reviews accordingly.

## (b) Law Concerning Reporting of Releases to the Environment of Specific Chemical Substances and Promoting Improvements in Their Management

As for the Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTR) system based on the Law Concerning Reporting of Releases to the Environment of Specific Chemical Substances and Promoting Improvements in Their Management, the ninth report since the enactment of the Law, regarding the volumes of pollutant released to the environment by businesses in FY 2009, was submitted to the national government via the local government prefectures. The Ministry of the Environment released estimated release volumes in February 2011 based on the reported data of individual businesses, their aggregate result, and the government’s estimation of the quantities of chemical substances of parties who are not designated as being subject to PRTR reporting (businesses exempt from reporting, domestic sector, automobile, etc.)

## (c) Efforts for Dioxin Issues

The result of the environmental survey for dioxins in FY 2009 is as shown in the table. Based on a survey conducted in FY 2010 on the daily intake of dioxins, the government estimated that the average daily intake of dioxins from everyday meals and from the environment in FY 2009 was approximately 0.85 pg-TEQ per kilogram of body weight. The dioxin intake from food accounted for 0.84 pg-TEQ. This value does not deviate from the downward trend over time, and is lower than the daily tolerable intake of 4 pg-TEQ/kg/day.

Figure 4-4 The environmental survey result of dioxins in FY 2009 (monitoring data)(outline)

environmental type	points	Environmental standards excess	Average*	Density range*
Atmosphere**	712 points	0 points (0%)	0.032 pg-TEQ/m³	0.0049 ~ 0.37 pg-TEQ/m³
Water	1,617 points	19 points (1.1%)	0.19 pg-TEQ/L	0.011 ~ 3.1 pg-TEQ/L
sediment	1,316 points	6 points (0.4%)	7.1 pg-TEQ/g	0.059 ~ 390 pg-TEQ/g
Groundwater***	608 points	0 points (0%)	0.055 pg-TEQ/L	0.011 ~ 0.88 pg-TEQ/L
Soil****	976 points	0 points (0%)	2.5 pg-TEQ/g	0 ~ 85 pg-TEQ/g

$ ^{*} $ : The mean value is a yearly average of the various points, and the density range is minimum value and maximum value for the year.

**: Concerning the figure for the atmosphere, it is a result of the point assumed to evaluate the mean value during year by environmental standards among all investigation spots (755 points), and the result of the original investigation of the fixed point observation result and the Air Pollution Control Law government- ordinance-designated city of the Ministry of the Environment is included.

***: Concerning underground water, it is a result that investigates a general situation of the environment (general condition investigation), and the result of the investigation etc. regularly executed as a monitor of the continuing investigation of pollution is not included.

****: Concerning the soil, it is a result that investigates a general situation of the environment (investigation of the general environmental situation and investigation of situation around the source), and the results of the survey to determine the range of pollutioned area is not included. Moreover, the data of eight points measured by the simplified assay is not included in the calculations for the mean value and the density range.

Source: Ministry of Environment, "Environmental investigation results of dioxin in FY 2009"

Figure 4-5 Changes in Total Dioxins Emissions Emissions (g-TEQ/year)

Base Year	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
49.0 ~ 51.9	60.6 ~ 62.6	68.8 ~ 68.9	75.2 ~ 75.3	87.7 ~ 88.1	95.1 ~ 95.2	95.5	95.6	96.1 ~ 96.2	96.2 ~ 96.3	97.2 ~ 97.3	97.9 ~ 98.0

Note) Emissions from FY 1997 to FY 2007 were calculated using WHO-TEF (1998) as the toxicity equivalent factor. Emissions in 2008 and 2009 were calculated using WHO-TEF (2006) as far as applicable.

Source: Ministry of the Environment, “Dioxin Emission Inventory”

Figure 4-6 Secular change of daily intake of dioxin from food