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An author and activist on dioxins in New Zealand says a Government report calling for action on unacceptably high levels of dioxins found in New Zealanders doesn't go far enough.
The report found the cancer risk to New Zealanders from dioxins could be as high as one in 1,000, instead of the usual risk of one in 100,000 and says New Zealanders' exposure to dioxin could lead to birth defects, reproductive and developmental problems and cancer.
It calls for a National Environmental Safety Standard on dioxins, with thresholds set for the emissions of chemicals.
However, Gordon Jackman, who helped push for the study the report is based on, says more urgent action is needed.
Jackman says authorities should begin by finding and cleaning up chemical dump sites, and banning the burning of plastics and other products, which emit dioxins.
The Environment Minister Marian Hobbs says the report will be released next month. She says the Government will act on it, with industry set to face further limits on the amount of dioxin that can be discharged.
Dioxin is a highly toxic chemical. It is produced through a range of domestic and industrial processes, such as burning waste material.
It is also a by-product of the manufacturing of the chemical 245-T which was produced at the New Plymouth chemical plant between the early 1960s and the 1980s.
The study measured dioxin levels in people and found that the average dioxin intake was at, or exceeded the World Health Organisation level.
But New Zealanders do fare better than people in other countries. The dioxin levels in this country are half that of people in Europe and North America.
The report is uncertain of long-term risks to people from a lifetime exposure to dioxin but it says that those risks are not negligible.
