I've just received the following bit of information the people here might be interested in. It's from a guy in the States, whose page on the subject can be found at this link if you're interested. Credit to him for sending it around, it's an eye-opener.Now, to the meat of the matter, or the matter of the meat...
The 1994 EPA guidelines on the toxicity of dioxin confirmed it was the most toxic organic chemical known, with measurable effects from ingesting (over a lifetime) 10-15 parts per thousand (ppt) on the body (as it is retained in the body). To put this in perspective, they published a maximum recommended daily dose of 0.006 picograms per kilogram body mass. That's 0.40 picograms for the average adult per day.
Beef retains dioxin in much the same way as humans do. Typically 1 picogram per gram of beef (although other meats will have comparable levels). So, ingesting 100 grams of hamburger will mean ingesting 100 picograms (0.1 nanograms) of dioxin. Which is, for the average adult, 250 times the recommended daily maximum intake.
Chew on that.
Gideon.
(It goes without saying that meat retains dioxin more efficiently that plant material, as hebivores act as dioxin "concentrators" over their lifetime eating vegetation).
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