sound material-cycle society that Japan is aiming at, target values, and the respective roles of citizens, NPOs, NGOs, businesses, local governments, and the national government.

Illegal dumping of industrial waste has remained steady at around 400,000 tons for the past several years. Although the volume decreased drastically to about 240,000 tons in FY 2001, it rose to approximately 320,000 tons in FY 2002.

To tackle these issues, the government revised the Waste Management and Public Cleansing Law, which took effect in December 2003. The revised Law authorizes parties that have been certified by the Minister of the Environment to handle area-wide waste treatment to treat waste without the need to further obtain permits related to waste treatment businesses. The Law also stipulates the establishment of systems to enforce compliance with waste treatment standards, record keeping and record storage duties. In addition, the Law Making a Partial Amendment to the Waste Management and Public Cleansing Law was enacted in April 2004. It prescribes a strong role for the government in order to resolve cases of improper waste treatment and issues related to waste treatment facilities. It also prescribes penalties for improperly treating sulfate pitch and penalties for contractors collecting or transporting waste, who are found guilty of illegal dumping.

### 5. Measures for Tackling Environmental Risk from Chemical Substances

health and to ecosystems if they are not properly managed and pollute the environment during the various stages of production, distribution, consumption, and disposal.

In order to prevent these harmful effects, the environmental risk (possible interference with environmental conservation) of these chemical substances must be assessed and appropriate measures must be taken.

Pursuant to the Partial Amendment of the Chemical Substances Control Law that took effect in April 2004, from the view of evaluating the effect of chemical substances not only on human health but also on ecosystems, the toxicity of chemical substances to living organisms in the environment was added to the list of items to be evaluated. Where necessary, the manufacturing and import of these substances would be regulated. Furthermore, the amendment also prescribed (i) regulation of persistent and highly bioaccumulative existing chemical substances, (ii) an evaluation system that focuses on the possibility of release into the environment, and (iii) mandatory reporting of hazard information of substances acquired by manufacturer or importer.

The average daily intake of dioxin for humans has been decreasing annually and is now less than the tolerable daily intake level (4pg-TEQ/kg bw/day), which is low enough that even if this amount were to be absorbed throughout one’s lifetime, it would not cause adverse health effects.

In addition, because the toxicity of endocrine disrupting chemicals, which might cause damage to or have harmful effects on the body through their impacts on the endocrine system (hormones), is mostly unknown, studies are being undertaken to gather scientific knowledge.

Japan has also adopted the PRTR (Pollutant Release and

Daily Intake of Dioxins in Japan (FY 2002)

Source: Compiled by the Ministry of the Environment from data of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

Chronological Changes in Daily Intake of Dioxins from Food