Effects on health Dioxin causes cancer in animals including humans. In Maine people are advised to eat no more than 2 meals per year of fish from the Penobscot, Androscoggin and Kenebec Rivers, because of high dioxin concentrations. The amount of dioxin from this source is known with a reasonable degree of certainty, although in recent years, data provided by the industry indicates that the level of dioxin in discharge of pulp and paper mils has decreased. Most of their emissions are released via wastewater discharges. The wood used to produce paper contains lignin, a dark-colored substance that must be removed in order to produce white paper.
Chlorine acts to separate the lignin from the pulp which can then be removed.
34 Dioxin-contaminated wastewater runs into the bodies of water, where the dioxin concentrates in the aquatic food chain, ending up in fish. The dioxin contaminated sludge from paper mills, which is mostly landfilled, represents one of the bigger dioxin reservoirs. Alternatively, some paper mills spread their sludge on land which poses a significant risk to people and wildlife. Others burn their sludge, which releases very high levels of dioxin into the air. If the paper is used for the packaging food products, dioxin can contaminate the food.