There are an estimated 80,000+ plus chemicals being produced today, but none are as toxic as dioxins.

Dioxins, linked by scientists to a host of disorders that range from reproductive problems to cancer, are a family of 75 related chemical compounds that are the byproduct of certain industrial processes that involve chlorine. Dioxins can contaminate soil and water and enter the food supply from fish that swim in tainted water and from animals that eat plants that contain the chemicals.

While trace amounts of the chemicals can be produced by everything from cigarettes to forest fires, most of the dioxins in the environment come from just two primary sources: paper bleaching and waste incineration.

Researchers have characterized them as Persistent Organic Pollutants, or POPs for short. Dioxins and other POPs:

• Resist biodegradation and stay in the environment for long periods of time.
• Build up in body fat and accumulate in ever higher levels as they migrate up the food chain.
• Travel with remarkable efficiency through the atmosphere and global waters to spread far beyond their source.
• Are linked to serious hormonal, reproductive, neurological and/or immune disorders, and cancer.

Dioxins are among the scariest POPs, because they are capable of causing disease at levels of exposure hundreds of thousands of times lower than most other chemicals.

Because dioxins don't readily break down in the environment, they tend to accumulate over time in Earth's air, water, and soil. This means they also accumulate in the food chain, which is where we encounter most of the dioxins we ingest.

Here are some suggestions for lowering your exposure to dioxins:

• Cut down on fatty foods like meats and dairy products. Dioxins are fat soluble, which means they accumulate in animal fatty tissues and the foods obtained from them. The fewer fatty foods we eat, the fewer dioxins we're going to ingest.
• When you do eat meat or dairy products, choose fat-free, low fat, or vegetarian versions. Again, the dioxins you're ingesting are almost all carried into your body via the fats you eat. Choosing foods with low or no animal fats makes for a healthier diet where dioxins are concerned.
• Eat organic foods. While organic foods can't claim to be completely free of dioxins (after all, they are still being raised in a dioxin-tainted world), they do present a much lower risk because they are raised or grown outside the industrial food chain, where pesticides and commercial feeds can potentially be contaminated with dioxins.
• Choose unbleached or chlorine-free paper products. Chlorine paper bleaching is a leading cause of dioxin pollution, and the products that are created this way can be contaminated with small amounts of these compounds. At the least, keep chlorine-bleached paper products out of the kitchen where they might come into contact with food.
• Don’t use chlorine-bleached paper coffee filters. These can and do contain dioxins created by the paper bleaching process. Since dioxins are fat-soluble, they're easily transferred from bleached filters to the natural oils in your coffee.
• If you use tampons, use only 100% organic cotton tampons. Such tampons do not contain rayon, a fiber made from bleached wood pulp. Just as bleaching paper creates dioxins that are left behind in the finished product so does bleaching rayon. When tampons are placed in contact with sensitive and highly absorbent body tissues, any dioxins they contain can be absorbed by the user.
• Avoid products made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC). When this material is made and/or incinerated dioxins are created.
• Help end waste incineration, from backyard trash burning to giant medical waste incinerators. Advocate for legislation and other initiatives that would halt the practice of burning garbage, and help stop dioxins at their leading source. Two organizations leading this charge are Health Care Without Harm and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives.