The program will mobilize state and local governments and environmental groups to identify sources of dioxin in the Ohio River Basin and reduce them. Samples taken in 1990 by the West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection showed dioxin concentrations in fish fillets of 20 to 50 pptr in the Kanawha River and 3 to 9 pptr in the Ohio River. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found a level of 14 pptr in whole samples of catfish in the Ohio, below the convergence with the Kanawha. Water quality standards limit the amounts of various pollutants in rivers and streams to levels which would protect the uses of the waters, such as fishing or drinking. For pollutants like dioxin, which accumulate in fish tissue, water quality standards are typically set at very low levels to control the amount of pollutant available for the fish to absorb.
Efforts are underway to address the dioxin problem in the Ohio River Basin.
EPA's regional offices in Philadelphia, Chicago and Atlanta are exploring funding sources for continuation of the program. Dioxins are by-products of industrial processes, including Kraft bleached pulp mills, wood preservation, organic chemical and pesticide manufacturing, and combustion, such as sludge and municipal incineration. Dioxin does not break down easily in the environment and accummulates in animal tissues. Humans are exposed mainly through foods containing minute quantities of the chemical. Dioxin causes cancer in laboratory animals and is considered a probable human carcinogen.