> Dioxin is a byproduct of industrial processes such as
> incinerating garbage and medical wastes, and the bleaching
> of paper using chlorine. It is also created naturally
> through combustion of wood and other plant materials.
There is no evidence that dioxins are formed during the combustion of wood.
There is evidence that wood that has been treated with chlorophenols
produces dioxins. Dow Chemical detected dioxins in chimney smoke but this
was due to plastics and chlorinated compounds in the wood that were used to
preserve the wood or used as herbicides (remember that 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T may
have lots of dioxins and dibenzofurans) or chlorinated plastics.
Anyway there is no evidence of dioxins being detected in nature. If they did
exist in nature apart from industrial processes, then their presence would
be inconsequential because UV light destroyes dioxins very quickly. Dioxin
congeners are a chlorinated hydrocarbon created only through the
introduction of elemental chlorine. Elemental chlorine does not exist in
nature. Chlorine in nature exists in salt, etc., and is not in an elemental
form that could combine with a dioxin. Chlorine is far too reactive to exist
in nature in an elemental form. It has a high valency and like flourine and
other halides, it is highly reactive.
chao,
john foster
"You never know where fish will go."
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