User menu

Accès à distance ? S'identifier sur le proxy UCLouvain

The Belgian PCB/dioxin incident: a critical review of health risks evaluations.

Primary tabs

Bernard, Alfred [UCL] Fierens, Sébastien [UCL]

The Belgian PCB/dioxin incident is a food contamination that occurred in Belgium in January 1999 when a tank of recycled fats used to produce animal feeds was accidentally contaminated by approximately 100 L of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) oil containing 50 kg PCBs expressed as the sum of the seven markers, 1 g (TEQ) dioxins (PCDD/Fs) and 2 g toxic equivalent (TEQ) dioxin-like PCBs. The incident was discovered when a poultry poisoning resembling the classic chick edema disease broke out in several farms that had received contaminated feeds. The delay in making public this incident resulted in a major political and food crisis and caused much concern in the population. We review here the health risk evaluations that were made after this incident and we assess the likelihood of the different scenarios by taking into account recent data on the real scale of the contamination and on the dioxin body burden of the general population in Belgium. These new data confirm that the incident was too limited in time and in scale to have increased the PCB/dioxin body burden of the general population at large, a conclusion supported by a survey of dioxin levels in blood conducted at the end of 1999. Only farmers in poultry farms affected by the incident (about 30 farms) and having regularly consumed their own products could have increased their PCB/dioxin body burden. It is unlikely, however, that these farmers could have increased their PCB/dioxin body burden above levels prevailing in the 1980s or now found in communities regularly consuming seafood.

Document type Article de périodique (Journal article) – Article de recherche
Access type Accès restreint
Publication date 2002
Journal information "International journal of toxicology" - Vol. 21, no. 5, p. 333-340 (2002)
Peer reviewed yes
Publisher Sage Publications (Thousand Oaks)
issn 1091-5818
Publication status Publié
Affiliation UCL - MD/ESP - Ecole de santé publique
MESH Subject Accidents ; Animal Feed - analysis - poisoning ; Animals ; Belgium ; Body Burden ; Chickens ; Dioxins - poisoning ; Environmental Pollutants - poisoning ; Food Chain ; Food Contamination ; Humans ; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - poisoning ; Poultry Diseases - chemically induced ; Risk Assessment ; Swine
Keywords Chick Edema Disease ; Dioxin ; Food safety ; MSWI ; PCB ; Risk assessment
Links
  1. Belgian Parliament., Report on the organization and production of meat, dairy and eggs in Belgium and on the political responsibilities in the dioxin crisis. (2000)
  2. Bernard, A., Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Geneeskunde van Belgie, 2, 95 (2000)
  3. Bernard, A., Bulletin et Mémoires de l'Académie royale de Médecine de Belgique, 153, 195 (2000)
  4. Bernard Alfred, Broeckaert Fabrice, De Poorter Geert, De Cock Ann, Hermans Cédric, Saegerman Claude, Houins Gilbert, The Belgian PCB/Dioxin Incident: Analysis of the Food Chain Contamination and Health Risk Evaluation, 10.1006/enrs.2001.4274
  5. Bernard, A., Bulletin de la Classe des Sciences. Académie Royale de Belgique., 1 (2001)
  6. Bernard A., Hermans C., Broeckaert F., De Poorter G., De Cock A., Houins G., 10.1038/45717
  7. Gray L.E., Ostby J.S., Kelce W.R., A Dose–Response Analysis of the Reproductive Effects of a Single Gestational Dose of 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin in Male Long Evans Hooded Rat Offspring, 10.1006/taap.1997.8223
  8. Larsen John Ch., Farland William, Winters Dwain, Current risk assessment approaches in different countries, 10.1080/026520300283423
  9. Olson James R., Pharmacokinetics of Dioxins and Related Chemicals, Dioxins and Health (1994) ISBN:9781489914644 p.163-197, 10.1007/978-1-4899-1462-0_6
  10. Päpke O, PCDD/PCDF: human background data for Germany, a 10-year experience, 10.1289/ehp.98106723
  11. Schantz Susan L., Bowman Robert E., Learning in monkeys exposed perinatally to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), 10.1016/0892-0362(89)90080-9
  12. Schectet A., Kassis I., Päpke O., Partitioning of dioxins, dibenzofurans, and coplanar PCBS in blood, milk, adipose tissue, placenta and cord blood from five American women, 10.1016/s0045-6535(98)00247-1
  13. Tuomisto, J., Synopsis on dioxins and PCBs. (1999)
  14. van Larebeke Nik, Hens Luc, Schepens Paul, Covaci Adrian, Baeyens Jan, Everaert Kim, Bernheim Jan L., Vlietinck Robert, De Poorter Geert, The Belgian PCB and Dioxin Incident of January-June 1999: Exposure Data and Potential Impact on Health, 10.1289/ehp.01109265
  15. Van Leeuwen, F. X. R., Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Geneeskunde van Belgie, 2, 81 (2000)
  16. Van Leeuwen, F. X. R., Organohalogen Compounds, 38, 295 (1998)
  17. Willems, J., Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Geneeskunde van Belgie, 2, 90 (2000)
  18. World Health Organization., Levels of PCBs, PCDDs and PCDFs in human milk (1996)
  19. World Health Organization., Contamination with dioxin of some Belgian food products (1999)
Bibliographic reference Bernard, Alfred ; Fierens, Sébastien. The Belgian PCB/dioxin incident: a critical review of health risks evaluations.. In: International journal of toxicology, Vol. 21, no. 5, p. 333-340 (2002)
Permanent URL http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/22359