- tetrachloridibenzo-p-dioxin) being the most toxic. In fact TCDD has been called the most toxic chemical ever produced by humans.

TCDD is the dioxin involved in the rhesus monkey colony the association saved. In the monkeys this potent chemical caused development of endometriosis in very minute quantities - 5 ppt (parts per trillion) and 25 ppt. To imagine how infinitesimal this is, imagine a trillion (1,000,000,000) drops of water and only 5 drops of dioxin in that trillion drops of water. Or as a researcher involved with the dioxin experiments for the last 15 years described it, that's like spitting into an Olympic-size swimming pool.

TCDD, according to a confidential American Paper Institute report released by Greenpeace, is present in trace amounts in the whole range of chlorine-bleached paper products: sanitary napkins and tampons, toilet paper and facial tissues, disposable diapers, paper plates and towels, coffee filters and cigarette papers. Perhaps worse, hundreds of organochlorines are released in the bleaching process as the products are manufactured, compounds that then find their way into waster and air (one million metric tons of chlorinated organic materials enter United States and Canadian waterways every year!).

But saddest of all, as the authors of Whitewash so eloquently point out, the bleaching process and "whiter than white" results are completely unnecessary, especially in women' sanitary supplies. The authors suggest that the sanitary supply industry bleaches the pulp used in the products to contribute to the illusion that the products are sterile (which there are not). They suggest that women in North America launch a campaign to force the industry to stop chlorine bleaching of these products. Such a campaign was successful in England for sanitary napkins (but not tampons, which are probably more critical, since they're worn internally and the vagina is apparently quite an absorbent organ).

The most important source of dioxin for the average person, according to Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D. director, EPA Environmental Toxicology Division, is, alas, out food because of pesticide contamination and bioaccumulation in animals. Dioxin is also created by the burning of toxic waste and municipal garbage in incinerators, leaded gas in vehicles, certain wood preservative, and the manufacturing and use of certain - pesticides, solvents, and organochlorine chemicals.