`Human intake of dioxins from seafood at permissible level`

The daily human intake of dioxins from seafood in Korea is at a permissible level, a government-run think tank said Wednesday.

The Land, Transport, and Maritime Affairs Ministry commissioned a study of 50 kinds of seafood to the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, which measured the risk of exposure to dioxins, chemicals that are highly likely to remain in the human body and have strong harmful effects, and found little impact.

The study also said Koreans were exposed to dioxins only about 0.32pg-TEQ/kilogram on average after eating seafood between 2009 and 2011. The dose was just 8 percent of the daily limit (4pg-TEQ/kilogram) set by the Korea Food and Drug Administration. The daily limit refers to a dose that has no harmful effect on health even if one takes it every day.

The dioxin level in seafood was 0.02 – 1.09pg-TEQ/gram, much lower than the standard of the European Union (8pg-TEQ/gram). Koreans take in an average 16.9pg-TEQ/gram of dioxins per day from seafood, far less than their counterparts in Finland (95), Japan (97) and Spain (34.9).

“This reflects our continuous efforts to address pollution in marine ecology,” said Choi Myeong-beom, the ministry`s director for marine ecology department, adding, “We will manage persistent organic pollutants that are potentially dangerous in a systematic and scientific manner going forward."

redfoot@donga.com