Rebuffing Industry, EPA Adopts New Ratios For Estimating Dioxins’ Risks

Backed by scientific experts, EPA has adopted new ratios, known as toxicity equivalence factors (TEFs), for quantifying the risks and setting cleanup levels for scores of dioxins and dioxin-like compounds, rebuffing long-standing industry criticisms that the use of TEFs is unscientific and can overstate risk. EPA Jan. 6 unveiled a final document , “Recommended Toxicity Equivalence Factors (TEFs) for Human Health Risk Assessments of 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin and Dioxin-Like Compounds [TCDD],” that contains the new values. The TEFs are essentially ratios comparing...