Other agencies involved

NZ Ministry of Health Web Page
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Dioxins
Other agencies involved

Workplace exposures

The Occupational Safety and Health Service (OSH) has responsibility for workplace exposures.

Former sawmill workers in Whakatane have concerns that chemicals used in the operation of sawmills may be the cause of deaths and ill health from chemical poisoning among workers and their families.

OSH is following up on the sawmill workers’ concerns.

Accident Compensation Corporation

Contaminated sites

Investigations into the contamination from a plant or waste disposal practices are the responsibility of regional authorities and the Ministry for the Environment.

For example, the Taranaki Regional Council is currently testing old dump sites for dioxin levels.

Go to the report Dioxin Concentrations in Residential Soil, Paritutu, New Plymouth (PDF, opens in new window) which is available from the Ministry for the Environment's website.

Ministry for the Environment’s programme

The Ministry for the Environment’s organochlorines
programme started in 1995 to:

assess the risks persistent organochlorines pose in New Zealand
develop risk-based environmental acceptance criteria for discharges to air, soil and water and for the clean-up of contaminated sites.

The Ministry for the Environment has already published some research reports, and these can be found on the Ministry’s website.

sources of dioxins in New Zealand (the dioxin inventory)
levels of organochlorines in our atmosphere, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems (soil and estuarine sediments)
the levels of dioxins in our food
evaluation of the toxicity of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs
concentrations of selected organochlorines in the serum of the non-occupationally exposed New Zealand population.

The Ministry for the Environment is due to carry out a public consultation with a view to establishing national environmental standards under the Resource Management Act 1991.