PCDD AND PCDF EMISSIONS AND POSSIBLE HEALTH EFFECTS: REPORT ON A WHO WORKING GROUP

Abstract

An international group of experts, convened by the WHO Regional Office for Europe, discussed the health risks of PCDD and PCDF emissions from the incineration of municipal sewage sludge (MSS) and municipal solid waste (MSW) at a meeting in Naples, Italy, held 17–21 March 1986. A detailed analysis of emission data has shown that old and badly operated incinerators will emit up to many thousand ng Nm-3 of PCDD and PCDF, while most modern, highly controlled and carefully operated plants will emit them at a very low level. It is still not known what contribution municipal incinerator emissions make to the overall environmental load and, consequently, human exposure. For modern incineration plants this contribution was estimated to be in the range of about a tenth to a few percent of the total background daily body burden [assumed to be 1–5 pg of 2,3,7,8-TCDD (dioxin) equivalents per kilogram bodyweight and day]. The Working Group nevertheless recommended that efforts should be made to reduce further the PCDD and PCDF emissions from municipal incinerators.