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Chemical, Environmental, and Health Aspects of the Seveso, Italy, Accident

  • Chapter
Dioxins and Health

Abstract

Today dioxin is a familiar word, but very few people in Italy had heard of it before the Seveso accident of July 10, 1976. Ever since, TCDD and related chemicals1,2 have been dealt with profusely by the domestic and international scientific communities. Because of the sensitizing effect it had, the Seveso case should be considered a turning point in environmental risk management. For instance, it is recalled here that, in February of 1988, the Commissione Consultiva Tossicologica Nazionale (CCTN)— Italy’s National Toxicology Commission—established a set of maximum tolerable limits (MTLs) for polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs) in several environmental matrices.3,4 These limits were based on the 1987 array of U.S. EPA toxicity equivalence factors (TEFs) to convert PCDD and PCDF analytical data into “toxicity equivalents of TCDD” (TE units),1 and also on much of the technical experience gained by dealing with the Seveso event.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Occupational Health, Epidemiology Section, University of Milan, 20122, Milan, Italy

    Pier Alberto Bertazzi

  2. Laboratory of Comparative Toxicology and Ecotoxicology, Italian National Institute of Health, 00161, Rome, Italy

    Alessandro di Domenico

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  1. Pier Alberto Bertazzi
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  2. Alessandro di Domenico
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  1. Department of Preventive Medicine, University of New York Health Science Center-Syracuse, Binghamton, New York, 13903, USA

    Arnold Schecter

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Bertazzi, P.A., di Domenico, A. (1994). Chemical, Environmental, and Health Aspects of the Seveso, Italy, Accident. In: Schecter, A. (eds) Dioxins and Health. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1462-0_18

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