To reach this number, they took the lowest observed level that caused problems in laboratory animals and reduced it by a safety factor of 10. Normal practice in such circumstances would be to apply a safety factor of 100, but, according to a knowledgable source who asked not to be quoted, if the WHO group had applied a safety factor of 100 they would have been declaring much of the food supply in industrial countries dangerously contaminated, which they were reluctant to do for political reasons. All together, not very reassuring news from Europe about dioxin, we conclude. World Health Organization, WHO European Centre for Environment and Health, International Programme on Chemical Safety, Final December, 1998. We can send the WHO paper free as an Adobe acrobat file to anyone who requests is by E-mail.
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