ATSDR staff will be available for media interviews at the meeting location from 5:00 p.m. - 5:45 p.m. on March 16. No appointment is needed.

ATLANTA - Lafayette Parish residents have levels of dioxin in their blood similar to those found in people nationally, says a study just released by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).

ATSDR’s dioxin exposure study in Lafayette Parish is part of a larger study conducted in Calcasieu Parish. Researchers needed to compare results of the Calcasieu dioxin study to another group. Lafayette Parish was selected because of demographic similarities to the Calcasieu population.

Blood dioxin levels in Calcasieu and Lafayette Parishes were similar, and both mirrored national levels.

Full results of the exposure study will be presented March 16 at the Holiday Inn Holidome Conference Center, 2032 N.E. Evangeline Thruway, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Representatives from the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality also will be present.

Lafayette Parish dioxin exposure study results include:

• Lafayette Parish study participants had blood dioxin levels similar to those of Calcasieu Parish participants.
• The blood dioxin levels found among Lafayette and Calcasieu Parish study participants are similar to those found in people nation-wide.
• In both Lafayette and Calcasieu Parishes, blood dioxin levels were not elevated among the youngest age group evaluated (ages 15 to 29 years) when compared to other populations. This indicates there currently are no unusual exposures to dioxin in either parish.

Health effects from exposure to dioxin in the environment are not well understood. Research is underway to determine how different levels of dioxin affect the human body.

Most information about dioxin-related illness is from exposure to high levels in the workplace. The level of dioxin to which a worker might be exposed is significantly greater than the amount the public might be exposed to in the environment.

“Dioxin” is the generic name for a group of chemicals including both polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans. Dioxin in very small amounts is found almost everywhere in the environment.

Dioxin is made and released into the environment mostly from burning fuels, wood and waste. For example, small amounts of dioxin are found in truck and car exhaust, and in cigarette smoke. Other common sources are wastes from factories making chlorinated phenols, and the chlorine bleaching process used at pulp and paper mills.

In the environment, dioxin does not easily break down. Dioxin tends to stick tightly to soils and sediment where it can stay for a long time.