- Today, a bill for controlling levels of dioxin, which was proposed by the Committee on Land and Environment of the Upper House, was voted into law on the floor of the Lower House, with all political parties represented in the Diet voting in favor.
- There is growing concern among the Japanese public regarding the adverse environmental and health effects of dioxin and similar toxic compounds, caused by the facts that there is still inadequate scientific knowledge of the effects of these chemicals on public health and the environment. The research and studies on their emissions into and residues in the environment have not been insufficient to date, and the information provided has been inaccurate.
Within this confused situation, the new law defines the permissible daily intake of dioxin as 4 picograms (1 picogram = one trillionth of a gram) or less per 1 kg of body weight, a level that, it is believed, human beings can be exposed to over their lifetime without experiencing adverse health effects. The law further provides that: (1) the government is empowered to establish environmental dioxin standards for ambient air, water quality and soils; (2) emission standards for dioxin and similar toxic compounds will be set forth in an ordinance by the Prime Minister's Office pursuant to the law, which will take into account the availability of dioxin reduction technology; (3) for areas that are heavily contaminated by dioxin, governors of the relevant prefectures will develop implementation plans to reduce the total amount of dioxin emitted into ambient air in accordance with local standards to control total dioxin emissions; (4) governors are authorized to issue recovery orders when there is a threat that these standards are being violated; and (5) violators of the emission standards or of a recovery order issued by a governor will be subject to imprisonment or fines.
- RENGO has been pushing for such legislation from the standpoint that a new law is necessary to urgently promote measures to control dioxin, and has sought: (1) a strengthening of investigations and studies on a national scale on facilities regarded as sources of dioxin emissions, such as municipal sanitation plants and industrial waste incineration plants, and based on these findings, the provision of accurate information on dioxin contamination to the public; (2) the early implementation of the dioxin emission control standards scheduled for the year 2002 pursuant to the current Air Pollution Control Law, and an intense promotion of emission reduction measures, including recovery orders or total bans on operation against incineration plants that are identified as emitting dioxin at high concentrations; and (3) the restoration, as quickly as possible, of areas with dioxin-contaminated soils to their pristine state.
The new dioxin control law incorporates the regulations RENGO has sought in the following areas: (1) prefectural governors are empowered to continuously monitor dioxin contamination of ambient air, water quality and soils, and make public the findings of such monitoring; (2) total emission controls have been set in addition to the existing dioxin emission controls at individual sources, and therefore after a one-year grace period, even existing facilities will be subject to recovery orders or operation bans if they fail to meet these control standards; and (3) for dioxin-contaminated soils, areas to be restored have been specified and the programs necessary for removing contaminated soils and protecting public health from dioxin contamination have been implemented. In this context the new law can be praised, even though it is a belated effort.
- The government should seriously observe the intention of the legislature embodied in the new law which cleared the Diet through a unanimous vote, and urgently implement comprehensive measures to control dioxin and similar toxic compounds. In particular, the government must, as soon as possible, set forth effective limits for environmental dioxin standards, emission standards, and total emission control standards.
Together with these control standards, the government must, in order to promote improvements in dioxin-emitting facilities, increase the subsidy ratio from the national treasury for the renovation and reconstruction of incineration plants, from the current 25% of necessary funds to 50%.
In the years ahead, RENGO will seek fundamental measures to control dioxin and similar toxic compounds, in order to assure the Japanese public of secure and safe living.
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