Finnish children’s exposure to dioxins, PCBs negligible

The findings of a recent study show that Finnish children’s exposure to dioxins and PCBs is very low, said the National Institute of Health and Welfare in a press release.

The concentrations of these compounds in children’s blood serum are well below the no-observed-adverse-effect level estimated by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

The adverse effects of the substances are thus unlikely.

According to the EFSA, the no-observed-adverse-effect level in the serum is seven picograms per gram of serum lipid. The recent study found that the sum concentration of dioxins and PCBs is below this level in 97.30 per cent of Finnish children.

In the past few decades, dioxin and PCB emissions have been heavily restricted through international agreements and restrictions. Thanks to this, their concentrations in the environment have fallen considerably. At the same time, the exposure of Finnish people to them has also declined.

Fish from the Baltic Sea continues to be the most important individual source of dioxins and PCBs for the Finns. The concentrations dioxins and PCBs in these fish have declined by up to 80 per cent over the past 40 years. The recent study shows that the current restriction measures are sufficient.

“The dioxin and PCB concentrations in Finnish children are so small that stricter restrictions would not bring any more health benefits. Instead, measures such as reducing the amount of fish in the diet may cause considerable harm, if the health effects of fish are lost,” said THL Senior Researcher Panu Rantakokko.

PCBs can be successfully measured with the current methods, but measuring dioxins is more difficult. Today, dioxin concentrations are so small that even the best measurement technique would require a blood sample of almost one decilitre for the analysis.

The findings of the joint study conducted by the THL and the University of Turku were published in the Chemosphere journal.